Start the Year Strong: How to Introduce Your PTO/A Board With Style
Back-to-school season isn’t just about sharpening pencils and stocking up on snacks—it’s a fresh start for your entire school community. It’s the perfect time to build excitement, set the tone for the year, and show families that your PTO or PTA is ready to make things happen. One of the best ways to do that? Introduce your board in a way that’s more than just names and titles. When families get to know the people behind the scenes—the planners, the budgeters, the cheerleaders, and the chaos-managers—they’re more likely to feel connected, engaged, and even inspired to join the fun. Whether you’re planning a post for social media, creating content for your email newsletter, or setting up an in-person display at Meet the Teacher Night, here are some playful, personality-packed ways to introduce your PTO/A board and start the year off strong.
💥 PTO Superheroes Theme
Your board does a lot—so why not introduce them as the heroes they are?
Assign each member a superhero identity based on their role:
- Captain Calendar – keeping events on track
- Budget Boss – master of all things money
- The Fundraiser Flash – sprinting toward donation goals
- Snack Pack Leader – always stocked, always ready
- The Volunteer Whisperer – makes signups magically appear
Make it extra fun:
Go all out with superhero flair—grab dollar-store capes, paper masks, or even customize T-shirts with your school logo and each member’s superhero alias. Pose your board members in action shots: standing heroically with clipboards, wielding coffee mugs, or striking a “ready to plan” stance in front of the school.
📸 You can post these as a carousel on Instagram, include them in your welcome-back email to families, or print them as posters to display at Meet the Teacher Night. Add speech bubbles or comic-book-style captions for even more fun. Feeling extra creative? Turn the photos into a video montage with superhero theme music and narration introducing each “hero” as they strike their pose—perfect for your school’s YouTube or Facebook page and in your email newsletter!
🎤 Match the Fact Game
Let families guess who’s who on your board based on quirky facts.
Step-by-step:
- Collect a fun, unexpected fact from each board member (e.g., “Has seven cats,” “Once met Beyoncé,” “Owns more PTO T-shirts than shoes”).
- Have another PTO member or your school principal read the facts aloud—or write them out with question marks in a graphic.
- Ask families to match the fact to the right person before revealing each board member and their role.
📍 Share on: Instagram Stories with polls, Facebook posts, or printed guessing sheets at an event.
📸 Guess Who? Throwback Photos
Highlight the real people behind the roles with a fun “Then vs. Now” challenge.
How it works:
- Ask each board member to send in a baby photo or favorite childhood picture.
- Create a slideshow, Instagram carousel, or bulletin board that features all the photos side-by-side.
- Invite families to guess who’s who, then reveal current photos with their PTO role.
You could also include short quotes about their favorite school memory or why they joined the PTO. Extra tip: Make it a game—any parent who gets the most guesses correct wins a small prize like spirit wear, a coffee gift card, or early sign-up for an event! You’ll boost engagement and make the whole thing even more memorable.
📝 Behind the Clipboard: Spotlight Series
Let families get to know your board members one at a time with a fun, quick Q&A. This series helps put friendly, familiar faces to each role—and shows there’s a real (and relatable!) person behind every budget, signup sheet, and Fun Run.
Feature ideas:
- Name + PTO/A Role
- Why they joined the PTO/A
- Favorite snack
- One fun fact
- A personal goal or favorite quote for the year
📍 Best for: Weekly Instagram or Facebook posts, a feature in your email newsletter, or even your bulletin board during the first few weeks of school. You could also take it up a notch by filming short 15–30 second video interviews! Ask the same quick-fire questions in each one, and share as Reels, TikToks, or Stories to boost engagement and bring your board members’ personalities to life.
👜 What’s In Their Bag?
This lighthearted series is super relatable—especially for parents who know the chaos of juggling calendars, coffee, and crayons all in one tote.
What to do: Ask each board member to snap a flat-lay photo or record a 15-second video of the real, unfiltered contents of their bag before a PTO/A meeting or school event. No staging required—half the fun is in the mess!
📍 Use for: Weekly Reels or Stories on Instagram or Facebook. Record the fun and create a lasting place for people to see the board members in a “What’s in My Bag?” story highlight on social. Make it a recurring feature in your PTO/A newsletter or bulletin board – especially great for the first couple weeks of school.
🎯 Make it interactive:
- Turn it into a guessing game: “Whose bag is this?”
- Post a poll with fun options for families to choose from
- Invite reactions: “Which item surprised you most?” or “Which bag is most like yours?”
This is a simple, low-effort way to show personality, get parents engaged, and bring some fun to your feed—without adding more to your team’s already full plate during the back-to-school rush.
Introduce Your PTO/A Board: Start Strong, Stay Connected
Back-to-school season sets the tone for the rest of the year—and when your PTO/A starts with a little fun, families notice. Introduce your PTO/A board and do more than just put names to faces. These creative ideas help your board come alive in the eyes of your school community. Whether you’re donning superhero capes, sharing childhood photos, or showing off what’s in your bag, you’re building trust, approachability, and school spirit from day one.
And here’s the best part: These activities don’t take a huge amount of time or budget. They’re fun, flexible, and designed to work across all your channels—social media, email newsletters, bulletin boards, or even in-person events like Meet the Teacher Night or your first PTO/A meeting.
Want to take that momentum even further?
📣 That’s where FundHub comes in. It’s the 5-star fundraising platform built specifically for school groups like yours—whether you’re planning a Fun Run, Read-Athon, Dance-Athon, or Bubble Bash. With custom student, class, and school webpages, real-time tracking, expert 1-on-1 coaching, and a mobile-friendly parent dashboard, FundHub helps your team run stress-free, high-profit fundraisers.