as a volunter at my child's school-- i think the sweetest gift i ever recieved was a roll of lifesavers with a note saying "you're a great lifesaver, thanks for all you do!" didn't cost much but it was very special.
Our teachers do our volunteer appreciation event. There are many people who volunteer in the school who choose not to be actively involved in PTO and it's important to recognize everyone. As far as PTO goes, we would rather use the money for something substantial for the school than spend it on ourselves. Just how many useless knickknacks can a person have, anyway?
I had no money to spend for Volunteer Appreciation week last week, and, although we do usually have a luncheon put on by the teachers/staff, it had to be postponed until May. So, I sent thank you notes to all the volunteers. Since I have emails for so many, most got an ecard, which you can look at here: www.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=3593...&m=1052&source=ag999
For those without email, I had a one page note that had basically the same info. I got a lot of very positive feedback, especially on the ecard. People really loved it.
Anyway--a personalized card for each person at the luncheon may work for you. Maybe you could do the front of the card as a collage of different photos of people volunteering.
At our Breakfast Appreciation, our school gave us a volunteer pin and a certificate.
What means more to me is that after an event at our school, whoever chairs that event (mostly our President) would send out a little card of Thanks or a homemade gift. We just had a Sock Hop and She sent all of us volunteers a cd magnet. She painted the cd to look like a record and put Sock Hop 2004 on it. On the case that the cd was in, She wrote a quick Thank you for the time we helped. I feel more appreciated then, then I do when the school has their breaksfest. Don't get me wrong on the Breakfast, it is nice to get together with the staff and volunteers, but when it happens right after an event, it feels a whole lot more appreciated.
We do lunch and gifts. This year there was a potluck after the meeting. Not many people came since most of our volunteers can only be there during the day. This year the VP bought ceramic mugs from the Dollar Store and put some pansies in them. The tag said "A Garden of Thanks For All You Do". There were several door prizes. Usually in the past certifs were made.
You could play games like you do at showers. I am not to good in that dept.
I never suggested not doing the lunch. I love our appreciation breakfast.
The only thing I suggested that you seem to disagree with is recognizing one particular volunteer. I see absolutely nothing wrong with recognizing a parent, espcially a parent with an outgoing 8th grader, that has clocked a lot of volunteer time. Or a parent that no longer has children in the school or an alumni member that still volunteers.
On the PTO bulletin board, we do a "spotlight on" a member to recognize all they do for the school.
