Anonymous wrote:Former PTA chair here-years ago, we started to do a catered lunch in the teachers lounge in lieu of the long standing tradition of potluck. It was too complicated to handle incoming dishes/meals and then set up and clean up was a hassle. We used to have over 50 families sign up for everything from salads to main dishes to desserts.

Usually the lunch required PTA volunteers to set up, clean up and of course, monitor and replenish and reheat! and serve.

Also please consider dietary restrictions; our staff had kosher/GF/halal/nut free.

This is a much better idea. Many of us didn’t go to those potlucks either. It’s a lot of work and effort and so many don’t eat it. I’ll pick up a take out box to bring back to my room though. There really isn’t time to walk there and back go through a line of different dishes then eat it. Nice idea but not practical for the 20 min lunches.

OP, just don't. I support the PTA in a number of ways, but I do not support these types of events.

We do appreciate our teachers. At the start of the year, I give each of our homeroom teachers a Target gift card to get any additional supplies they need for the class or individual students. I am not a teacher, but we have several dozen friends who are teachers and every single one of them, spends money out of their own pocket for their class or individual students in their classes who do not have the same resources as other kids. When we hear of teachers needing additional school supplies, I periodically purchase what they need and ship it to the school (for example, recently I heard that teachers in our grade were out of tissues and disinfecting wipes, so I ordered a case of each from Amazon and shipped it to the teachers at the school). At the holidays and the end of year, we give Visa gift cards to the teachers as appreciation gifts for them.

I would rather spend 15 minutes getting them a Visa gift card that they can really appreciate, than send a couple of hours baking something for them that half of them will not eat and will either donate or trash. So, reduce the anxiety on yourself. Don't bake, just give them a gift card in whatever amount you can afford. Honestly, even a $10 gift card is more likely to be appreciated than baked goods.

Former PTA chair here-years ago, we started to do a catered lunch in the teachers lounge in lieu of the long standing tradition of potluck. It was too complicated to handle incoming dishes/meals and then set up and clean up was a hassle. We used to have over 50 families sign up for everything from salads to main dishes to desserts.

Usually the lunch required PTA volunteers to set up, clean up and of course, monitor and replenish and reheat! and serve.

Also please consider dietary restrictions; our staff had kosher/GF/halal/nut free.

Yep. I and every other teacher/staff member I knew threw any homemade food away. Teachers do NOT want homemade food!

-former teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I used to teach I remember the PTA assembled cookie plates for everyone that were beautiful-everything homemade. Then in the teacher's lounge you saw a sea of the plates everywhere and to be honest the people willing to take extras home were either young male teachers or people entertaining that weekend. So much ended up in the trash. I remember the head of the PTA coming into the the teacher's lounge with even MORE treats and being horrified to see all that hard work set out on tables because so few people wanted it. They still did it every year. So many teachers are watching their weight or have pre-diabetes or diabetes or just prefer healthy stuff.

Point is-do NOT feel guilty for not baking cookies.

One year the teacher in the room next to me asked me to stop by because she felt so bad for the PTA moms in there. So much food and no one was going. It was embarrassing. I went and took a plate, said thanks so much and then threw it out. We really don’t want the cookies.

You should make a PSA at the beginning of every Holiday season to remind all the enthusiastic but clueless parents

Anonymous wrote:When I used to teach I remember the PTA assembled cookie plates for everyone that were beautiful-everything homemade. Then in the teacher's lounge you saw a sea of the plates everywhere and to be honest the people willing to take extras home were either young male teachers or people entertaining that weekend. So much ended up in the trash. I remember the head of the PTA coming into the the teacher's lounge with even MORE treats and being horrified to see all that hard work set out on tables because so few people wanted it. They still did it every year. So many teachers are watching their weight or have pre-diabetes or diabetes or just prefer healthy stuff.

Point is-do NOT feel guilty for not baking cookies.

One year the teacher in the room next to me asked me to stop by because she felt so bad for the PTA moms in there. So much food and no one was going. It was embarrassing. I went and took a plate, said thanks so much and then threw it out. We really don’t want the cookies.

I wonder if we are at the same school. I’m getting the same emails for the $5 secret Santa and cookie exchange. I never participate in the cookies. The teachers do not want this. They smile, say thank you and then throw most out. I’m a teacher so I know! We don’t want the cookies!

