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Investiture Season is in full bloom in my area. My social media feeds are full of smiling adventurers and staff. My club celebrated another successful year with our investiture ceremony last Sabbath afternoon.
Investiture is all about celebrating our kids and their accomplishments and sending them onward to a new class, a new goal, and sometimes, a new club. (Hello, Pathfinders!) It’s about connecting with families. It’s a chance for the church family to join in to learn about Adventurers and celebrate the amazing young people in their church. And, it’s a time to recognize our staff. Anyone reading this blog knows how much heart and energy goes into club ministries. Adventurer staff work so hard to find fun ways to teach Jesus’ love to our church’s youngest members. Investiture is an opportunity to recognize and thank our team of faithful staff members.
So, what do we do? How do we show them how much we appreciate them? Are there guidelines for this somewhere? Perhaps a class in the director track at staff training? Erm, sorry, no. The good news is that you get to decide what you want to do for your club for this year. Each year might be the same or it might be different. It might be big and complicated, but, most likely, it will be a small and simple thing. Like a card. Your mom was right. Thank you cards are always in style.
Several weeks ago, I asked several Adventurer groups for ideas for staff appreciation ideas. (I may have even asked you!) I needed ideas for my club. A couple of people jumped in with ideas and great suggestions, but most people didn’t respond. This tells me that I am not the only struggling with ideas! If you are struggling, you are not alone!
Keep it Simple
If your budget is small and your time is limited, go with the basics. One thank you card and one baggie of awards for each staff member. Buy a thank you card or a blank card from the store or download custom adventurer clubs cards (at the end of this post). Handwrite a short note thanking the staff member for their hard work, their creativity, their commitment this year. If something about this person stands out to you as particularly inspiring, include it.
Don’t Forget Award Patches and Class Pins for your Staff!
I’ve noticed that new directors and new staff (in both Adventurers and Pathfinders) often overlook award patches and class pins for their staff. The kids obviously earned awards and should be receiving their patches, but what about the adults? Do they earn patches? YES! Yes, they do. If they taught the award or assisted with it, they earned the award.
Directors, please make sure your staff are getting their patches. If the director distributes the patches to everyone in the club, include your staff in the distribution (on whatever schedule your club has chosen for distribution). If teachers put together the patches for their class, remember to check in with them and encourage them to grab a patch for each class they taught. New staff won’t know they need to take patches for themselves unless someone teaches them. Staff sashes are inspiring to our kids, so lets do our part to make them full and colorful! (Also, staff sashes are fun and motivating to many adults too..)
Adventurer Staff earn class pins just like the kids. Highly involved parents earn the Anchoring in Christ pins.
Level Up
Looking for just a little..more? Chocolate! Or a little plant. Or, maybe a small bouquet. It really is the thought that counts here. This year, I combined forces with our pathfinder club, and we put together our little thank you gifts to our staff together. We had some overlap in staff this year so it especially made sense to work together. (And, I think it usually makes sense for adventurers and pathfinder to work together!)
I found tiny little bags at my local party city and added a logo to the bag. The pathfinder leader found a variety of yummy chocolates at Costco to fill the bags. Each bag got a personalized thank you card, a variety of chocolates, and awards/honors. Simple. We had one staff member who can’t have sugar, but seemed like a plant person, so I found a tiny plant for her bag. These bags look similar, but are a bit bigger.
Level Up Again!
If this is your thing, if you love putting together little gifts, if you are someone who excitedly starts your Christmas shopping in January, you may enjoy doing something more. I know a director who puts beautiful gift baskets together for each staff member based on their year’s color and a theme. I bet they are wonderful and appreciated.
But, if this description doesn’t describe you, that’s completely okay. As a staff member, I was always surprised and delighted when I received a simple thank you card.
Printable Cards
Originally, I created these cards to reach out to my Adventurers (and their pathfinder siblings) during the pandemic. We weren’t meeting in person, and I wanted to make at-home-induction and investitures a little more special. The PDF includes class-specific cards for this reason. However, I think teachers would also enjoy a card made just for the class they taught. Baby Birds (for 1-2 year olds) is not an official class, but is included just in case you have need of it. The older NAD logo is also included for NAD clubs who have not switched over to the GC logo (aka the newest one for those of us in North America).
Step-By-Step Card Creation
Step 1: Print your chosen card(s) on 8×11 cardstock. (Note: If you need an A4 option or GC class logos, just ask. I’d be happy to add those options if there is a need.) I used edge-to-edge printing for mine. If your printer can’t do that, you can print as normal and cut off the white parts. It’ll be a tad smaller, but it’ll be fine. My printer got cranky when I printed this double-sided (the inside didn’t line up properly), so I manually flipped the paper to print the second side.
Step 2: Score the middle – Score right on the edge of the logo. (Skip this step, if you don’t have the ability to score your paper/don’t know what I’m talking about.)
Step 3: Cut the two cards apart – 5.5 inches for each card.
Step 4: Fold the card in half
Step 5: Trim the open edge of the card – line it up with the outer edge of the logo.
Step 6: Admire your work and write lovely message.
Prefer craft along with a video? Me too! Here you go.
I am also including a pdf (and silhouette cut files) for stickers to add to a small gift bag and stickers for the envelope. These can be can be cut by hand, but I’d probably skip the little envelope stickers if I were cutting by hand. I print them on full-page labels like these or these (my favorite sticker paper). You could also print on paper and glue to your bags.
Share Your Ideas!
How do you celebrate and thank your Adventurer (or Pathfinder) team? What are you doing this year? What have you done in previous years? If you are a staff member, what would make you feel appreciated and loved? Please leave a comment and share your ideas!