Wow, I can't believe that you were giving out $3200 in teacher gift cards. That's a lot of any group's budget. I mean, our entire Field Trip allocation is about the same, and that pays pretty much for evey student to go on an away from school field trip.
But maybe this is all that you do for your staff for the entire year. If so, maybe $3200 isn't that much. I mean, we probably spend about $2000 throughout the entire year on Teacher Appreciation, which includes meals during parent-teacher conferences, appreciation baskets during teacher appreciation week, etc.
Some things that we have done for Teacher Appreciation week, that could apply here, are small gifts. One that went over very well was a coffee mug with the school logo on it. That seems like a perfect back to school gift idea. A calendar would be another idea that would be appropriate.
As a teacher too, I would advise you to stay away from candy. Just like the average citizen, teachers are watching their weight and diets too. But everyone is polite and will thank you for the candy anyway. I would suggest 2 ideas...it's very nice to have REAL toilet paper and nice hand soap/lotion for the teacher's bath. Last year, the PTO went so far as to decorate the teacher's bath with paint and knickknacks. I can tell you everyone raved about it!! Another idea is to stock the teacher's lounge with disposable plates, cups, silverware, ziplocs, foil and plastic wrap, tea, coffee, snacks etc. Our PTO has given a new refrig and new decorations to help spice up the lounge in past years. Hope this helps!
We give our teachers a small gift like a ream of color paper or the binder clips that always seem to be coveted. This year I am also able to give them a $50 allowance towards Scholastic Books from our left over profits from last year.
We do a goodie bag for the teachers. In each bag we put some cheap teacher supplies (motivational stickers, sharpie, etc...) plus a coupon for a free school T-shirt. Our staff are allowed to wear school shirts on Fridays, so all the teachers/staff want to have one. We found room in our budget a couple years ago to give everyone in the building one.
We also used to purchase desk planners for the teachers. At one of the last meetings of the year we asked if this was something they used. Many said that in the day of Palm Pilots and Blackberry's, they were not using them. We have decided to instead get them a sticky note cube and pen for their desk. Perfect for quick reminders or notes home.