As for the Secret Santa, I feel the same. We don’t need more junk around the house and my kids don’t even care about it. They told me to pick up anything. They were disappointed the teacher said no food because they wanted to send in a bag of candy. So another cheap fidget will be purchased and exchanged and then soon lost or broken. What a waste.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. The teachers will just throw away any homemade stuff anyway.

+1

This is kind of well known.

When I used to teach I remember the PTA assembled cookie plates for everyone that were beautiful-everything homemade. Then in the teacher's lounge you saw a sea of the plates everywhere and to be honest the people willing to take extras home were either young male teachers or people entertaining that weekend. So much ended up in the trash. I remember the head of the PTA coming into the the teacher's lounge with even MORE treats and being horrified to see all that hard work set out on tables because so few people wanted it. They still did it every year. So many teachers are watching their weight or have pre-diabetes or diabetes or just prefer healthy stuff.

Point is-do NOT feel guilty for not baking cookies.

Different take: I like the secret Santa’s because the kids are trying to find some thing in a small budget for someone else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously do what you want. But I can’t imagine depriving my child of the secret Santa from their activities and teams. They love it so much and it’s not that time consuming.

OP here. We do the secret Santa’s. I question why the parent organizers of all these spoiled kids (mine included) feel the kids “need” this. And as for the teachers, the baking is in addition to the gift. I get that some people are really gung-ho, but the pressure and “reminder” emails are really high to get full buy in on this.

If your kids are spoiled stop buying them so much. I don't like them as we don't celebrate Christmas and it gets uncomfortable. Its ok to say no.

Anonymous wrote:Obviously do what you want. But I can’t imagine depriving my child of the secret Santa from their activities and teams. They love it so much and it’s not that time consuming.

OP here. We do the secret Santa’s. I question why the parent organizers of all these spoiled kids (mine included) feel the kids “need” this. And as for the teachers, the baking is in addition to the gift. I get that some people are really gung-ho, but the pressure and “reminder” emails are really high to get full buy in on this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each of my kid’s school’s PTA’s are hosting holiday cookie exchanges for teachers (parents bake for teachers to make up a box/bag of assorted things to take home) and it also seems like every major or minor extracurricular what’s to do a small secret Santa thing at their last meetup before Christmas.

Do do people have time and energy for this? I’m shocked how many families participate in the baking.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the teachers, I do, but this seems like so much work so close to Christmas, and my kids don’t need more $5-10 fidgets from all their secret Santa activities.

It all just feels like ONE MORE THING at a busy time of year. Yes I know I can decline (I do decline the baking but my kids don’t want yo be left out of secret Santa) but I’m surprised how many people are so into this.

Don't. Reality is the teachers don't want home baked goods as they don't know how they were made/clean kitchen/hands. And, same with secret Santa.

Get the teachers a $15-20 gift card from target or Amazon and be done with it. They don't want any more junk than you want and then they can choose what they want or spend it on the classroom.

You are much better off doing things with that money like buying extra school supplies, wipes and other stuff than all that non-sense. It makes the PTA feel good about doing something for the teachers while putting no effort into it. It takes little effort on their part to ask for donations and set them out on a table.

For secret santa, get some $5 below five gift cards and be done with it.

If you really want to donate, just get some packaged cookies.

Anonymous wrote:Each of my kid’s school’s PTA’s are hosting holiday cookie exchanges for teachers (parents bake for teachers to make up a box/bag of assorted things to take home) and it also seems like every major or minor extracurricular what’s to do a small secret Santa thing at their last meetup before Christmas.

Do do people have time and energy for this? I’m shocked how many families participate in the baking.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the teachers, I do, but this seems like so much work so close to Christmas, and my kids don’t need more $5-10 fidgets from all their secret Santa activities.

It all just feels like ONE MORE THING at a busy time of year. Yes I know I can decline (I do decline the baking but my kids don’t want yo be left out of secret Santa) but I’m surprised how many people are so into this.

Don't. Reality is the teachers don't want home baked goods as they don't know how they were made/clean kitchen/hands. And, same with secret Santa.

Get the teachers a $15-20 gift card from target or Amazon and be done with it. They don't want any more junk than you want and then they can choose what they want or spend it on the classroom.

You are much better off doing things with that money like buying extra school supplies, wipes and other stuff than all that non-sense. It makes the PTA feel good about doing something for the teachers while putting no effort into it. It takes little effort on their part to ask for donations and set them out on a table.

Go buy cookies. I do and nobody cares.
Online shop for secret Santa.