Top 25 Quick & Easy Ideas for FUN

1. Bring birthday donuts once a month.

2. Send birthday postcards from the adviser.

3. Give notepads with inspirational sayings from the editors.

4. Supply pizza, soda and sweets on deadline nights.

5. Hire the PE teacher to teach weekly yoga classes to help de-stress.

6. Go to state, local and national journalism conventions.

7. Plan to attend a summer workshop as a staff.

8. Organize a one-day leadership workshop, away from school, sometime in the fall.

9. Celebrate the often-overlooked holidays Hallmark promotes (like Groundhog Day and Sweetest Day), or make up your own holiday.

10. Organize a scavenger hunt at the beginning of the year to acclimate the new students to the room. Include on the list items students typically ask you for; e.g., “Where are the scissors? “Where are the student directories?” etc. Pair new students with experienced students.

11. Meet students for an evening of haunted house hopping.

12. Take time off during the winter months to practice that “Triple Lutz” with the yearbook staff while ice-skating.

13. If you have a staff of mostly girls, have a “girls’ day out” and invite a stylist (maybe yours) to class to talk about manicures or pedicures. Perhaps she could give a manicure to one lucky staff member while teaching the others.

14. Give the choir class a run for their money by introducing song into the classroom. Suggestions include anything by the Brady Bunch. “It’s Time to Change” and “Sunshine Days” are favorites.

15. Purchase the soundtrack to “Grease”; no yearbook classroom should be without it. When things get a little sluggish or unfocused, turn on “Hand Jive.”

16. Record songs with the help of a karaoke machine; use lyrics inspired by the yearbook deadline. Play excerpts at the end-of-the year banquet.

17. Take time out for a group backrub.

18. Stop what you are doing and hold an impromptu “rock/paper/scissors” contest.

19. Adopt an official ice cream for the staff – find something with a funny name like Moosetracks.

20. Hang pinatas from the ceiling. After the last deadline is over, have at it. Save the last pinata for after the last proof is sent back. Fill that one with especially good candy to enjoy as part of your celebration.

21. Make HGTV proud. Treat the yearbook room as your kitchen away from home: whatever your home kitchen has, your room needs …refrigerator, microwave, pantry, sink, etc.

22. Hold a “name that computer” contest each year for the computers.

23. After the last deadline, arrange for two class periods of food and fun. Each student must bring a treat to share and a game, which could be classified as educational. Give the students two periods to relax and challenge the themselves mentally. Adviser note: Twister is especially good at meeting learning requirements for the “Understanding Spatial Relationships”chapter in the curriculum guide.

24. Turn off the music during class, but turn it back on as soon as the last bell of the day rings.

25. Hang holiday lights from the ceiling – on stressful days, turn the lights off and plug in the holiday lights. There is nothing more peaceful than twinkling lights over the heads of working