Congratulations to your grandson! The venue sounds very grand! Our son's recitals were held in a church hall, which is customary in our area. We always took the teacher flowers and our son a tiny box of Godiva chocolates and out to dinner afterwards. He received from his teacher a small bust of a composer in recognition of his participation, just as I received busts from my piano and viola teachers. I still have one of mine and four of his on our piano :-).

Enjoy the concert, it's a precious moment!

I used to have my recitals in the university recital hall, and all we ever did was go to a nice ice cream who afterwards. With my son, it's pretty much the same thing. With one teacher, all the parents would bring something for a little reception afterwards, so cookies, brownies, miniquiches, etc. flowers for,the teacher is a really nice idea!

Since this is his first, a card and ice cream or a trip to Starbucks for hot chocolate would be nice.

I played in many piano recitals and my family did the same thing as bp's ....go out for ice cream afterward. No cards, nothing else. Ice cream!

Verbals thanks or congratulations to the teacher - that's all.

I have two daughters. We sometimes had flowers waiting at home, but i don't think we brought them to the recital. Ours was were they took the lessons, with an organization that offered music and art.

For the dance recitals, we did bring flowers because everyone else seemed to and it was done at a college's performing arts stage. They also sold flowers there.
I always gave the teachers a Christmas present and an end of the year gift. Never at the recitals.

Since he is your grandson, a small token "I'm proud of you" gift is very thoughtful. And, it is not as obvious as flowers in case all of his friends aren't receiving anything.

I think the treat afterward of ice cream or hot chocolate sounds just perfect.

Remember that young performers are often both excited and full of worry about these things. So ending the day on a fun note once it's over is the best way for the budding musician to look forward to the next one.

Thank you all for the ideas. KSWL, I love the idea of a bust. He's obsessed with Beethoven and I pushed his parents to get him into piano lessons when he was trying to pick out Beethoven on his kitty piano at my house. In trying to make sense of the order of things in history he always asks if it was before Beethoven or after Beethoven, (or the dinosaurs). But I don't think I'll find a Beethoven bust in our little city before his recital.

Sounds like ice cream is a pretty popular treat for afterwards. I'll have to see if his parents have any plans, but I'd still like to take something in hand. He likes chocolate, but Santa gave him a roll of life savers in his stocking at my house and instead of the one chocolate coin he can have each day he is here, he's now choosing a life saver. It took me two years to find a place to buy a single roll of life savers for him after we had a conversation about the candy of my youth, but maybe I can find another.

I think I might pick up one of the very small orchids from Trader Joe's for his teacher.

Thanks again for the responses.

I am pretty sure this is where my son's piano teacher got his busts. They are very inexpensive but are ok looking and a nicer plastic or resin for kids. (Mine were all ceramic, which explains why I took lessons for more than a decade and have only one unblemished one left!)

adding that I love that your young grandson sees the progression of music as BB and AB.....he's a child after my own heart, I loved Beethoven as a young kid also, and started taking piano lessons around the same time after picking out every melody I heard on our piano.

This post was edited by kswl on Mon, Jan 12, 15 at 17:05