We cooked them a meal on a day when they had to stay late for Parent/Teacher conference... we fixed dinner. Cost about $70 to feed 40 people, so very reasonable. PastaCon Brocilli (anyone want the recipe?) Garlic Bread and Salad.
Our school is preK-5 approx. 700 students and very economically diverse. We provide lunch to the staff the Friday before school starts, we give them each $50 gc for one of their choice (Barnes & Noble, Walmart, & another store --can't remember right now) to be used for their room, we do something for each holiday. For instance, at Halloween we put mini candy bars wrapped with a custom wrapper with a Halloween joke on it as well as a tray full of chocolate dipped Oreos; at Thanksgiving we did the same thing but with Thanksgiving/Turkey jokes on them and made a huge bowl of Thanksgiving Blessing Mix for snacking on; at Christmas, we made up Snowman Soup for each staff member (75--35 are teachers). For Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day we'll do something to put in each of their boxes again--probably mini candy bars again. We'll put copies of cute comics related to teaching, etc. when we come across them. We have a week's worth of fun planned for Staff Appreciation. We have like someone else mentioned earlier Mon-flower day, Tues.-write your teacher a note-type day, Wed., Relaxation Day (soft music/aroma therapy/massage school students doing 10 min. massages, Ice Cream Social for staff; Th.-baked goods day; Fri. staff luncheon & small gifts. Our staff is very appreciative of everything we do which makes it even more fun to do for them. We try to make sure they know they are appreciated all year through with small tokens to brighten their days.
If the tokens of appreciation aren't appreciated then they don't truly get it. It's too bad that you have staff that are that critical of what you do for them. They obviously only like to be the recipients not the givers as well.
At the beginning of the year we give them $150-$200 for their classroom accounts. We are a large year round school (1000 students and 45 teachers). Normally I do a huge week long celebration in May but our school district has decided to name the following week Salute to Education week. So the principal does a huge thing that week as well which is also right in the middle of our state testing. We don't do Christmas gifts since not all of our teachers are in attendance.
So I decided to spread things out this year. In November I tried the Spruce Up idea. We went in and cleaned out their kitchen cabinets, stocked some treats, added a rug, put fall tablecloths on the tables with pots of mums, cleaned up in the lounge and made bulletin boards for them. They absolutely loved it. So I will do it again in the spring and tackle the refrigerator, give them some frozen and cold treats, new tablecloths and flowers, etc... The week of T. A. I going to do a brunch lunch on the actual day of Teacher Appreciation and then we also send home a schedule for the students and families to follow for the week. Monday is flower day, tuesday fruit, wed. a poem, etc... That way everyone knows when teacher appreciation is and celebrate their teacher in their own way.
I like the birthday luncheon idea. And we also may be going back to traditional school year and the back to school breakfast would be fun.
We do several things throughout the year. Every couple of months, we do a Staff Birthday Brunch--all the staff gets to eat the goodies that parent volunteers bring in, and the ones whose birthdays are in that particular quarter get a small token gift, usually handcrafted. We also do Staff Christmas gifts--this year, it was homemade shortbread cookies in a small, decorated mason jar. Nothing fancy or expensive, but definitely a nice touch, and the teachers are most appreciative. During Teacher Appreciation Week, we put on a Staff Breakfast in the gym. We decorate with a theme, and the menu goes along with the theme (Texas Country Breakfast, Mardi Gras, Great North Woods, etc...). We also do the serving, and it is for all staff(of course, we eat afterwards!). We've also done some little teacher appreciation things for no particular reason, like putting a mint in their boxes, with a note saying "Thanks for your committ-mint" and "Our kids appreciate your encourage-mint".
I think those rule apply to single person gifts, like for a baby shower or something that isn't done for everyone. Do your bylaws state that your groups purpose is to supplies food for the teachers all the time, if not, then tell them that it's not really your job and see if they know of some parents who would be willing to be their personal caterers! Good luck.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
committ-mint" and "Our kids appreciate your encourage-mint". 