Several years ago, I was looking for something a little different to do for our teachers/staff during Staff Appreciation week. We did not have a huge budget at all and at this point in the year, teachers really don’t have a lot of time to stop and sit and visit. The closer to the end of the school year, the crazier it gets for everybody. I wanted to create something fun. I had just bought some really cute mustache stamps and I knew that’s the theme I wanted to go with. I just had to find something fun.
As I said, I wanted something fun, quick, and very low budget, so I came up with Milk, Cookies and Mustaches:) Milk and cookies is the quintessential after school snack when you’re young… and of course, mustaches because those are fun!
I wanted it to be an atmosphere where they didn’t feel they had to sit and stay if they didn’t want too, so I made everything easy/portable. My daughter and I got our little clear stamp set out and began stamping the white cookie bags:) As you can see there are so many cute combinations you could come up with for each bag. We had a lot of fun with this:) We made about 100 bags. Our hands were so black by the time we were done but totally worth it.
The end result couldn’t have been cuter! 
Even black marks from the frame of the stamper ended up on the paper or if the stamp didn’t come through just right, it still looked adorable:) They were not perfect and that’s what made them so perfect! This was a great, cheap way to get a custom result.
I made quick little invites for the staff. They each got a paper copy in their mailboxes and then I emailed everyone (and then once again on the day of because I know they would invaribly forget!). Over the course of the week, I would see different staff members in the hallways (I am a substitute for our district) and I would remind them of the event. I told them that we (the PTC) knew they were busy so just drop in as they could. Cookie time was from 2:30-4. Everyone seemed really excited:)
As you can see from the (bottom) picture, we set up in the teacher’s lounge. A couple of parents came in and helped me set up. On the way to school, I picked up the individual milks from our local dairy. We had a mix of white, chocolate and a few strawberries. They were really nice and cold. We iced those down in our little bucket I bought at the Dollar Tree. I found the straws with mustaches at Paper Source a while before I had even started planning for this – I only had a few packs so I ordered more from Amazon. They were not terribly expensive and it added a bit more fun to the table:)
We kept these large black plastic platters on hand in the PTC room for different occasions. (They are just items that we aquired somehow over the years.) Our bakers collectively brought in 12 dozen cookies. I’ve been very lucky to have so many talented parents that were/are always willing to bake at any time:) We had a great mix. Most were homemade, some not so homemade but that is ok! Always grateful, for sure! We covered the table in white and black craft paper and grabbed some balloons and red napkins at the Dollar Tree and we were ready to roll:)
The staff really piled in as soon as that bell rung! We ‘instructed’ them to grab a little cookie bag and they were on their way! There were so many Ooohhhs and Ahhhhs:) They were excited, chatty and happy.
We really had so much fun putting this together and the best part is that I spent under $100 on the whole thing — Thanks to all of our volunteers and bakers!!!
Let me know if this inspires you in the comments below!
Speak soon!
take care,
~kat:)
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