End of the Year Staff Morale Ideas

Are you looking for fun ways to thank your staff for a great year at your school? These end of the year staff morale ideas are sure to be a hit! Come along to see my favorite activities, gifts, and tokens of appreciation to boost staff morale at the end of your school year!

Staff Morale Ideas to Celebrate a Great Year

The end of the year in any school is a very busy time! Teachers, administrators, and school staff are working hard to close up shop for summer. After years of running a Sunshine Committee in my own school, I've learned a thing or two about how to celebrate staff in a meaningful way. And don't worry, these ideas aren't time-consuming or expensive either! This means they'll fit every budget and come together quickly! Let's celebrate staff as the year comes to a close with these 5 ideas!

1. Summer Mirror Shoutouts

Is there anything better than looking up to see a kind, cheerful note waiting for you? In my opinion, this is one of those "little things" that mean so much! To help staff feel recognized and "seen" during the busy end of the school year, I created these Summer Mirror Shoutouts. The idea here is that you'll print the summer messages included on bright paper. Then, cut them out and attach them to the mirror in staff bathrooms. When staff enter, they'll be greeted with a fun summer message that's sure to make them smile. 

The messages include fun summer puns like "Long time no sea" and "Tropic like it's hot". In addition to the traditional use of these shoutouts, you can also make a photo booth for staff to pose in! Simply attach the messages to wooden dowels and set up a summery backdrop. This would be great for your end of the year party or last staff meeting! 

2. Build a Bouquet 

One of my favorite gifts to give and receive is flowers. They brighten up even the darkest days and always make me smile. While giving out flowers in the traditional way is wonderful, I wanted to add an out of the box spin on this for my staff members. That's how the idea for Build a Bouquet was born! Here's how it works:

1. Collect donations for flowers, filler, vases/buckets, etc. 
2. Set up long banquet tables with decor & bouquet supplies 
3. Determine how many flowers and pieces of filler you have 
4. Divide the number equally among the staff

Once you've got everything ready to go, invite staff to build a bouquet with the pre-determined number of pieces. Staff will walk through the line of tables and build their bouquet with the flowers and fillers of their choice. Then, they can wrap the bouquet up in colored paper and take it home! This is so much fun and always a huge hit with the staff. It's even more fun if you can manage to keep it a total surprise. Staff will be amazed by this thoughtful and fun activity! 

Inside the resource, you'll find everything you need to make this event happen! You get a timeline, printable directions, decor posters, and printable donor lists. It will make planning this end of the year staff morale idea a breeze!

3. Jar of Sunshine 

This next idea is perfect for staff who are retiring, or simply a special way to show appreciation to members of your team! This Jar of Sunshine is one of my favorite end of the year staff morale ideas for many reasons. It comes together easily, is very inexpensive, and allows team members to share kind words with each other. The idea is that you'll create a jar for staff who are retiring, or anyone you'd like to give special recognition to. In addition to the resource, you'll need one mason jar for each staff member you'd like to recognize. 

This resource includes paper slips that can be filled out by staff and colleagues and decorative jar toppers. Colleagues will use the paper slips that contain sentence stems to write kind words to a specific staff member. I like to print these on brightly colored paper so they really pop. I have included 12 sentence stems that would work for any staff member and 4 that are great for retirement specifically. 

Once staff have filled out the paper slips, add them to the jar and use one of the decorative jar toppers included to complete the look. I also like to add a pretty ribbon. Finally, present the jars to the special staff members and watch as they light up with delight. This is a gift that everyone will cherish and truly enjoy reading through! 

4. Retirement Book of Gift Cards 

Do you have a staff member retiring that you'd like to gift something special to? If so, you'll love this Retirement Book of Gift Cards! This is a useful gift that everyone always really appreciates. In my school, we passed around an envelope ahead of time to collect donations toward this retirement gift. This is a great, low-pressure way to collect donations that allows staff to contribute what they feel comfortable with. Once you've got your donations, you can purchase gift cards for the following categories:

• R is for Relax 
• E is for Eat 
• T is for Travel 
• I is for Indulge 
• R is for Read 
• E is for Enjoy 

You may have noticed the letters spell "RETIRE", which is a lot of fun! There are tons of options that fit these categories depending on the personality and likes of your retiree. Then, select pages from this resource to create a booklet where you place each of the cards. They will LOVE flipping through to see all the goodies inside!

5. Inflatable Beverage Gift Tags

Ready for one more end of the year staff morale idea? I think you're gonna love this one! These Inflatable Beverage Gift Tags are so cute! This idea starts with these adorable drink holders that float in the pool. You'll purchase these ahead of time along with an assortment of soft drinks. Then, print the gift tags in this resource and attach one to each little floaty. Add a drink, and you're good to go! 

There are 11 different summer-themed tags with cute messages. They print 4 to a page and are bright and colorful, so they look great on the floating beverage holders. I've also included a black and white version that looks adorable printed on Astrobright paper. Drop these off to the staff on the last day of school to make everyone smile! 

Make Planning End of the Year Staff Morale Easy 

Which of these end of the year staff morale ideas was your favorite?! I know, I know, I can't decide either! That's exactly why I created a BUNDLE of End of the Year Staff Morale Activities for you! Inside, you get all 5 of these ideas so that you can easily plan fun activities to celebrate a year of hard work. 

The bundle not only saves you money, but it will also make it super simple to plan! You won't have to spend hours combing Pinterest for ideas when you grab this bundle of fun staff morale resources. It will simplify your end of the year celebrations and ensure that everyone on your team feels recognized and appreciated! I hope these end of the year staff morale ideas help make those final weeks extra special! 

Want to Get a Jump Start on Planning Next Year's Staff Morale Activities?

I always liked to use the summer months to get ahead on planning. If you'd like to do the same, you might enjoy reading these posts next! 

• Planning a Year of Staff Morale Activities
• How to Budget for Staff Morale Activities
• August Staff Morale Resources

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Make sure to pin this post on Pinterest so that you can come back to it when you're ready to plan your own staff morale activities for the end of the year!