With the end of the school year right around the corner, what a perfect time to say THANK YOU! to all the teachers out there?!? We absolutely love this Dr. Seuss themed teacher appreciation week Maegan Birr from Scrapaholics + Simply Styled Home shared with us! From the super-detailed Whoo-feast to the Hop on Popcorn bar, the teachers surely felt the love by the end of the week!

Read on as Maegan fills us in on her theme and some of the preparation that made the week so special:

“The main “slogan” if you will, was “Hats Off To Our Teachers!” A few weeks before the event, I asked my photographer friend and fellow parent, John Wolfe, to take Dr. Seuss Photo Booth style pictures of all the teachers and staff. It was a huge hit at the baby shower I planned a few years ago and I still had all the props. Score! The Friday before Staff Appreciation Week, the 8×10 pictures were put on all the teachers’ doors and staff photos were put up in the staff lounge. (The hats were put on the doors by room parents on Monday.)

Next up, invitations. Each of the teachers and staff received this invitation in their mailbox which detailed the events of the upcoming Staff Appreciation Week. Included with their invitations were: An invitation to the Pink Yink Ink Breakfast with a Drink Order Request and Lunch Preferences Questionnaire. I asked that order forms and questionnaires be returned to me via the PTSA box no later than the Thursday before Staff Appreciation Week.  I had them printed as photo cards at Costco. You can’t beat $14.99 for 50 flat cards with envelopes!

One week before, I sent home a “Hats Off To My Teachers” hat with each of the students and asked them to please color the hat, write a note to their teacher, and return it to school on Monday. For students that wished to color hats for additional teachers and staff, extra hats were available in the office all week long. I created a poster that was hung in the main stairwell letting students know where they could find extra hats. (To give you some idea of scale, the Cat in the Hat was 6 feet tall. The poster looks small in the picture, but it is almost 3 feet wide!)”

Monday: Gourmet “Hop On Popcorn” Bar

We had eight different varieties of gourmet popcorn for the staff to enjoy throughout the day. If you have never made gourmet popcorn, don’t be intimidated! I made Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn (that was delish!) and it literally took ten minutes to make. You can find all sorts of fabulous popcorn recipes on my Simply Pop! Pinterest board. If I had this to do again, I would have had 1/2 the varieties be sweet and the other 1/2 savory. The one savory flavor, cheese, was gone almost immediately.

Tuesday: Biffer Baum Boxed Lunches

The parents made “boxed” lunches for every staff member at the school. I included a questionnaire with the invitations asking the following questions:  What is your favorite sandwich? Favorite bread? What do you like on your sandwich? Favorite chips? Favorite salad? Favorite dessert? Favorite drink? Favorite dessert? Any allergies? I asked that the questionnaires be returned by the Thursday prior to Staff Appreciation Week. Once I received them, I forwarded the answers to the parents who signed up to make lunches.

Wednesday: Pink Yink Ink Drink Breakfast

I included drink orders with the Pink Yink Ink Breakfast invitation, and asked that the teachers and staff return them the Thursday before Staff Appreciation Week. They had the choice of a Pink Yink Ink Drink (triple berry smoothie) or a drink from Starbucks. The drink orders were printed on 3×4 shipping labels.

I pink-a-fied the staff lounge by tying tulle to the tops of all the chairs, and on the cupcake stands. The table cloths were pink as were the cups, plates, napkins and utensils. I also placed pink daisies on the less colorful platters (like bagels). For the triple berry smoothies,  I bought frozen smoothie packets from  Costco and simply added milk, blended, and voila… pink yink ink drink!

Thursday: Whoo-Feast

I used turquoise polka dot wrapping paper cut in half as table runners on the eating tables. I also used it as table runners on top of the green table clothes on the buffet tables. The green utensils were wrapped in turquoise napkins and tied with white curling ribbon. The Seuss-y food labels had a turquoise background. 

Friday: Whoo-Treat Dessert Bar

The color scheme of the day was lavender and pink. Like the day before, I used pink polka dot wrapping paper cut in half as a table runner on the eating tables, and again on the lavender table cloths on the buffet tables. The Seuss-y dessert labels had a lavender background. I also used Dr. Seuss foam stickers (on clearance at Michaels!) to Seuss up the dessert bar. I actually had Yertle the Turtle, Green Eggs and Ham, Thing 1 and Think 2, and 1 Fish, 2 Fish stickers! The backs already had adhesive so I simply stuck them to lollipop sticks.

Other Decorations:

Using this tutorial, I created truffula-esque pom poms to hang from the ceiling of the staff lounge, and another parent made awesome truffula trees to line the hallway leading to the staff lounge. I also found some assorted Dr. Seuss cardboard cutouts on Amazon (here and here), and a poster at Michael’s.

TIP: If you are purchasing items at Michael’s for a school event, ask if they will give you the 15% teacher discount. The checker ringing me up volunteered to give me the discount without even having to ask her. (I didn’t know they even did that! Michael’s just went up five cool points.

We also hung Seuss-y photo of the support staff in the lounge. It was the focal point of the room. Every time I was in the staff lounge people were gathered around them, smiling!

At the end of the week the teachers and staff took their Seuss-y photos home. Some teachers decided to leave their photos and hats on the classroom doors indefinitely.  The photos were also given to the yearbook staff. These are so much more fun than traditional boring school pictures!

CREDITS: Maegan Birr from Scrapaholics + Simply Styled Home