Volunteers and Halloween: A Great Match

One of the most fun holidays to celebrate with volunteers is Halloween. For some reason, they go together very well.

At Appreciate Volunteers, we have been enjoying talking about fun ways to show our volunteers how important they are to us with Halloween celebrations. Everything from simple dishes filled with that great tradition Halloween candy corn to costume contests.

Not every situation works for costume events on the job, but if your group can allow costumes, that is a fun for your volunteers to celebrate the holiday.

Of course, much of this takes a little planning and promoting time, so you need to be thinking about what you will do for your volunteers this Halloween. Waiting til  the last minute will result in something that may be too simple for what you want to do. Get started so that you can say Thank You to those great volunteers who make your group or organization work.

Start Planning for Fall Volunteer Recognition Events

If you use the holidays that are coming up in the Fall to have a special event for your volunteer recognition, it's time to start the thinking and planning process. Halloween, Thanksgiving, even Christmas are popular times to hold a volunteer recognition event.

This kinds of events do take some planning and foresight. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas are very popular for holding annual parties for companies and organizations. That means many good venues will be booked ahead of time. So it will take some searching on your part to find a good place to hold your event.

You also need to consider who you need to approvals from. Often times, you need to get on the calendar for board meetings, if they are required to approve an event like this. Again, advance planning helps.

Dealing with menus and themes are important considerations, too. If you like to celebrate Halloween with your volunteers, you can find some fun and easy ways here. But, you may also be using this for your annual volunteer recognition event, so awards and personalized gifts will need to be ordered.

Starting early for your planning will help you have a more leisurely fall and a much better volunteer recognition event this year. So don't put it off. You'll thank me later. 

Recognition Ideas for Summer Volunteers

For many of us, those students off for summer vacation have volunteered their time to help us out. It's getting on time for them to return to school. It's time to start thinking about the ways that we will thank them for being part of group.

The extra hands during the summer certainly made a difference for us. So we want to do something special to show our appreciation. For our boys who have helped out, we are giving them personalized caps. Each has their name on it and a note of thanks from us. We included our logo in the design.

For the college bound girls, we are giving them a treasure box. Again, personalized with thanks and our logo. For the high school and younger girls who helped, we have chosen a personalized notebook. 

An ice cream social is in order to celebrate the many hours of time they all put in to help us out. All our student volunteers enjoy ice cream so this was a no-brainer for us. For you, there may be other types of fun food that you can make an event out of for your student volunteers who are returning to school.

Because we have had recognition events and given appreciation gifts to our student volunteers for many years, we have gotten some wonderful volunteers returning each year to help us out. I'd say that's an investment in our future success.

Celebrate Weird Contest Week with Volunteers

We've had some fun using wacky holidays to celebrate our volunteers, but we have another one to share with you. The third week of August is Weird Contest Week. This one will take just a bit more planning on your part, but it doesn't have to involve a lot of expense. At Appreciate Volunteers, we have come up with a fun one that can take the whole week and doesn't cost much either. Find out more about our idea for paper napkin corsages.

But, that's just one idea. If you want to combine another fun event, plan a watermelon party and use a seed spitting contest. That's a pretty weird contest if you ask me.

Animal rescue groups can make use of this week to have naming contests for the next so-many animals that will need to be named. Of course, giving out cute awards as thank yous.

Take advantage of Weird Contest Week to make the workplace fun for your volunteers. It will be a great way to show your appreciation and help you retain those precious volunteers.

Use Thank You Cards for Volunteer Appreciation

One of the easiest things we can do for our volunteers is to remember to say thanks. But, in our hectic work schedule, sometimes that's hard to do. Make thank yous a little easier on yourself by using Thank You cards. 

These don't have to elaborate, but make them a simple way to remember to thank volunteers. Set up your schedule for at least the next several months. Have a collection of cards available within your monthly or weekly folder. Every time a volunteer crosses a milestone in service hours or anniversaries, even small milestones, prepare a thank you card.

Sending via the mail is a great way to say thank you, but hand delivering as the volunteer arrives or leaves works out well, also. Make sure to add a little personal note, even if you use the customization features for cards online.

See our choices for wonderful thank you cards for volunteers at Appreciate Volunteers and get lots more ideas for simple ways to show appreciation to your volunteers.

