log in | how it works | about | contact

Recent Posts

Archives

How to Tip Your Nanny for the Holidays

December 16, 2010

This time of the year the subject of tipping your nanny, housekeeper or other in-home employee comes up. Things to consider when thinking about what to tip your nanny are: amount of time she’s worked for you; how good you feel about the job she’s doing; how many children you have and your own financial condition.

All of these items to consider in your tip are fairly straight forward except for your financial condition. Nannies know how you’re doing financially probably better than anyone except your spouse or accountant! If you’re having a difficult year like so many families are now, the nanny will know that and take it into consideration when you give her her annual tip. She will also know if you’re doing well and don’t tip her according to what she sees around her. She’ll feel slighted and underappreciated if you under tip.

In addition to an annual tip for good performance, a well thought out small gift and card from the children will be very much appreciated—including drawings and crafts the child made for the nanny.

Tips for nannies generally range from one-week’s salary up to a month’s salary.

Information on choosing a birthday gift for your nanny

|

7 Responses to How to Tip Your Nanny for the Holidays

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Lara Miller says:

A month’s salary seems like a pretty generous tip! We’ve always done a couple hundred dollars and a gift card to get a pedicure or a massage or something like that.

Maria Rios says:

The best Christmas gift I ever received was a homemade scrapbook from the kids I watched. While money is always, always appreciated, being able to see how much effort they put into the gift was priceless. I cried when they gave it to me!

Kaitlyn F. says:

I don’t know that I’d feel slighted if I got a lesser tip than I thought I deserved. I would wonder what I could have done better though, and I might even ask for an annual review so that I knew where to improve for next year.

admin says:

It’s a great idea to do an annual review regardless of the size of your bonus! That’s the best way to improve year after year and ensure that you and your employer are on the same page about the care you’re providing!

Cameron P. says:

My kids love putting together little gift baskets for our nanny every year. They’ll go to the store and pick out her favorite candy, we’ll get a spa or movie gift card and they’ll hand make something for her as well. In addition, we try to compensate her appropriately as a bonus.

Allison O. says:

I’m not sure that nannies really know how well their employers are doing… I worked for one family where the mom went on extravagant shopping sprees all the time so I thought they were doing really well, only to later find out they were broke and she was just trying to keep up with Jones.

As far as holiday tips go, I appreciate whatever the family is willing to give me!

Alexis B. says:

I love homemade gifts from the kids I care for :) I have a box dedicated to each family I’ve worked for that I’ve filled with mementos the kids have made – it’s heartwarming to go through everything and reminisce!