Last year I purchased custom printed m&m's.
Half were printed 'ThankYou Teachers', other half 'ThankYou Staff'. I have been in charge of our Teacher/Staff weeek for 3, this will make 4 years. I didn't theme it 'Hollywood' last year, just 'You are a STAR'. Bought the reynolds pre-fab baking stars, filled them with the m&m's plus other goodies. We have alot of teachers that chew 1/2 sticks of gum, bought a few 10 paks and put a few sticks of gum in every star. These tinfoil stars are very flimzy, I had my daughters cut out shapes of card stock and glue the stars to them. It made it a whole lot easier to stack them in a box for distribution. I get 2 parents to go around the building passing things like this out...first thing in the morning to get everyone going. They would walk into the rooms/offices and say loud, and cheery, "YOU ARE A STAR"! Everyone laughs, my parents really enjoy doing this, makes all the students feel good as well. One year I made Flower arangements from candy, and fake flowers. I bought the special long thin candy bars that I usually only see in the grocery store or drug store with boxed candy Use floral tape to wrap candy sticks near one end of floral stick, some I put bows using the very thin silk craft ribbon. I used packs of gum, the stick kind that teachers like, some I used pencils as the floral sticks...teachers always give the kids pencils. I took several pieces of single wrapped hard candy and wrapped them to a stick. Find someone that does floral arangements and they will have a ball with this idea. I bought Bright Colored Plastic containers, not necessarily flower pots. Cheap, dollar store... treat them just as a flower arangement only use the candy. It took time but EVERYONE loved them!! I made 6 and pulled tickets for winners. The theme for that year was most simply "Spring into the Future", we had posters all over the school, bright table covers and bright flowers hanging all over, bugs, trees, butterflies and birds. Anything related to spring time!! It was awesome if I do say so myself. I will do it again because I still have the decorations.Get GOOD helium for balloons. If you get cheap stuff from BJ'S the balloons will be down by morning. You can get a nice sized tank fairly cheap @ welding supplies, they will have good nozzles and you can buy the nozzle for about $30, make sure only those that will BE CAREFUL not to abuse the rubber attatchment on the nozzle fill the balloons. Always shut the nozzle between balloons or you will continue to leak helium, and NEVER let kids do it!! We set up a table @ bigger sporting events (home coming...) and sell helium balloons etc., we ALWAYS post a sign saying we will not be responsible for the balloons or the helium after it is paid for. Kids and some adults will inhale it, helium can cause seizures. Parents have never had a problem with it, we talked to many many people before we started letting bigger kids have access to them. We explained about the seizures and nobody seemed to have a problem. It has been 2 years since we've done this and all is well thus far. Superintendent was ok with it as well. PTO purchased a wheeled dolly for $25,I keep the Helium attached to it @ all times, with bungie cords. This will keep the tank from falling over!! You will want to be sure to get a tank you can move around (they're heavy) Dolly comes in quite handy for moving other stuff!! I might buy a better one because the wheels are getting worn...too much weight, have to keep putting air in them. I know this VERY long but my mind is going in circles with this...our budget is rather large. Last year I got in touch with a company that makes 'wallets'. The ones I bought are stainless steel. Punch in ACM in your browser bar you will find what I'm talking about. I called the company, 2 very nice men own it, I explained who I was what I was doing and that I would like to purchase 35 stainless steal wallets and could I get a better price. They were exstatic!! They sold them to me for cost, $30 and every TEACHER the PRINCIPAL and the 2 head office SECRETARIES received one. I purchased $10 gift certificates for ALL STAFF MEMBERS, including custodians (only elementary), all business office staff, all cafeteria staff. I decided these teachers ALWAYS get stuff school related and that it was time they received something personal!! I have had this type of wallet for 4plus years and every place I go people ask about it. Check it out...you'll want one.
Sorry so long!!
