Spring is the time when we recognize those who go above and beyond–Volunteer Appreciation Month is in April, and Teacher Appreciation Week is in May. As an Army spouse, we love our volunteers–they work so hard–and most units will plan a volunteer appreciation event in April. Because I’m also usually a room mom for one (if not both) of my kids, I thought I’d design something that would work for either volunteer or teacher appreciation.
Hopefully these will save you some time. If you’re planning one of these events, then you’re probably one of the head/main/chief volunteers, and you need things to be as easy as possible. So, I’ve included seven printable quotes, name tags and gift tags, and candy wrappers. I’ll also link to this year’s gift (for me), the DIY gold jewelry bowls that Amy came up with. If you’re planning a teacher appreciation event, then see {this} post for matching teacher-themed quotes.
I started with an Evite
that I liked. I’ve pretty much given in to peer pressure, and now I use Evites for almost all military-related social events. People seem to do better with RSVP’ing when they can do it electronically.
{Click here to visit this invitation on Evite; it’s called “Floral Bloom”}
I then used the same floral background to create a set of seven quotes about volunteering. They’re all sized as 5x7s and I am going to use them on the table at our volunteer appreciation luncheon; but they would also be a great gift on their own. I bought 5×7 frames at the dollar store, spray painted them gold {thisis the paint I used}, and they look great:
Like I said, I made seven different printable quotes about volunteers and the impact that they make, so pick and choose which ones work best for your intended audience:
Click beneath each photo to open the pdf file in a separate window. You can print or save it from there.
“Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.”
–David Thomas.
Click {here} to download.
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“The happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others.”
–Gordon B. Hinckley
Click {here} to download.
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“Do small things with great love.”
–Mother Teresa
Click {here} to download.
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“The world is hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers.”
–Terri Guillemets
Click {here} to download.
•••••
“Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.”
–Edwin Hubbel Chapin
Click {here} to download.
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“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
–Winston Churchill
Click {here} to download.
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“Why I Volunteer” poem–Anonymous
Click {here} to download.
If you’d like to add your own text, here’s a blank:
(Right mouse click and use “Save As” to save this as a jpg and edit with your own text; I used PicMonkey and the font “Sacramento”)
•••••
As I mentioned earlier, we are giving our volunteers this DIY gold jewelry bowl as a gift this year. It’s not super-expensive, but it fits our small budget, and I hope they will love it. You can read about this project here and here. You can probably find someone with a vinyl cutting machine to make these for you to keep costs down; they can follow my tutorial for cutting round monograms here. I do sell them in my Etsy shop {here} but if you are mass-producing these then you will definitely want to go the more economical route and not pay retail.
Jewelry bowl with round monograms
I bought the turquoise/aqua shred at the dollar store, and the coordinating tulle and quatrefoil ribbon at Hobby Lobby (be sure to be buy it during a 50% off week or use a coupon!).
The gift tags I used are Avery #22802
, or you can also print them on blank white card stock and cut them out using a paper cutter. If you want to print the recipients’ names on the tags, you can use photo editing software (we like PicMonkey) to add the name (the font I used is Sacramento), or you can create your own PDF using Avery’s Design and Print Online software (I love that *free* program and highly recommend it!).
Gift tags (matches Avery 22802), click {here} to download.
We are hosting a seated luncheon this year and these little bowls will be at each seat; the name tag will double as a place card.
••••••
If you’d rather create your own using the Avery site I referenced above, here’s the single image for you to upload:
The chocolate wrappers are a fun little extra; I have printed them out over the years using all sorts of artwork, from my husband’s unit crest, to the kids’ school mascot, to teeny tiny Jane Austen silhouettes for a fundraising event. They are just standard address labels (Avery 5160
) wrapped around Hershey’s Nuggets
chocolates, but they make it look like you ordered custom confections for your event. Scatter them on the table, bag them up as favors, or place them in small candy dishes around the room–it all works!
Here’s the file for the chocolate wrappers:
Chocolate wrappers (matches Avery 5160), click {here} to download.
••••••
And if you’re hosting a large event, then you probably want to include name tags. Just as with the gift tags, you can either print them out (Avery 5392
or on white card stock) and hand print the names on them, or add your own text using the Avery software I linked to above.
Here’s the PDF so you can print them out:
Click {here} to download.
••••••
And here is the single image if you’d like to add your own text on the Avery site:
And if you’re providing bottled water, here’s the file for water bottle labels that say “We {heart} our Volunteers.” You can print them out on full-sheet sticker labels {I use these}. The PDF is {here}.
Hopefully that will be (almost) everything you need for a successful event!
And if you’d like to see more, here’s what I did last year for a similar volunteer appreciation event:
Read about the decor and set up {here}, the menu {here}, the gift {here}, and the champagne bar {here}.
Let me know if you have any issues with the downloading/printing and I will try to help. I hope this saves you some time!
(Disclosure: some of the links used are affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, we will earn a small commission. You won’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise).
Thanks for stopping by–
