PTO Today

I'm afraid our budget will be cut this year for hospitality and since I'm new this makes me worry.

Our PTA provides a lunch and breakfast for our teachers before the school year starts. Well from what I hear the lunch has always been catered. I've been doing some research and we are looking of at least $500 for a catered sandwich lunch (which I think is ridiculous for a sandwich, bag of chips and a cookie).

I know I could put together a better luncheon with appetizers, salads, and more for half of the catering cost, but I'm afraid this may not look good on me since the teachers have already had a catered meal. And I don't want to any teacher off since they all do a wonderful job.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions about going with my way? Nothing would be homemade since people have there own feelings on this. I may have to toss salads and defrost appetizers but also have sandwich trays and other goodies, I think it could be very nice and keep a nice budget so that we can do other "meals" during the school year.

Thanks for your help,

I don't think the teachers would mind, and may like the change. I think it shows more thought and is a nice gesture. This year we were fortunate enough to have a local restaurant (Mimi's Cafe) donate 3 dozen muffins for our breakfast and another restaurant (Paradise Bakery) donate 6 dozen cookies. It wouldn't hurt to ask around. Good luck - and don't fret - it will all work out!

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Make it a great day!

We always do breakfast for our teachers and staff on their first day back. In fact, I spent most of yesterday shopping and cooking! We just do fruit, muffins and a couple of breakfast casseroles. They all love and appreciate it.
The actually don't want lunch, they want to be able to go out and visit and have lunch off campus for the first week, since that is such a treat for them.

I'm with you PTAmomma, the catering thing can be quite expensive. Having coordinated several lunches and breakfasts for teachers, I can tell you that parents love to donate items for these events. If you don't want homemade, then just state that the items need to be "store bought". We do homemade, but that's a matter of preference for people. Even if you stick with the same menu as the catered events, you can do it cheaper on your own. You may be able to find local businesses to donate items too. For example a local grocery store put together fabulous deli meat trays for one of our luncheons and charged us nothing!

It does take effort to pull it off, but I know our teachers loved the events and loved that parents took the time to make delicious things for them to enjoy.

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Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

I have been organizing these "meals" for a few years now & I know where you are coming from !!
Our teachers seem to enjoy our "homemade" lunches more than catered affairs. We try to do a different menu/theme with each event & they all comment on what fun they have. *We try to keep the theme secret*
Also, we do not use actual "homemade" items. Alot of times it is a matter of 2 or 3 moms going through the grocery store planning the event as if they were hosting it in their homes. Who better to budget?
If we do need to make anything, we do so in the school kitchen.
We have never had a complaint- Just be sure to make sure there are enough vegetarian dishes/sides. We have several & have never had trouble with that either !!

On our back to school night (meet the teachers) we provide pizzas, chips, cookies, and drink. They can come in as they please during the time. Some teachers eat before or after. Then the first day we do something for them. Last year it was muffins this year it's timbits (the little donuts). Plus I'm going to do coffee and hot choc. Delivered to their rooms. With a little note saying "welcome back"
We try to do something different every year. I would think a home made lunch would be better then a box lunch any day. In May we do a teacher luncheon for them and all the items are home made and the teachers just rave about all the good food.
Good Luck to you!

We get a lot of donations from local restaurants and even local banks who will pay for the food. We've had success with Applebees (lunch) and Chick-Fil-A (lunch) as well as QT (breakfast muffins), other places like Chili's etc have a teacher discount. The 2 banks have donated money for a meal or paid for a meal that we pick up. Aso try the local grocery store for muffin or donut donations.

Those $500 could very well be used for something more valuable. Our PTO is less than a year old. Our school is year round (begins in July). For the first time we also set up a "Welcome Back" breakfast reception to kick off the start of the new school year. Due to the summer season, we chose to buy in season tropical fruit. It cost just under $20 and filled up a very large tray for all teachers and staff memebers. On top of that we set up a table with brown kraft paper bags (small) that had 1 bottle of water, granola bar and several exclusive coupons from local restaurants (a percentage off each visit). Each bag had a personlized label "welcome back Ms. XXX". I created invitations on tropical flower stationary to tie in the theme and we used brightly colored butcher paper to cover the tables in the staff lounge. We set up the afternoon before the 1st day. I cut the fruit at night and another parent dropped it off early the next morning. You could save the $500 for Teacher Appreciation Day instead.

Do You Have Any Membership Drive Ideas You Would Like To Share I Need Them I Am The New Pto President We Need A Membership Drive Really Bad

We have a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon on Report Card Pick Up days and have had a combination of catered/donated dishes. Many parents have a favorite recipe that they love to donate; others don't have time and will donate money (usually people donate between $ and $20) towards the cost of catering, beverages or paper goods. We've found that salads, desserts, and drinks are the easiest dishes to ask for. We usually collect a couple hundred dollars and that more than covers the cost of a few hot dishes and supplies.

No one else has mentioned this, but we include all the office and maintenance/engineering staff in the luncheon, too. Remember, these people work very hard, and can be terrific allies in helping out with your events throughout the year.

I've never heard anyone complain about the quality or selection of food. They seem to be most appreciative to receive a free, hot meal.