Send a Rainbow Days Event Flyer to the PTO/PTA to distribute to parents. Also send flyers to administration to hang up around the school. Ask administration to remind students and teachers about the event during morning announcements.

Encourage teachers to create lesson plans to coordinate with the event. This will build anticipation and maximize the results. Lessons can be created in any number of areas, including science, language arts, music, and visual arts.

Contact your school or district to find out about their in-school volunteer policies for both parents and outside volunteers.

Invite PTO/PTA to participate with a Parent Volunteer Outreach Letter. If there is not a strong parent presence available, you can invite community members or college volunteers.

NOTE: It’s helpful to send your volunteer guide along with the letter so that parents know what will be expected of them during the event. Here is a Sample Volunteer Guide.

Inform all onsite kitchen staff about their responsibilities leading up to and day of the event.

Decide colors/types of foods to offer

Having fruits and vegetables in all the colors of the rainbow is the whole point of Rainbow Day. Color selections may be dictated by the season, but the idea is to represent all the colors of the rainbow. If possible, offer more than one selection in a color category, particularly if there are several popular foods of one particular color. Be sure to consider all the possibilities—for example, there are both fruits and vegetables that are purple. Talk to your produce vendor about the event that you’re planning. They may offer to discount some selections and join in the fun. Use our Rainbow Days Ingredients List (with Spanish translations) to help with your planning.

Plan production volume

Rainbow Days definitely increase salad bar consumption. When estimating production volume, consider that every child may take and consume a cup or more of combined prepared salad bar ingredients. To determine adequate volume for ordering and preparation, review your past salad bar production records and the number of students served. Adjust your expectations for ordering and preparation with the assumption that every child may be eating from the salad bar. Include the additional produce in your food orders as necessary, whether you’re ordering directly from the vendor or from the production kitchen.​

Order extra supplies

Supplies to consider for your event include paper serving boats (aka trays) or plates, forks, and your choice of participation prizes. If your food service team has aprons and hats, set some aside for volunteers to wear. You should expect that 100% of your students will participate, especially if it’s your school’s first Rainbow Day.

Print Stickers

An easy way to reward students for participating in the event is to give them an I Made a Rainbow Sticker. Online printing services are budget-friendly and usually have a quick turnaround time.

Buy Bracelet Rewards

If you plan on hosting more than one Rainbow Day, collectible bracelets are a great tool to get kids excited about upcoming events. Order bracelets in multiple colors. On the day of the event, have each child choose one color bracelet as a reward for participating. When they participate in the next event, they can choose a bracelet in a different color. Kids love collecting the bracelets and trading with each other. This will generate continuous enthusiasm for recurring Rainbow Day events.

Organize a contest

Designing a contest around the event will generate even more encouragement for students to participate in Rainbow Day. Here are some ideas: 1) Crown a Salad Bar King and Queen. Recognize the students who made and ate the day’s most colorful salads. 2) Make a checklist of all the different fruits and vegetables offered on Rainbow Day. The class that checks off the most items wins a smoothie party. 3) For a district-level contest, find a sponsor and give PTA cash prizes to the school with the best Rainbow Day pictures.

Welcome all of the volunteers and show them around the kitchen. Introduce volunteers to staff and explain general kitchen ground rules. Remind all volunteers about sanitation, allergens, and appropriate behavior found in the volunteer guide. Designate a volunteer/intern to take pictures of the event. Make sure they follow your district’s protocol for this.

Fresh produce tastings can be prepped just before lunch. Leave one vegetable or fruit whole to show the kids.

Assign all of your volunteers a station. There should be at least three volunteers for each meal period to fulfill the following roles: Salad Bar Volunteer, Etiquette Volunteer, and Roaming Volunteer(s). See below for more information about each volunteer type.

Go over a list of helpful phrases that volunteers can use to encourage reluctant students—or those who are unfamiliar with the salad bar—to try new foods. Examples include: 1) “You’re so close! You need just one more color!” 2) “Remember you can always come back for seconds, make sure you can eat everything that you take.” 3) “Have you ever tried ____? It tastes a lot like ___. I think you will like it.” 4) “This is about trying new things so be adventurous!” “5) Be brave! All it takes to try something new is one bite.”

Make an announcement at the beginning of each grade’s lunch period reminding all the kids that it’s Rainbow Day.

Communicate to students that they must select and eat a minimum of three different colors of the “rainbow,” aka the colorful variety of fruits and vegetables offered at the salad bar. We recommend avoiding “starchy white” vegetables like potatoes on Rainbow Day to avoid confusion about what constitutes a rainbow color. While consumption of meats, cheese, and grains is encouraged, these foods are not the focus of Rainbow Day, and do not count toward the three-color rule.

If a student eats every color they choose from the salad bar, reward them with an I Made a Rainbow Sticker or bracelet. We recommend rewarding only the students who eat their whole salad. This creates accountability, teaches portion control, limits waste, and increases fruit and vegetable consumption.