Tae Kwon Do Tutors | A Martial Arts Blog

Help! I want to get a Christmas present for my taekwondo instructor, but I don’t know what to get! Help!

First off, happy holidays! It’s the season to be jolly and giving out gifts to friends and family is a great way to spread the joy. Perhaps you might be thinking of getting a present for your taekwondo instructor. That’s very sweet of you! It’s certainly not expected of students but, just like any other human, we like being appreciated.

But of course, it’s hard to figure out what to get us. What do you get a person who teaches you how to kick?! 

Custom made snow plow. The bigger the better.

Kidding! I decided to write down some basic ideas for Christmas presents for taekwondo teachers.

Christmas cards. Yes, just Christmas cards. It’s always nice to know we’re appreciated by our students. Getting a personal card from a student really makes us smile. We like being appreciated, and knowing we make people happy, makes us happy.

An apple. I think one of my favorite presents I ever got from a student was an apple. Well, actually this student bought me an orange, but I found it humorous. I told him it was a sweet gift. His dad laughed. Maybe not every teacher will appreciate this, but gift giving is really about the sentiment in my mind more than the object.

A gift card. Now, for ethical reasons, gifts of monetary value are not always received well.* I however, did once receive a five dollar gift card to a bookstore in a Christmas card. It was, for social conventions, going to be terribly awkward to give it back. So I ended up using it to help buy a bookmark for some of the taekwondo books in my office. It has been very helpful!

A group project. Normally, large presents are rarely considered particularly professional for the same ethical reason as anything else with monetary value. My instructor, one time, received quite a large cake from some students (he smiled at that) when they figured out his birthday (he was less happy about that). But they all gave it to him as one large gift from the community, so he took it and blew out the candles. The kids cheered. It was quite charming!

All of that in mind, it’s really about the appreciation. In the spirit of Christmas (and taekwondo) it’s the thought that matters most! In my experience, my favorite gifts and the ones I remember most, are the cards given to me by my students. Especially the hand made ones. I’m not sure about my fellow taekwondo colleagues, but I find them to be the best presents!

In summary, gift giving is not about what, but why. If you haven’t noticed in this post, the material presents are the ones that have relationship, professional, and ethical complications attached. It is the hand made cards and humorous fruit jokes that really make good presents for taekwondo instructors, because it brings good memories, which are priceless.

But also, I wouldn’t mind some black belt jewelry from Etsy! Those are so cool! (Kidding!)

Have a happy holidays!

*It should also be noted, make sure it’s less than 25$. Just like any other teacher, it’s kinda weird if it’s too expensive.