I think as a PTO you can use the money however you want to. As for AEW this is what we did:
MONDAY-gave everyone on the staff a little gift bag which contained the following-
School Staff Survival Kit
A penny- so you have the "cents" to realize what a valuable asset you are.
A rubberband- to help you hold things together.
Hugs & Kisses-so you remember how much you are appreciated.
Lollipop- to help you "lick" your problems
Gum- for your stick-to-it-iveness.
An eraser- so you can erase any mistakes that are made.

If all these fail, pray for a snow day!
In the teachers bag we gave them a card that said thank you, this is worth $25 for reimbursement towards classroom purchases.

In the janitors I found this posted in here somewhere:
Thank You To The Janitor
This is our thanks to you
For all the messes you undo.
Just when things look their worst
You're the one who gets here first.
Tuesday-we got subway to give us a 6 foot grinder for $30,(parent/teacher conferences, they are there until 8pm), some chips and drinks
Wednesday-I made paper apples for the kids to write what I like best about my school and teacher
and I'm making books to give the teachers
Thursday-School is Cool-bought ice cream sandwiches for all the kids, $50
Friday-Pajama Day-but there is a price to pay, to stay in your jammies all day, bring in a canned/non perishable food item to help restock our local food pantry.

Our PTO this year and last year bought board games for all the classrooms. I think we approved $600 for the games. The teachers said the kids loved it. We also allot each teacher a certain amount for the year for field trips and such.

We have money put aside for Teacher Appreciation Week, which winds up being for the whole staff but when we were doing the budget, and this is the first year with a real budget and me as Treasurer the whole time, no one mentioned doing staff lunches or misc gifts. As far as doing things for kids, if we are going to celebrate AEW, I would think that the children should be doing something not just the PTO purchasing goodies for staff. Then I saw a post about PTO buying Christmas presents for staff and I wondered if there were any legalites to buying all these gifts for the staff when the money could easily be put to better use to buy PE equipment or books for the library.

We ususally set a budget at the beginning of the year and we set an amount that the teachers can request. That request has to be approved by the principal and then by the parents (if they come to the meeting). If your going over the "budget" that would be the line...right? What kind of things are you thinking the kids need...like an ice cream night or books and stuff?

I know there are rules about how funds are used or should not be used to the benefit of certain people, but what are the specifics? I feel stuck. We are always being asked to support things or purchase items for staff but rarely for children. For American Education Week, we were asked for money to buy stuff for the staff but nothing for the children and I don't feel right about this. It's not that I don't feel like teachers need to be supported but that I want to know if there is a specific line at which we legally need to stop and can use this to draw the line. Like we purchase flowers for our secratries for their day and for the nurse for her's, but there isn't a custodian's day. Does anyone see where I am going with this? I'm trying to be fair but also trying to keep our group from spending their budget for gifts and lunches for staff. Comments please.