Custodian Appreciation Day Ideas for PTOs and PTAs

Custodian Appreciation Day on October 2 is the perfect opportunity to let your school’s custodial staff know you notice and appreciate everything they do for your school. Below, we share a few ways your PTO can celebrate and recognize your school's custodians. (Psst: don't miss a beat! Get our full list of school appreciation days.)

@ptotoday Custodian Appreciation Day is Oct. 2, 2023. How is your PTO or PTA celebrating? #custodianappreciationday #custodian #schoolvolunteerlife #ptomom #ptamoms ♬ House Cleaning (Loop) - Aahyeah

Messages from students

 Ellen Woodside Elementary in Pelzer, S.C., described the special way their group displayed messages from students a few years ago. “We cut out stars and passed them out to every class. We had students write nice messages to the custodial staff, then we collected them. Outside of their door we decorated the wall with all the stars and had something that said something along the lines of "Thanks for making our school shine!"... they left it up the rest of the year. They loved it!” 

Don Roberts Elementary PTA did something similar: 

Litchfield Middle School in Litchfield, New Hampshire encouraged students to write a kind note to their school custodian's on a thank-you banner the PTO displayed in the halls of the school.

Northeastern Local School District filmed their students' messages of thanks to their school's custodians and shared them in a touching video on social media.

Snacks (plus get our free custodian appreciation gift tag!)

Stocking the staff room with meals or snacks is a time-honored parent group tradition for occasions like Teacher Appreciation Week—custodians love it, too! It’s easy to pull together and can be as simple or elaborate as you have the time and budget for. Kaelah Beauregarde Flynn from the Marshall Elementary PTO in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, shares their PTO's gift to school custodians: Dunkin gift cards and snacks packaged up in these mini recycling bin containers.  Just add our “Thanks for making our school sparkle...we’d be a mess without you!” gift tag, part of our FREE school appreciation mega bundle. 

The Blue Hill Primary PTO in Wimberley, Texas, had a big hit last year with a sweet poster with candy references accompanied by a self-serve candy bar with an assortment of candy and other sweet treats. The poster read “Dear custodians, you’re a lifesaver and an important piece of our school. You deserve a gold medal because this place would be a zoo without you. Much & many thanks with hugs for all that you do!” 

Brookfield Elementary PTO gifted each of their school custodians an Amazon gift card and treat them to a pizza lunch along with snacks and drinks for the week. They also gifted their custodians candy bars in the form of a candy poem. Sweet!

Gifts

Package together a few snacks and drinks for your school's custodians, along with a thank you tag (get a school custodian thank you gift tag in our free appreciation mega bundle). 

West Newton Elementary PTO thanked their custodians for making classrooms "extra" nice with packs of Extra gum.

“One year we printed out keys and had teachers decorate them and then we put them on a key ring with the top key saying "You are the key to making our school sparkle’,” says Andreas. “We delivered them with some goodies.”

Other simple gifts custodians would appreciate include gift cards for coffee or lunch, or one for a car wash or car detail gift card. They’re busy cleaning the schools—it might be nice to have someone else clean their car for them!

James McGee PTO replaced their school custodian's office chairs with new ones, and added a few Crumbl cookies for an extra special treat.

Other ways to help your custodial staff

Custodians are working hard to clean and sanitize schools. They’ll appreciate any help they get, whatever the time of year.

Include them in your group's planning: if your group wants to start a recycling or green project at school, start by having a discussion with your custodian to get ideas and learn how the systems that are already in place work. When the new project is up and running, act as a liaison between the custodians and others to take care of any issues and not add extra work to a custodian’s day.

Clean up as much as possible after any events you hold at school. If you move tables in the cafeteria, put them back as they were before. If custodians are required to be on duty for an evening or weekend parent group event, be sure to thank them for helping make the event successful.

Terri Frank and Kerri Beauchesne contributed to this article.