Teacher Appreciation Week Meals & Gifts {You Rock!}

Teacher Appreciation Week is my favorite week of the year! Teacher Appreciation Week is typically the first week of May each year.

This year we decided on a Rock n’ Roll theme and had a lot of fun putting the week together. I think everyone that had kids come home in March 2020 and ended up not sending them back to school for longer than expected gained a greater appreciation for all the hard work our teachers and administrators do. I was really excited to celebrate them all this year!

Teacher Appreciation Week Rock n’ Roll Theme

Each year we send out a schedule to the teachers and staff so they can plan ahead and know what they have to look forward to. We don’t want them to accidentally bring a lunch on a day we are providing it. This year we selected a song title to coordinate with that days meal or gift. 

In the staff room we put table linens on all the tables and a simple centerpiece. I wrapped a mason jar with a piece of colorful tissue paper and then a square of pink tulle fabric. Inside the jar I used floral foam to hold bamboo skewers that had these fun 80’s music cutouts. They were inexpensive with 35 pieces in the package. I even had some left over to use under the main sign.

On the main backdrop for the room I ordered this 5 ft  x 3 ft guitar backdrop and added cut out letters to it that said, “OUR TEACHERS ROCK!”. The balloon garland was made from various balloons, but what really pushed it over the top visually was using these 18” balloons. You can either string them on fishing line or use this balloon garland tape that makes it super easy to move balloons around to get the perfect look.

Monday: If You Like Pina Coladas

If you know anything about Utah, you know we love our soda shops. Since many people here don’t drink coffee, the soda shops are all the rage! They take a regular soda and add things like syrups, fruit purees, fresh lime and half & half to create really delicious soda cocktails. They also offer a variety of baked goods for the perfect treat. We did our own version here for the teachers. We offered a choice between a frosted sugar cookie and a chocolate chip cookie and for the soda bar we provided:

• 16 oz plastic cup with a lid
• Ice
• 2-liter sodas
• Dessert Sauce Puree’s in Mango, Raspberry and Pineapple (recipe here: https://dinnerthendessert.com/pineapple-topping/)
• Quartered limes
• Half & Half

Perhaps my favorite part is the Soda Drink Menu made by one of the committee members. Each drink combination was named after a famous song title and I really love how it turned out!

Tuesday: I’m Walking on Sunshine

We wanted to spread a little sunshine so each gift contained all yellow items. Chapstick, a highlighter, Juicy Fruit gum, a new Expo marker and some peanut M&M’s along with a voucher for a free item donated by a local shop was the gift of the day. 

Wednesday: When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

So, I guess if you aren’t as old as I am you may not remember this song but I remember hearing it at high school dances – gasp! I’m getting old!).

For our super star snack bar we took the time to individually package everything so we could portion it out and make it easier to distribute. We have learned that our teachers and staff like a “take one of each item” approach so they know that even if they are the last person to arrive, they get the same thing everyone else received.

We offered tortilla chips with a choice of salsa or guacamole. With a bag of veggies they could select either ranch dip or hummus.

Finally, we offered a fruit cup with a delicious fruit dip (8 oz Cool Whip mixed with 2 small strawberry yogurt cups).  We portioned about 2 oz of dip in 5.5 oz condiment cups that left room for dipping. 

Thursday: You Rock My World

Teachers love hearing directly from their students. After creating a simple questionnaire for each student to fill out, the Art teacher was asked to have the students fill them out when they came to art.

Then a local print shop was used to spiral bind the books into “fan mail” – so cute, right?! Along with the booklet, the gift of the day was a Rocky Road candy bar, Rock Candy sucker and a voucher for a free item from a local shop.

Friday: Strawberry Fields Forever

We have learned that our teachers love healthier options and the build-your-own salad bar means they can customize it to their taste and diet needs. We have some teachers that have to avoid dairy or gluten so a build-your-own bar always works great.

We provided lettuce, spinach, loads of topping choices and several salad dressings. We portioned the precooked rotisserie chicken from Costco in 3oz portions to help us make sure we had enough.

We offered local bakery dinner rolls that were as soft as a pillow and so delicious. Then we brought back our soda bar items from Monday.

The grand finale was the delicious cupcakes. We offered a pina colada or cookies and cream cupcake. They were the perfect treat (I know because I couldn’t resist sneaking one)! 

If you’re looking for a fun, memorable Teacher Appreciation Week theme idea, look no further. The teachers, staff and committee members alike had a lot of fun with this one. We loved showering them with delicious food and fun gifts for the week and hope they know that we think THEY TOTALLY ROCK!