I want to start by saying that we really like our nanny. She's generally very good with our youngest, and we love that she picks up our oldest from school every day. And because we like her, we try to treat her well.

VERY LONG BACKGROUND INFO HERE (feel free to skim) : I bring her little gifts on holidays or just because, and I let her go early 80% of the time but she is always paid for her full hours. We are on a pretty tight budget, which our nanny knows. We only have a nanny because it's significantly cheaper than daycare for 2 kids in our town. We pay her right in the middle of the local pay scale and we don't ask her to prepare meals at all. I prepare the girls lunches and snacks the night before and leave them for her. And we pay overtime if we ever need it, we don't "exchange hours", and she gets more paid time off than most nannies because I'm a teacher. For example: Since September, she's had 3 day labor day weekend, 3 day Columbus day weekend, 4 day weekend for Jewish holidays, She's about to have a 4 day weekend Nov 9-12, a 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving, and 1 and a 1/2 weeks for Christmas. All paid at the usual rate. And we gave her a raise after her first 6 months. Feb 1 will be one year with us.

QUESTION HERE: Okay, so in my area, it's somewhat common to give nannies a Christmas bonus of a whole week's pay. I mean, not everyone does it, but many do. Giving her an additional $750 cash, on top of the paid 1.5 week vacation seems pretty crazy to me. We would be paying 1700 for 1.5 weeks of her not working. Neither my husband nor I get Christmas bonuses at work. It's like, not a thing in our industries.

So, is there anything else we can give her instead for a year end gift? I'm happy to spend about $100. Or give her a cash gift of $100 with a little gift? Or is that like a slap in the fact because it's not an entire week's pay?