PTO Today

Well, it’s January and the holidays are squarely behind us. Every January I do the same thing: I sit down and regroup about how Christmas and New Years went. I write down what went well and what I would change. I jot down decorating ideas, fun family event ideas, and reminders of what made me crazy this year. I think back-to-school season for PTO, PTA, HSA leaders is a lot like the holiday season. You do your best to be organized, and then you dive head first into this insanely busy time. Have you regrouped with other volunteers on how your back-to-school season went?

What would you like to do differently for back-to-school 2012? How can you make it better? Now is the time to think about it. I bet getting more parents involved at the very start of the school year is TOP on your list!

Here’s where PTO Today comes in. Make your back-to-school life a whole lot easier and productive — sign up for our Back2School program. It just kicked off and boy, are people signing up quickly! They know that participation in our FREE Back2School program is a fantastic way to get helpful tools and resources to make a great first impression on parents this fall. That first impression can make or break your year, in terms of involvement!

Here’s what Back2School participants receive:

• Jump In! magazines and coupons
• Back-to-school event planning guide
• Chance to receive parent sample packs
• And more!

If you are not familiar with our Jump In! magazine here’s the scoop: It’s a magazine that’s brought to you by the same team that produces PTO Today magazine — for you to pass out to parents at a back-to-school or parent/school event. Parents love the insightful articles that are meant to help parents bridge the school-home connection, as well as high-value coupons from family-friendly brands.

If you’d like to hear what other parent group leaders thought of the Back2School program, check out their testimonials and photos. If you still have questions, visit the Back2School FAQ. Sign up is here.

So, what are you going to do differently for back-to-school 2012?

We are excited to let you know that PTO Today and The Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts (SBLI) have teamed up to celebrate school and parent group volunteers from across the country. You may feel sometimes that your tireless volunteer efforts go unnoticed. Take heart, PTO Today and SBLI think that volunteers deserve recognition beyond their school walls. Starting this month, we’re kicking off a joint program called Superstar Volunteers. As part of this program, we profile a new Superstar Volunteer and their unique volunteer story every two weeks, from January through September. Here’s the really cool part: SBLI will donate $500 to the school of each volunteer we profile.

Our first Superstar Volunteer is Sunnie Robles-Schmidt from Santa Rosa, California. Props to Sunnie who has figured out how to juggle her busy family life AND volunteer at both the elementary school and high school. Read Sunnie’s full story to learn more about what kind of volunteer work brings her joy. Congrats Sunnie, for being the first SBLI Superstar Volunteer and for winning $500 for your school!

Do you have a volunteer at your school that you think deserves a SBLI Superstar Volunteer designation? Nominate him or her today – winners get a $500 donation to their school and will be featured on both ptotoday.com and SBLI, just like Sunnie!

So did you brave Black Friday? Getting any amazing bargains? Not me. I am not one for crowds, especially when it comes to the shopping mall! I did, however, get some fabulous bargains online in the electronics category. (Obviously my kids don’t read this blog ; )

While I am excited that I got some excellent technology deals, these gifts come with some serious mommy angst. After the holiday excitement fades, my biggest priority is to teach my kids to be safe and responsible online. And fast. It feels kind of daunting to me! That’s why I am excited that PTO Today has everything I need to know in this category in its Internet Safety Kit! Now, maybe I am a little biased, but I feel like this event is a gift to parents and to a school community. Teaching parents about how to keep their kids safe online… awesome. Getting all the parents in the same room to compare notes and swap stories… even better!

From an event planning perspective, the nice thing about our free Internet Safety Night Kit is that everything in the kit comes on one CD. Just pop it into your computer to download, email and print these tools:

• A FREE copy of Trend Micro™ Online Guardian software (retail value $49.95) to give away at your event
• Easy to follow step-by-step event planning guidelines
• Professionally written Internet safety PowerPoint presentation
• Discussion starters
• Educational videos about online safety, shot by real adults and kids!
• Take home flyers for parents (including a cyber bullying & cell phone handout)
• Promotional materials

As if we weren’t already totally pumped for our 2012 PTO Today Expos, now we have a really fun give-away t-shirt to add to the mix!  Congrats to Karen Shore, whose fun phrase was chosen by Facebook community members — seen on the t-shirt to the right.

Thanks to all who participated and voted in the contest. We couldn’t have done it without you.  It was a tough decision between Karen’s and the other two slogans, submitted by Lisa Singeisen and Jennifer Leach! We were just relieved that we didn’t have to make the final call.

We also had a random drawing for 5 free t-shirts, and Kathi Moore and Carrie Hirmer are the lucky winners for this drawing. Congrats!

