I’m always looking for fresh and new ideas to show our volunteers how much we care about and 
appreciate them. I usually try to do a volunteer appreciation gift in the $2-$5 range once a quarter for all of my volunteers. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but when you have 40-50 volunteers it sure does add up. My philosophy is that we will never be able to repay people for the hours of time they give up and love they give to our kids, but we can certainly do little things to make them feel special.
This week I want to share a simple and affordable volunteer appreciation gift idea that my amazing assistant came up with. We gave these as gifts to all of our volunteers who served on Valentine’s Day Sunday, but you could definitely adapt this gift to fit any occasion for your volunteers. It’s a little play on milk and cookies.
Here’s the details on how we put our “milk and cookies” gift together and where to buy the items at the most affordable cost:
- Milk Bottles
- Cost: $1
- Where: Dollar Tree
- Alternative Option: Target has milk bottles with lids and straws at 2 for $3 in the $1-$5 section in the front of the store.
- Tags
- Cost: FREE
- Where: I found these adorable tags on Pinterest. Here is the link to download them.
- Twine
- Cost: $1 for three colors of twine
- Where: Dollar Tree, We were able to get a package of red and two blue colors. We used the red twine and blue twine since they both matched the tags.
- Alternative Option: Amazon sells great packs of baker’s twine for $4.60-$9.74, depending on the color you purchase. I have purchases several rolls of this twine and it is excellent.
- Gift Bags
- Cost: $1 per bag of 25
- Where: Dollar Tree, We went with a Valentine’s Day gift bag, but you can change this up to fit any occasion or buy clear bags.
- Oreos (Double Stuffed is a must)
- Cost: $2.98 per Family Pack (We put 5 cookies in each bag)
- Where: Walmart or any store that sells cookies.
- Alternative Option: You can buy mini oreos and put them directly in your milk bottles to forgo the bag option entirely.
Total Cost per Volunteer Gift: about $2. You really can’t beat $2 per volunteer especially for a gift that looks like you put a lot of thought and care into it.
I hope this volunteer gift idea can be useful to you in your ministry. If you are interested in other Volunteer Appreciation ideas check out these two posts: 8 Easy Ways to Appreciate Your Volunteers and 6 Easy Ways to Appreciate Your Volunteers (for FREE).
What are some unique gifts and ideas you have used to appreciate the volunteers in your ministry?