When it comes to being appreciative, my wife is one of the most genuine people I can think of. She has always taught me, reminded me, and even helped me to be appreciative of those people that I am privileged to serve with on my team. She sees the value in showing appreciation. She models it in her life.

Earlier this week, we were on our way home from a trip to the beach. We stopped at Peach Park  in Clanton, Alabama like we always do on our trips home from the beach. It was a beautiful day, and our boys had a lot of fun playing and eating fried pies and homemade ice cream.

Abbey was also sure to purchase some fresh peaches so that we could send them to our sons’ teachers who had graciously allowed them to miss a couple of days of school!

Fall is a time that we have many new leaders and many seasoned leaders serving in our children’s ministry areas. Have you done anything lately to show them how much you appreciate them? Here are a few ideas.

1. Fill a pumpkin with smarties. For this gift I purchased a carve-able styrofoam pumpkin and cut a hole in the top. I placed a sheet of tissue paper in and then filled with smarties. I had one of our designers, Stacey, create a cute tag and attached it with a piece of jute twine.

If you would like to do this appreciate activity, we want to help. Here is a link to the little Pumpkins tags. Feel free to use these to show appreciation to your KidMin leaders. This item took about 5 minutes to prepare and costs approximately $1.50 each. You can purchase the items at Wal-Mart, Target, or dollar stores.

2. Spinning Suckers. I was walking through the dollar store looking for inspiration when my eyes saw these suckers. They were built in such a way that the suck actually spins around on the stick. I thought that it would be fun to use the “spinning” theme and came up with “I ‘spint’ time thanking God for you today!” I think that it would work on regular rope suckers as well, but I just loved the fact that these would spin.

We have a couple of different designs for you to choose from for this idea. Here are the links to the images that you can print and make your own “spinning” acts of appreciation. These suckers range from $.50-1.00 each and take just a few minutes to attach your cut-out tag to.

• Teal tag:Teal_Sucker-Tag
• Black tag: Sucker-Tag
• White and Teal tag: White-and-Teal-Tags

 

3. Payday Mix. Several years ago, I was introduced to this mix that tastes like a payday candybar. Now, I’m not sure if I think it tastes like a payday, but I do love it. Mix equal parts dry roasted peanuts with candy corn and the mix is complete. However, if this is too complicated, Brach’s is now selling it premixed.

 

Take a small cellophane bag or snack size ziplock bag and fill with the mix. Attach the little tag with a piece of jute twine and deliver to all of those kids ministry leaders. They will love it. In fact, my wife even used this one to take to our sons’ teachers this week.

Here is a link to the tag: Nuts About You-Tags

 

4. Something to “glowt” about! I thought this might be a great way to show your harvest party volunteers some appreciation. You can find these glow necklaces at almost any type of dollar store. They are fairly inexpensive and have a really “glowing” effect on a person.

Cut slits near the dashed lines and thread the necklace through. On the night of your event walk around and thank your leaders for volunteering. I also thought a fun use of this would be to let your kids leaders wear them on a Sunday morning. Place little note in your bulletin about taking notice of the people wearing them and ask your congregation to thank them for their service.

Here is a link to the tag: Glow Tags

 

5. Measuring Up! I found these $1 key chain tape measures at the Target One Spot and immediately thought they would be a great teacher appreciation gift. I know that curriculum often calls for a tape measure and I personally always seem to be looking for one and can’t find one! This one is a convenient, useable, and cost-efficient gift to satisfy all of your kidmin leaders.

I attached the tag with a piece of jute twine to the key ring and was done. This is definitely the quickest of the teacher appreciation ideas in terms of prep.

Here is a PDF of the tag: Measure-Tags

I hope that you will use these ideas or at least have a jumping off point. Remember those times when someone shows you appreciation. It feels good, doesn’t it? I hope you will show your volunteers appreciation this fall! If you decide to use some of these ideas, we would love to see them in action. Be sure to send us your photos!