Encourage Your Child to Volunteer This Summer

Now that school is out, parents will likely find themselves asking Now what?

You might travel as a family, or sign your child up for a summer camp, but you will want to consider how to make summer educational and meaningful as well as fun for your child.

As far as enriching summer options, the choices are endless. If you really want to bring meaning and growth to your child’s summer, encourage your child to volunteer.

Giving Back to the Community

Volunteering is all about giving your time and talents. For kids, the act of giving is vital for developing strong character qualities, including the ability to recognize and empathize with the needs of others and to give freely and without expecting anything in return. By developing these qualities, kids actually experience more personal success and do better in school – as well as build greater confidence and stronger friendships.

Growing as a Person

While some students may find comfort in the stable predictability of the school day, others may experience the burnout that comes from too much repetition. A summer volunteering experience is a perfect way for your children to break the routine and explore something out of the ordinary. Some students simply don’t learn best while confined indoors for long stretches. Volunteering will give students the opportunity to learn and explore while standing up, moving around and interacting more freely than is often the case at school.

In addition to getting out and about, students will grow from interacting with people from different generations, socio-economic backgrounds, and general life circumstances. They are likely to cross paths with people they otherwise wouldn’t have met if it hadn’t been for volunteering. They might learn about what life was like a long time ago from an elderly person they are helping, or perhaps, about customs and culture in another part of a world from an immigrant in the community.

Learn New Skills or Perfect Existing Ones

Although volunteering is about giving, you often receive more than you give in the end. This receiving may come in the form of new friendships, new-found inner strength, and in learning new skills. Some such skills will be tangible like learning or improving a musical talent, while others will be a little more abstract, like a stronger sense of self, better communication skills, and the ability to work better in a group setting order to achieve a common goal.


Help your kids get the most out of their summer break by giving back. Volunteering is the perfect way to grow, learn, and - yes - have fun. Not only that, but they’ll get plenty of practice for their school fundraisers!

5 Grand Ways to Show Your Appreciation for Teachers and Volunteers

Teachers and volunteers work tirelessly for our kids, spending hours putting together everything from quizzes to crafts to spelling lists. Try these creative and heartfelt ideas to show your appreciation.

1. Thank You’s from the Kids

All the work and effort these people give is because of the kids. Package the kids’ cuteness and gratefulness to make a special message that goes straight to the heart. Have the kids create a thank you video, interview them to see what they appreciate about that person, or have them recreate a scene or a skit that illustrates their feelings. Kids can also work together to create a gratitude flower with petals from each child, or a large handprint or fingerprint craft as a handmade gift.

2. Gifts They Can Use in the Classroom or Take Home

We all know that teachers often use their own money to get things for their classroom. Many teachers purchase craft supplies, decorations, or organization items like bins. Ask them to write out a wish list that you can distribute to other parents so their wishes can come true! Or invest in some great fabric or transparent bins that they can use in their room or take home if they wish. Practical, money-saving gifts can really make an impact while improving the classroom.

3. Decorations that Surprise Them

Sneak into their space and decorate like mad! Decorate their classroom door with a theme and their kids’ contributions, or dedicate a hallway to your volunteers or teachers by hanging items from the ceiling and decking out a bulletin board. If you have access to their classroom or the PTO/PTA room, transform it into something surprising and fantastic, like an underwater party, a royal castle, or a magical forest.

4. Options for Choosing Their Own Gift

Instead of another mug or pen, combine efforts with other parents to purchase a gift card so that they can purchase whatever they’d like. Another option is for schools that sell scrip — take donations from families and let teachers or volunteers choose the scrip gift card.

5. The Cute Gifts

Sometimes you have to just let the cuteness flow. Themed snacks, decorated gifts, and puns galore (like “Thanks a latte!” or “You are a tea-rrific teacher!”) will still bring a smile to the teacher or volunteer’s face. Pair your sentiment with a nice gift card, coffee, or flowers, and that person will surely feel your appreciation.

If you’re a school volunteer, a teacher, or a parent who is looking to thank others, please accept our gratitude for all you do for kids in your community. If we could send you all gratitude flowers, we would!

A Guide to Holiday Shop Volunteer Appreciation

Santa’s eaten all the cookies, selfies & group photos have been taken with loved ones, and your Holiday Shop is completed - Now it’s time for you to show the right appreciation for your volunteers!

We’re sure you noticed that volunteers keep the world spinning during the days of your holiday shop, so here are a few tips on how to keep them wanting to come back next holiday season while expressing your gratitude.

They’re Rockstars – Show Them

Your holiday shop probably had a few lines that felt longer than Santa’s naughty-or-nice list this season, and your volunteers brought their A-game to make it work. One way to show your appreciation is to break out that list of volunteer names, put them on cut-out stars, and hang them in the lobby or cafeteria. Inviting a few ‘lil helpers will teach them a valuable lesson in showing they care, express creativity, and also be a total blast.

Have an Awards Night

Everyone likes to get a pat on the back or a nod of a hat for a job well done. What better way to show you care by hosting an awards night for volunteers? Order some pizza, and send out an invitation to families that participated after getting your creative juices flowing for awards. Use your sense of humor and have the volunteers participate. A fun family outing is a great way to show the kids that hard work gets recognized.

3 Words: Volunteer Survival Kit

A sense of humor can go a long way and can be an excellent way to relieve stress after the weeks of planning and hectic execution. Start your kit by gathering pens, sticky notes, candy, highlighters, coffee shop gift cards, etc. Put them in a storage bag, label it, and include a small personable note expressing your thanks to the parents. The secret here is creativity, becoming an incredible investment towards participation in next year’s event.

The Classic Thank You Note

Different ways to show thanks come and go like fidget spinners & rompers. The handwritten thank you note is a timeless classic that never goes out of style. Be personal in your letter and create a narrative of the fundraiser. Frame any struggles in a light-hearted sense of humor and celebrate victories comprehensively. Send feelers out in your PTO meeting when you recap the event to get the whole picture. This will give you items to improve next time and showcase your competencies to use for next year, while also making a great outline for an amazing thank you note. Your group will be grateful for tackling 3 birds with one thank you note to express gratitude to your volunteers.


We hope that you can take some of these pointers and give them your own spin to show your volunteers how much you care. With a little creativity, these mementos can make a world of difference in volunteer participation, just like they’ve made a world of difference to your holiday shop and community.

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