Showing your volunteers that you appreciate their service shouldn’t be reserved for the holiday season. But the holidays are the perfect time to kick back a little bit and enjoy each other’s company. Why not treat your volunteers to a party—even if you have a very small budget? After all, with the tough times you’ve all been through in the past few years, you deserve a celebration.

Five Best Small Budget Volunteer Party Ideas

1. Recruit friends and family to help. Do you know a DJ who’d be willing to play some music for the party? Have a catering contact who might want to give you some food for the cause? How about the owners of your local bowling alley—would they give you a few lanes for an afternoon of fun for your volunteers? Keep in mind that certain business owners might be donation-weary by this time of year, so try asking a few who haven’t donated to your non-profit for awhile.
2. Host a potluck at your house. Having your volunteers in your home is personal and special. The best parties are often those where everyone provides their favorite dish. Sure, it’s a little more work for you, but you won’t have to prepare all the food; and it’s a very inexpensive option.
3. Remember to say thank you. Would a local business owner provide small thank you gifts or gift cards for your volunteers? Even a $5 coffee card or movie passes can mean a lot—especially when accompanied by a thoughtful, hand-written note.
4. If you have a budget for your party, you can save money by having a daytime event. Think lunch instead of dinner. Do your volunteers like Mexican food? Asian? These options are often inexpensive. The challenge could be in finding a cuisine that everyone likes and that caters to a variety of food allergies and preferences.
5. Don’t spend money on decorations. Stop by any Christmas tree lot and ask for cuttings. They’ll have plenty you can use to deck the halls with fragrance and natural beauty.

It’s not difficult to host a great volunteer party on a small budget. Try these tips to make it special and an event your volunteers will long remember.

It might seem that volunteers are just like free employees. Volunteers don’t get paid, they don’t get health insurance, and you don’t pay taxes or workers compensation for volunteers. They don’t cost your nonprofit organization anything because they’re not on the payroll, right?

Well, not completely right. True, volunteers are unpaid. But good volunteer management means acknowledging that volunteers are not completely free to your organization—so treat them accordingly.

Volunteers are an investment: Recognize that recruiting, screening, training, and retaining volunteers takes time and resources.

Volunteers are an asset: Your volunteers save your organization’s needed funds by performing work you would otherwise be obligated to pay for.

Volunteers are needed elsewhere. If your volunteers feel underused or underappreciated, there are plenty of organizations they can give their time and talent to.

Volunteers must be supervised. Your organization may need to designate a full- or part-time employee to just this area—incurring all the costs of salary and benefits, recruiting, screening, hiring and training that person.

Volunteers must be appreciated. Showing thanks can take many forms: small gifts, plaques or certificates, free tickets to events, or even free meals. There are costs associated with all of these items.

Volunteers incur expenses, too. Travel, parking, auto reimbursement and other expenses must be taken into consideration when looking at overall volunteer costs.

So don’t make the mistake of seeing volunteers as having zero impact on your bottom line. They are immensely valuable assets that do cost your nonprofit organization time and money. Treat them right, and your investment will be repaid many times over!