Our school has a Teacher and Staff Appreciation Luncheon right before school lets out for Christmas. Parents donate desserts and side dishes and the PTO donates tableware, meat, and drinks. We also buy everyone a small gift. It's a really nice event at our school and the teachers and staff get to sit and chat and exchange gifts with each other.
Parents come in that day to volunteer in the office, gym, and classrooms so teachers and staff can enjoy themselves.
Another idea is to put up a " mitten tree " in their honor, in the teacher's lounge. You can ask parents to donate canned foods to go UNDER the tree, and mittens/gloves to hang ON the tree and then write a beautiful letter to all the teachers saying how the families all appreciate the love and support they give your children, and in their HONOR ( the teachers)... the families of your school are donating these items to XYZ shelters in their HONOR..
some would be VERY touched to know rather than always spending $$ to find frivolous things, that money has been well spent in their honor.
Anotrher idea is to put up a " mitten tree " in their honor, in the teacher's lounge. You can ask parents to donate canned foods to go UNDER the tree, and mittens/gloves to hang ON the tree and then write a beautiful letter to all the teachers saying how the families all appreciate the love and support they give your children, and in their HONOR ( the teachers)... the families of your school are donating these items to XYZ shelters in their HONOR..
some would be VERY touched to know rather than always spending $$ to find frivolous things, that money has been well spent in their honor
They've been a popular activity. But beware - you'll see a vast difference in quality of what's donated. One person will send a $2.99 coffee cake from the grocery store; someone else will spend huge time and effort making a fabulous cheese cake.
Most everyone takes it in stride (it's the thought that counts). And the coordinator supplements where needed. But there's always one or two recipients who feel slighted by what they got. (Aren't there always?)
Sometimes the items are just matched and handed out, but it's more fun if it's at a party or times when you have groups of people (maybe lunch shifts). The right announcer can get pretty playful and inject a festive notes with the different comments as numbers are drawn.
The PTOs I work with generally look at their Teacher Appreciation budget as an annual amount as some months might cost nothing (get everything donated), some might be really inexpensive (token morale-booster), and then we'd have enough to have something nice one or two months, like maybe a catered lunch.
As far December, I'd keep in mind that everyone is on overload (work and office) with sweets and exchanges of small gifts/trinkets. If I were a teacher, I'd like something like a simple breakfast or lunch.
The easiest way to keep costs down is to get everything donated - either by a local restaraunt or by parents.
We've had teacher appreciation lunches with the typical sign up (X number salads, sandwiches, desserts, main dish, etc.) or themes: bake potato bar, salad bar, soup, or whatever you designate. It just takes some coordination to get the parents to donate and then the PTO may have to buy some items to fill in the gaps.
Dessert lotto's are popular. Parents donate a complete dessert. It gets tagged with a number. Teachers draw numbers. Sometime we do this right before the holidays so it's something the teacher can serve at home.
You might be able to get a local business to donate breakfast tacos and have a breakfast.
Like the Dessert lotto - you can do Christmas ornaments.
