

Creative Ideas for Teacher
Appreciation Lunch What do you do to
thank those wonderful teachers who inspire your children on a daily
basis?
For many years I was on the committee for the teacher appreciation
luncheon at my children's school. I have accumulated a number of creative ideas
that I have shared below.
First, you should select a theme.
This will help with the food and decorations. Great and easy to
work with themes include: Beach, Summer, Luau, Spring, Garden,
Patriotic, Western, Oscars, or Around the World.
Beach
Bash, Last Luau, or Splash into Summer

For a Beach Bash, Last Luau, or
Splash into Summer theme
the menu can be a variety of salads such as tossed, spinach, tuna,
shrimp, chicken, potato and fruit kebobs. Serve them with small rolls or
croissants. Umbrella drinks are a must. Desserts should be finger
foods like chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels, brownies,
cupcakes or cookies.
Beach Cupcakes
White Cake Mix
Box Graham Crackers
Blue food coloring
White frosting
Drink umbrellas
Small gum balls
Colorful stick of gum
Make cupcakes according to white cake
mix directions. Use blue food coloring to dye half of the icing to
look like the ocean. Purchase graham crackers and crush them to
make it look like the texture of sand. Take the cupcake and ice half of
it with the blue icing. Ice the other side with a thin coat of
white icing. Cover the white icing with a thin layer of crushed
graham crackers. You now have your ocean and your sand. In
the sand place a tiny drink umbrella and a gum ball to make it look like
a beach umbrella with a beach ball under it. You can also take a
colorful stick of gum and fold it to look like a beach chair and place
it under the umbrella.
Decorations for a Beach
Blast should includes blue/aqua/white table
covers, fish shaped trays and
beach buckets can be used to serve the food. Table decorations can
be clear vases or hurricanes filled with sand and sea shells tied with
ribbon. You could also sprinkle sand and shells directly onto your table
top for decoration.
The Luau is easy there are
tons of decorations available through Oriental Trading. Be sure to
keep it bright and cheery. Consider
flowers for a
centerpiece. and give each teacher a lei upon entering the lunch.
Create name tags that include their name in Hawaiian. The website
www.alohafriends.com
translates first names into Hawaiian.
For Splash into Summer decorate in
bright colors. Think about using beach balls, sun glasses, flip
flops, beach towels, inner tubes and beach umbrellas. Create beach
themed signage "This Way to The Beach" for outside the entrance,
"Food Hut" for the food table.
Create a Cool
Summer Drink -- Blue Crush
Ingredients for a single serving
-
Single serving of blue juice (Gatorade or
Kool-Aid jammers)
-
3/4 cup of ice
-
Gummy fish
-
Scoop of vanilla ice cream
-
Scoop of whipped cream or cool whip
-
Drink umbrella for decoration
-
Straw
Combine the blue juice with the ice in a blender.
Blend on high speed until the ice is crushed. Pour this mixture
into a clear glass. Drop in a few gummy fish. Add a scoop
of ice cream. Top with whipped cream and a few more gummy fish.
Add a straw and a drink umbrella.
Spring
and Garden

For a Spring and Garden themes
think flowers and bright colors.
For table covers consider brown paper with a strip
of Astroturf down the center.
Your centerpiece can be several empty odd-shaped wine bottles with the
labels removed clustered together with one dramatic
flower in each; A large vase filled halfway with lemons, limes,
and small oranges then add
few tulips wedged between the fruit to keep them upright; Flowers potted
in terracotta pots filled Food should include pasta salad, taco
salad, chicken salad, potato salad and fruit.
Patriotic

For a Patriotic theme decorate
in red, white and blue with stars and stripes.
For a centerpiece
decorate red, white and blue top hats. First, cut a small hole in
the top, center of the hat then push the ribbon from two or three helium
balloons through the hole. Attach a weight to the ribbon, this can
be anything because it will be hidden under the hat. Use tissue
paper to cover the hole by taking a sheet folding it in half and pushing
it through the hole. Continue adding sheets of tissue until it looks
full. Add a flag or star garland through the hole to further
decorate and you have a centerpiece.
Serve
"all-American" foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, deviled
eggs, corn on the cob, watermelon or fruit salad, lemonade, cake, and
desserts made in patriotic colors. See All Star Activities
"4th of July Fun"
page for recipe ideas.
Western
For a Western theme think dark colors
like brown, tan and black then add a splash of red or denim for color.
Consider brown paper for table covers. Then add red and white
checkered or denim runners in the center of the tables. Cowboy
hats, toy horses, bales of hay, bandanas, red and white balloons can be
used to decorate. Make some wanted posters with the teachers and
principals pictures. Use lanterns with balloons tied to the handle
for centerpieces and place a rope lasso around the bottom. The menu
should include BBQ beef sandwiches, BBQ chicken, BBQ potato chips, baked
beans, coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad, and watermelon.
Oscar
  
For an Oscar theme
think of gold, silver, black and white. Create a red carpet
leading to the entrance of the room. Line the tables up to
create a center walkway and create a walk of fame with a star for each
teacher/staff member with a message stating something that they have
accomplished. Serve the food in clear glass or plastic bowls. Use
black table covers on each table including the food table. Food
should be upscale like tossed salad, fruit kebobs, sandwiches made
of roasted turkey and/or beef tenderloin on croissants, Swedish
meatballs, quiche, shrimp salad. Dessert should include chocolate
covered strawberries, tuxedo brownies and star shaped cookies.
Tuxedo Brownie Hugs Cookies
Compliments of
http://kidscooking.about.com
Tuxedo brownie
cookies are the perfect "dress up" cookies for
parties, birthdays and special occasions of all
kinds. Even better: It only takes a few minutes to
make these tuxedo brownie hugs cookies.
Ingredients:
-
1 22.5 oz.
package brownie mix with syrup pouch
-
1/4 cup
unsweetened cocoa
-
1/4 cup water
-
1/4 cup canola
oil
-
2 eggs
-
1 13 oz. package
Hershey Hugs Kisses (black and white), unwrapped
Preparation:
- Preheat
oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with
parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Or spray with
nonstick cooking spray.
- In a
large mixing bowl, beat the brownie mix, syrup
packet, cocoa, water, oil and eggs together.
- Drop by
rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet,
one inch apart.
- Bake 8
minutes or just until set.
- Remove
from oven and let cool 1 minute. Press a Hershey
"hug" in the middle of each cookie.
Around the
World
For an Around the
World theme you need to contact parents and ask them to make a dish that
reflects their heritage. You will just need to make sure you have
enough entree's, salads and desserts. Decorate each table as a
different country. For instance Ireland should have a green table
cover and shamrocks, Mexico a bright yellow or pink table cloth and a
piņata, Italy checkered table cover and flower centerpiece. |