Go Team! {Teacher Welcome Back Luncheon}

After nine years, I’m going out of elementary school with a bang! Haha! I’ve volunteered for the hospitality committee, room mom and front office substitute, and I’m hoping to score a job on the Fifth Grade Finale team. Whew! As for the hospitality committee, our first event of the year was a luncheon to welcome the teachers AND staff back to school. We went with a school spirit theme and hosted the event in the cafeteria.

The amazing janitorial staff had the cafe set up when we arrived for our first decorating session the night before.

We cut lengths of a plastic table cover roll for a functional and inexpensive alternative to tablecloths. To go with our tailgate and team spirit theme, we also cut runners out of buffalo check disposable tablecloths. It was a perfect touch and a great way to make a little pricier item go a lot further.

We splurged on fifty huge stems of white hydrangeas ($55 shipped from Dollar Hydrangea) and were able to make 24 centerpieces PLUS cake toppers out of them. I had a stash of 24 small mason jars to use as vases, which was perfect for our casual theme and budget (free!). We hand made pennant flags in school colors and wrote things like “welcome back”, “go eagles”, the school name and our school hashtag on them #XXbekind. The shakers were something the school already had on hand for us to use.

The focal point was a tailgate tent up on the stage! We sketched and painted the back of a pick up truck to hang behind it, and made pennants and buntings to jazz things up. A small bench, cooler, picnic basket and shakers were used as cute props for pictures. Each grade level took a picture and boomerang together and they turned out darling!

For food we served boxed Chick-fil-A lunches, which were a huge hit. They come with a chicken sandwich, bag of chips and a cookie. There were also gluten free and vegetarian options for the few with dietary needs. The cafe staff made us tea and water, and we served Chick-fil-A lemonade as well. Our committee was stationed around the room, greeting the teachers and staff, taking photos, keeping the tailgate playlist going, pouring drinks and so on. It was a fun and festive atmosphere!

Our budget did not allow for a cute cake or cookies, so we ordered a couple of sheet cakes from Costco and dressed them up with hydrangeas and pennant flags. If you’ve been around for a while you will know that dressing up grocery store cakes is my norm. :-)

Speaking of budget, all of this was done on an insanely small “public school” amount of money. Food aside, we spent next to nothing on decor – bringing items from our homes and getting crafty in our garages this summer.

It was such a treat and pleasure to work with this dream team of a hospitality committee. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year unfolds!! PS. Our fearless leader is the one next to me by the cooler. One day I want to give you a tour of her home!! <3

Welcome back, Eagles!!! It’s going to be a GREAT year!

Updated to add: There are many that do much, much more and many that cannot come do any of these things. I work at home and set my own schedule and picked up these odd jobs only because I enjoy them and intend to soak up every last ounce of fun while I have a kid in a school that welcomes volunteers.

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13 thoughts on “Go Team! {Teacher Welcome Back Luncheon}

  1. Wow! Hard to believe this is your family’s last year in elementary school. My son is also in 5th grade but his sister is coming up behind in 3rd so I have another couple of years. What a lovely setup y’all put together for the teachers. I’m taking notes for the next one we do at our school. I love the boxed lunch idea from CFA.

  2. Absolutely adorable!!! Curious if your school does anything for mother/son date night? Last year we did a Planetarium and hoping to find something different this year.

    1. We don’t have mother/son or father/daughter nights at school. Most of the local churches and Chick-fil-A do host those here. <3

  3. You will work so hard for this and believe me years from now they will never remember it. Oh your get all praise and glory but believe me nobody will remember what you served or did. I did it for four children at a catholic school. Did everything plays,hospitality committee etc etc. Now all four have graduated from prestigious colleges have great jobs but the only one that remember what you did is yourself. So what I am trying to say is dont kill yourself its not worth it. The years will pass and nobody and I am mean nobody will careless.

    1. I do it because it makes me happy and I enjoy being involved. I saw that once I had one in middle school the volunteer roles are scarce. I am glad to help as much as I can in elementary school. <3

    2. I think doing things for others isn’t about glory or being remembered… rather the joy of contributing and working together to be a blessing to your kids and those who teach and support them. I’m sorry you feel forgotten, but hopefully the joy of serving is greater than any feeling of not being appreciated. I worked for many years as room mom or assisting on field trips, and while noone else may remember what i did, I do, and am blessed by the time spent working with others and being a part of my girls lives.

  4. It looks so cute! I was on the Hospitality Committee at my daughter’s high school. I was also on staff. I can promise you the teachers and staff are so thankful for the special luncheons. It was nice to give back to them for all they do for our children. We also hosted a breakfast, soup luncheon, ice cream/dessert bar. Oh and the winter break (Christmas) luncheon was catered. We had a small budget but had so many partners in education that helped us with donations. Have so much fun with this. Time goes by so quickly!❤️

  5. This is darling and so sweet and as another PTO mom-I know that it does matter to the staff and to your kids! To see how much you care and devote yourself to treat these folks that work with our kids every day-it’s so special and as you said-the years fly by so the opportunities pass by quickly!

  6. This is absolutely lovely. I am sure the staff and teachers were so thankful for the festive kick off to the year!

    I love the ideas you have, and that you shared the way you made it budget friendly, because doing a large event like this on a budget is challenging!

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