If you haven’t already visited our PTO Expo page, be sure to pop over and register. Take advantage of the early bird special and you’ll automatically entered for a chance to win $250 worth of merchandise for your school.

Do you have any photos from the 2011 PTO Expos? We’d love it if you shared them on our Facebook page!

We are excited to let you know that we just kicked off the 2012 Happy Healthy School Kids Program! This is a fabulous way for your group to support health and well-being efforts at your school. We’d like to invite parent group officers to sign up — space is limited.

If selected to participate, each school will receive 200 gift packs to distribute to parents at an event. Each gift pack will include:

• Family-friendly product samples
• A copy of THRIVE!, our health and wellness focused digest and savings booklet which features tips and high value coupons.

In order to participate in the Happy Healthy School Kids program, you must have a school family event planned sometime between February 1 and March 31, 2012, at which you can distribute the packs to attending parents. This can be any type of event (doesn’t need to be health/wellness focused). There is no fee to participate and you’ll be notified, via email, by early January if your group has been selected.

This program is always a huge hit with parents so be sure to sign up early!

We are super excited to announce a new School Family Night:  Kinect™ Family Game Night!

As you know, at PTO Today we are all about helping PTO and PTA leaders build community at their schools. We think that Kinect Family Game Night is a fabulous way to bring families at your school together for a night of feel-good fun that’s a blast for everyone! Kinect™ for Xbox 360 will get parents and kids alike up and off their feet for an energetic night of game playing and friendly competition!

Here’s how this family night works:

• Start by ordering your free downloadable kit materials, which include step-by-step planning guidelines and a reproducible invitation flyer. Hint: straightforward materials and instructions make finding a volunteer to run this night a snap!

• Families will jump at the chance to attend this action-packed night out at school! This new event features a fun evening of physical activity using Kinect™ for Xbox 360, where you are the controller, as well as traditional gym games that will get everyone up and moving! All these activities are spelled out in your kit materials.

To see a Kinect™ Family Game Night in action, view our video and photo gallery! Through videos and photos you’ll get a sense of the fun and energy this event brings to your school community!

Now here’s the really cool part: Order your free kit before 1/31/12 and your school parent group will be automatically entered into the exclusive PTO Today Kinect™ Family Game Night sweepstakes*! One lucky school parent group will win a Kinect™ for Xbox 360® Prize Pack, featuring an Xbox 360 console, Kinect Sensor, a set of games, and a 50” big screen TV! Plus, (3) first prize winners will each win a Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports: Season Two game!

Winter is coming.  What better time to promote a healthy, active lifestyle, and get families out and moving? Order your free kit now!

*No purchase necessary. Open only to school parent group leaders registered with PTO Today. Prizes will be awarded to the registered school parent group organization. Sweepstakes ends January 31, 2012. See Official Rules for full details.

We had a great turn out last week at our “All About Online Auctions” webinar. Thanks to all that participated. There were many excellent questions asked and we hope you learned a lot.

This Wednesday, November 16, is the Maximize Your Online Auction & Intro to Mobile Bidding webinar.

Take part in this webinar for a more advanced look into maximizing the potential of your online auction, including the most recent technological development – mobile bidding. The online auction experts from BiddingForGood will share why schools are especially suited for online and mobile bidding success.

Register today and tune in for some great info on Wednesday, November 16th at 2:00 PM ET. If you are working or you are taxiing kids around during that time, fear not! Sign up for the webinar anyway … we will be sending everyone who registers a recording of the event so you can listen and learn, when it is convenient for you.

We always get lots of questions about auction planning, and over the past year or so questions about online auctions in particular have been popping up. So we’re excited to let you know that we’ve partnered with BiddingForGood to offer two webinars about online auctions! Attendance is free for one or both of these:

• All About Online Auctions, 2 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 9
• Maximize Your Online Auction/Intro to Mobile Bidding, 2 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 16

Don’t worry if you’ve never participated in a webinar before—they’re easy, plus they’re a great way to learn more about a topic of interest. And, at the end of each of the presentations there will be a Q&A with an online auction expert from BiddingForGood.

Hope you can join us!

Thanks to everyone who submitted a fun phrase to our Facebook contest! The PTO editors said it was not easy deciding, but we do have 3 phrases picked! Congrats to Jennifer Leach, Karen Shore, and Lisa Singeisen for being chosen as finalists.

Now it’s up to you! Which fun phase would you like to see on the 2012 PTO Today Expo giveaway t-shirt? Head over to Facebook to see the choices and cast your vote.

Two random voters will each receive 5 free t-shirts with the winning slogan. Be sure to tell your fellow school volunteers to vote too!