Wacky Holidays for Volunteer Fun, Part 2

For the month of June, Appreciate Volunteers is using wacky holidays to celebrate our volunteers. Planning for these wacky holidays may take a little, but we are happy to do what we can for the volunteers. We started off with ideas for the whole month, like National Blueberry Month. Now we continue the food theme in Part 2.

Lots of fun days during the month of July to bring special foods in to the work place. Any excuse we can use to thank our volunteers and recognize the time and effort they put in is what we are aiming for here.

Try July 20th, National Lollipop Day. Decorate a nice large lollipop with a ribbon and an attached card that says something simple like: Thanks to our volunteers. Give one to each volunteer on July 20th. There are plenty of fun days to make use of for your volunteer appreciations. So take advantage of one or two and do a little extra.

This doesn't mean a huge and expensive event if you don't have the time and budget. It can be simple. And quite inexpensive. So don't be afraid of doing small things as thank yous. Make sure to visit Appreciate Volunteers for more ideas.

Thanking Volunteers with Wacky Holidays

It's fun to celebrate wacky holidays and a great excuse to thank our volunteers for their efforts. At Appreciate Volunteers, that just what is going on in the month of June. Of course, these do take some planning, so the holidays for July are being featured. That gives you time to get the celebration planned out.

The month of July gives us several fun ways to celebrate the whole month. National Blueberry Month, Eggplant and Lettuce Month, Mango and Melon Month, and Sandwich Generation Month. Planning for Volunteer Appreciation with Wacky Holidays in July gives you lots of ways to make use of these holidays to do special things for your volunteers.

Some are as simple as bringing blueberry muffins to work for your volunteers. But, another idea takes things further. You can get ideas for having a lunch to thank volunteers and let them build their own sandwiches and name them. Then give them a small, personalized gift of appreciation with their sandwich name on it.

Depending on your budget, you can go all out, or keep it very simple. But this kind of idea can work great for all sorts of wacky holidays. The key here is to do something special for your volunteers in appreciation of their time and effort given to your group or organization. So enjoy those special times and visit Appreciate Volunteers for more ideas.

Planning Summer Volunteer Recognition Events

With summer here, we are busy planning fun volunteer recognition events. Different years we have had different types of events, but always had some kind of fun during the summer months. At Appreciate Volunteers, we sharing what has been successful for us in the past and offering up new ideas that we busy planning.

One of the simplest and least expensive has been an ice cream social for our volunteers. The joy of summer foods like ice cream, sherbert and frozen yogurt is always a hit. By serving the ice cream in cones, you can eliminate the costs of bowls, spoons and toppings.

A watermelon party can also be a fun and not-too-expensive way to celebrate your volunteers. If you can get the watermelon donated, or at a reduced price from a local farmer, even better. One year, we even had a seed-spitting contest and gave away goofy prizes to the best and worst spitters. Yep, you can imagine the fun we had with that one!

Barbeques and light luncheons are always popular, but can involve more expense. Try planning a theme around one of these. Something fun like a ball park barbeque can make the event more memorable. Give out baseball caps to all your volunteers and serve up plenty of hotdogs and peanuts. If you can have a baseball game on the radio at the same time, you have great background music.

So think about fun ways to show your volunteers how much they are appreciated this summer. Put on an event that will having everyone enjoying the memories for a long time to come.

Recognize Graduating Volunteers

For many of us, the high school and college students play an important role in our volunteer make-up. So it's equally important that we take some time to celebrate their great achievement of graduating. Most families will plan a graduation party for their own children, but we can plan a celebration for them as well. At Appreciate Volunteers there are many ways to show your appreciation.

If you have a number of graduates this year, it can work easily to have a single celebration to honor them all. For some of these young adult graduates it may mean the end of their volunteer time with us. Some volunteer to complete a community service project for a class. Others will be taking on summer jobs or preparing to move to another location, either to start college or a new job. So this means we want to take some time and thank them for what they have given to our organizations.

Our friend Mandee has prepared a whole series of articles to help plan a graduation party. She shares information about themes, food, presentations, even fun personalized posters of the grads. You can get plenty of ideas and helpful information from her articles. We know we have and will continue to do as we celebrate our graduating volunteers.

