CHILI COOK-OFF Add a little fun competition to a luncheon. Ask parent volunteers to bring their best batch of homemade chili in a crockpot, set out score cards, and let the teachers be the judges. Use the money in your budget for 1st, 2nd & 3rd prizes; some crackers, tortilla chips, or cornbread; and the paper goods. -- MNMomx4

 MEXICAN FIESTA Have a make-it-yourself taco bar. Our local Mexican restaurant will donate salsa and chips for just about any function -- just bring in the container and they will fill it! Decorate the room with mult-colored Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. Chinese or Italian would work too! -- Chris

  INTERNATIONAL THEMES
•Italian Restaurant We dressed as waiters (black slacks & white long-sleeve shirts) and added an apron folded in half like real waiter's and had a blackboard with the menu on it -- big hit. We served lasagna (purchased by the PTA), salad bar, bread sticks and desserts (donated by volunteers or baked by the PTA). Decorated with white Christmas lights in the silk trees & planters. We had candles on the tables, turned off the lights. It brought tears to the teachers' eyes.
•Hawaiian Luau We served baked hams, tuna salads, lots of fruit and salad. We played Hawaiian music. A child's pool filled with ice kept the water bottles & soft drinks cold. We appreciate our teachers. I give them credit for keeping my child all day. -- Debi O'

 '50s THEME Have a soda jerk and serve basic burgers, fries, milkshakes. Have a mock juke box playing '50s music. Hang old records from the ceiling. Maybe the bar could be an ice cream fountain where they can pick their favorite ice cream dessert (banana split, Coke float, root beer float, sundaes, etc.). Don't forget the dancing! -- PTA Mom

 WESTERN THEME Decorate with hay, ropes, boots, horseshoes, horses, barns, cows, cowboy hats. Serve anything from chili to steaks. Bandanas for all the teachers. -- Another PTA Mom

 "HATS OFF TO A GREAT STAFF" Put a Mad Hatter costume on a mannequin at the entrance to the luncheon, and ask all teachers to wear a hat. Have door prizes for most original, silliest, etc. Use vintage hats as table centerpieces. Serve tortilla chips in the brim of a sombrero hat; use inexpensive plastic hats (top hat, fireman's hat, Viking's helmet, cowboy hat, etc) from the party store to serve treats and food in. Coordinate the food with the hat, so that, say, a three-alarm chili is served in the fireman's hat. Helpers can also wear special hats. Kids, meanwhile, can write messages on construction paper about what they like most about their teacher and then roll them up to look like a party hat with a pompom on the top for added table decor. (Have the art or music or substitute teacher handle this so it's a surprise.) -- Mary C169 & MNXMomx4 & FishinAround

 WELCOME-BACK BREAKFAST Use books as your inspiration -- Green Eggs and Ham; The Very Hungry Caterpillar, When You Give a Mouse a Cookie; etc. -- lots of possibilities! Roll up plastic forks, knives, and spoons in a napkin, tie with colorful ribbon, and insert a crayon under the ribbon. These look cute in a basket on the buffet table or at each place on the table. Decorate with books from the school library -- Chrysanthemum, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Kissing Hand -- daisielou & holly171