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.