help with Teacher appreciation ideas
 

The president of our PTSO just asked me to do the monthly teacher appreciation. here's the kicker- 100 teachers /$10 month budget!! I need some fun, staming ideas for them. We are new to the school, and I'm sure they don't know about Stamin Up! so, I'd really like to "wow" them. thanks!!

heather

Speaking as a teacher, a little treat bag with chocolate would be cute. I teach Kindergarten and don't really have a break during the day. Sometimes a piece of chocolate is a needed pick me up. you could stamp a bag topper and attach to cellophane bags (I bought some recently 100/pk for a couple of dollars). Can't wait to see what you decide on!

How about a cute little post-it holder made with one of those acrylic frames? Decorated comp notebook with matching pen? Class pic in a cheap frame with the mat stamped and signed by the kids?

NO coffee mugs! ;)

I would love some cute note cards to have on hand at school for those unexpected or forgotten occasions. Of course, a little chocolate would be appreciated too.

FYI - Mom, aunt, sis, niece and others are teachers and they are tired of apple and school theme - prefer something 'normal.'

I agree, a package of little thank you cards---maybe with a cute pen to go along with it.

is that only 10 dollars for one month to do gifts for 100 teachers? OH MY GOSH, that works out to 10 cents a teacher per month..that is impossible. Heck, getting chocolate alone for 100 teachers is at least 5-6 dollars, just for one piece of chocolate, not to mention the card stock, tape, etc. YIKES..good luck to you!!

On that note, I have done 2-4-6-8 boxes with mini candy bars in them, nugget boxes, bag toppers with everything from hot chocolate packets, to prepackage candy corn, potato chips, crackers, etc. Chocolate covered plastic spoons for stirring coffee, gum holders with the trident gum packs in them. Lots of ideas, but most require more money then they are allowing you to have. Good luck in this and love to hear how you manage to do this economically!

I would ask (in the office - good resource) what has been done in the past. This sounds more like something in the teacher's lounge or by the teacher mailboxes for all to share rather than one gift per teacher. You could use some sort of basket/box decorated with beautiful stamped images . . . filled with cookies, candies whatever. You could WOW them with the presentation and even have one stamped gift for a give-a-way to one winning teacher. Be sure to have your contact info on the display - you are sure to pick up a customer or two. Don't forget that there are tons of volunteers - ask for help if you are going to attempt a mass production of projects. Good luck - as a former teacher we love anything a parent does for us! Thanks.

How to increase the budget? Or maybe do every other month?

I'm with disneygirl - I'm a teacher and sometimes that chocolate "pick me up" in the middle of the day is a Godsend! How about the nugget tent favours, the nugget boxes or the explosion box card with a few kisses/candies?

I wish there was a nice way to say this.

For $10/mo, you will basically only afford to get a large bag of candy from Costco to put in a bowl in the front desk of the office.

I also am with our school PTSO. We have had years where we ran on basically -0- funds, and other years where we had more to afford. If the PTSO is asking you to do this, I would see if they could increase your budget. I understand your wanting to WOW them, but unless you are willing to come up with (IOW "donate") some funds/supplies of your own (which will add up at 100 teachers per month) it will be difficult to do with the budget they have given you.
If I had to WOW them and only had $10/mo, I would create a very nice altered display (box, bowl, etc) using my donated time and maybe even materials, then use the $10 mo to buy a bag of candy each mo. But honestly I feel they haven't given you much to work with.
Good luck!

Oh. Wow. I thought the OP meant $10 per teacher per month. Opps. That's a whole other Oprah...

If you want to do something more personalized, what about little cards each month with a different thank you saying and a small candy? We just got --

Thanks, you're worth a million!

With a 100 Grand bar attached. :)

Wow, I thought I was being good with a $50 budget and 82 teachers! ;-) I generally do staff coffee once a month (get donations of coffee and donuts). Then I do 1 or 2 projects that are EASY and inexpensive...usually bag toppers. This month I'm doing Pumpkin Poops ($2 per bag of candy corn at Walmart and I was able to get by with three bags...they are the jumbo sized bags). The little bags were about $1.50 at Walmart in the wedding/craft section. So it was pretty cheap. I'm also going to do pop rocks candy (Our Staff ROCKS) in pocket cards. Also with my $50 a month I do birthdays (bagelopes with their favorite candy and a handmade card). There is no way in HE** that I'd make notecards or anything too time intensive for 100 people. Just 82 bag toppers and I'm SOOOO sick of them. Plus you start big and they'll expect big every month. From my experience they are loving just the small things and even the principal pulled me aside and told me what a huge difference it was making in morale. Is your PTO a tax exempt organization? If so you might be able to get donations to help a bit.

Jane

What about something like this..

http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...arble%20magnet

???altered magnets...hope that helps..

What about raffling off a ten dollar gift card one month in a stamped card and then individual somethings the next month?

I know you're on a tight budget but the whole group thing often doesn't work. As a former teacher who often didn't make it to the office or staff room until the end of the day, I'd often miss out on something like that (or not even know about it)
Good luck!

thanks!
 

Thank you for all your ideas. yeah, I did say$10/month for the WHOLE teacher staff. The mom that did it last year, usually did a piece of candy with a poem or quote attached. I don't mind donating the paper, etc. I just don't want to do candy every month-I want to do something new to them.

heather

Here are pics of the items I'm doing...
 

Here are the pumpkin poops (84 of them)

and

The birthday card and matching bagelopes for the birthdays.

Jane

what I ended up doing
 

I printed out the pumpkin poop and stapled it to a bag of m&m's. I found a big bag of 80 individual bags for 9.99. So, I bought 2 and did all 160-the leftovers I had for my kids classmates:) Now I have to figure out what to do for Turkey Day!! Thanks again.

does anyone have instructions for the bagelopes made from envelopes? I saw these and they are so cute.

As a teacher, I would say that a card with a kind word in it would make my day.

We do this job for the kids .. and hopefully along the way, we can change maybe one kids life.

Bag a lopes are easy. Take any envelope, seal it closed. Score on 3 sides the same amount (I usually do 1/2 inch or 1 inch), then cut the top off of the envelope fold the bottom tabs into the bottom of the envelope and glue them down. I have also used a label to hold them closed. I think there are directions in the templates forum