Even if you are celebrating just one graduate, this special time in his or her life deserves some recognition from you. A personalized gift of thank you doesn't have to ruin your budget. It can be as simple as a comomerativerefrigerator magnet or a small treasure box that will be a reminder of how much their volunteer time was valued by you and your group.

If You Missed Volunteer Recognition Day

Were you one of those managers who missed Volunteer Recognition Day this year? Well, it's past, but that doesn't mean you have to wait until next year. Show your volunteers how much they are appreciated at other times, too. My motto is to take every excuse in the book for Volunteer Recognition.

So what are you going to do now? At Appreciate Volunteers, we have some other ideas for you. In fact, that's what the whole site is about. Ways to show your appreciation.

If your budget allows, plan a special event to recognize all your volunteers, but especially those who have been with you for a time. If you can pick the week where your longest service volunteer celebrates a milestone, then you can honor that person and recognize the time or service hours of each volunteer in turn.

Remember to include the newest volunteers. Welcome them into your organization or group. It's especially helpful and encouraging to them to see the others who have been with you for a nice length of time.

If your budget doesn't allow for a big event, think about smaller events. Bringing lunch in for your volunteers on special days is a less expensive alternative. You can still honor milestones and welcome new volunteers.

Even on the smallest budget, simple things that sending a thank you card or note on a volunteer's anniversary with your group can mean so much. Bringing some home baked cookies in with you to share with the volunteers is very inexpensive.

You may have missed Volunteer Recognition Day this year, but put it on your calendar for next year. Then do other things to appreciate your volunteers during the rest of the year.

Simple Ways to Express Volunteer Appreciation

Large events and large gifts are not always necessary for volunteer appreciation. Sometimes the budget just doesn't all for much. But we still want show our thanks in some special way.

Simple ways tend to be the best for volunteer recognition on a budget. Everybody enjoys food while at work or taking a break from the work. So think food treats. When I can get around to baking, I always make extras to take into work for the volunteers. Especially cookies, but I've brought in cupcakes, fresh bread pieces with a couple of spreads to go on top, even chips and dip. Whatever treat you pick will be appreciated by your volunteers.

This doesn't need to elaborate nor does it need to be homemade. You might just enjoy stopping by the grocery store on your way into work and picking up a few food items. Think a little ahead for this and bring along some proper serving dishes. A plate for cookies or cupcakes, a bowl for chips, that sort of thing.

Also, think a head and prepare a little tent sign that you can stand alongside the plate of goodies. The sign can say something simple as well. Thanks to all our volunteers works just great.

At Appreciate Volunteers are always busy sharing our ideas, plans and tips for ways to show recognize and thank the many hard-working people who make our organization run. Stop by and get ideas for your own group, or share with us some of the successful things you've done.

Volunteer Recognition Day

The day to celebrate volunteers is coming. April 20th is Volunteer Recognition Day. It's such a special day that we need to take the time to plan something very special for these very special people. Yes, I know I used that word "special" often, but for good reason. Where would we be without these folks in our world?

If you manage volunteers in anyway, you need to be planning for this day. Our motto is: take every opportunity in the book to appreciate our volunteers. What better opportunity than Volunteer Recognition Day?

What are you planning? Some big event? A smaller celebration just for those volunteers? It doesn't matter what you actually planning, as long as you do something special on April 20th. We have some ideas to help you out at Appreciate Volunteers.

Why not use this day to give a personalized gift? If you budget can afford it, go for something extra special that has meaning for your volunteers. If you are on a small budget, something as small as a refrigerator magnet or a pin that is personalized for your volunteers will be appreciated as well.

What ever you decide to do, do something! This is the day to show how much we appreciate the time and effort our volunteers give us. April 20th is coming so get moving and get planning.

Welcome Appreciate Volunteers

We are happy to announce a web site devoted entirely to recognizing and appreciating the volunteers of our group or organization. If you manage volunteers, the you want to visit this site. Appreciate Volunteers is all about ways to help you show your thanks for all the efforts your volunteers put in.

The site is written by people with a wealth of experience in managing volunteers in many different organizations and groups, from community to private. Along with being volunteers themselves, so they know what they are talking about.

It's easy to get distracted in this busy world, but taking the time to recognize and appreciate volunteers is so important. You'll find lots of little ways and simple things to show how important your volunteers are to you.

So take a few minutes and visit Appreciate Volunteers. Tour around the site, read helpful tips and information and share your own insights.