A thank-you for your church Harvest supper team: trestle tables in the hall, a pot of stew for sixty, and a produce auction after the pudding, as a jigsaw with your note at the end

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any church, diocese, parochial church council, charity or community organisation.

The Harvest supper is the evening that follows the Harvest festival in many parishes. The hall fills up, the tables are laid end to end, someone serves a stew or a pie for sixty, and afterwards the marrows, jams and loaves from the windowsills are auctioned off, often for a charity or the food bank. It is warm, noisy and a bit chaotic, and it only works because a small team spends the whole day making it happen. This short guide is about thanking them.

Here are a few ideas, with an honest look at whether a photo puzzle is a good fit.

What the Harvest supper team actually does

Every church does it differently, but the job often includes:

• booking the hall and selling tickets, or keeping a list of who is coming
• planning a menu that stretches to sixty, with something for vegetarians
• asking about allergies and labelling what is in each dish
• peeling, chopping and stewing in the hall kitchen from early afternoon
• carrying out trestle tables, laying cloths and setting jam jars of flowers down the middle
• organising the produce auction, the raffle or the quiz between courses
• serving, clearing and washing up for longer than anyone else stays
• counting the money raised and making sure it reaches the charity

Why it's worth saying

People go home remembering the food, the auction and the person who bid too much for a marrow. They rarely see the hours of peeling, the hot kitchen or the last tea towels hung up at eleven o'clock. A note that names one detail, such as the crumble or the jam jars of dahlias, tells the team their work was noticed.

When to say it

The week after the supper is usually kinder than the night itself, when the team is still washing up. A word after the next service is enough; a card left in the hall kitchen or the church porch lands just as well.

What makes a good photo

• long trestle tables laid end to end before anyone sits down
• jam jars of dahlias or sunflowers down the middle of the cloths
• a big pot of stew on the hall cooker, or a tray of crumble from the oven
• the produce table, with marrows, apples, jars and loaves waiting for the auction
• a stack of clean plates and a row of tea towels drying afterwards
• the empty hall at the end of the night, chairs stacked and lights still on

Follow your church's photo policy and keep faces out of the frame unless people have agreed. Tables, food and the produce make cheerful pictures and a good puzzle.

Choosing a piece count

A produce table or a laid hall is full of colour and detail, so it holds up well at 80 or 130 pieces. A close-up of a single pot or pie suits 24 or 48.

Note examples

• "Thank you for the stew. Sixty people, and there was still enough for seconds."
• "Thank you for the jam jars of dahlias on every table. The hall looked lovely."
• "Thank you for running the auction. I'm still not sure why I bought that marrow."
• "We know you were the last to leave. Thank you for all the washing up."
• "Thank you for labelling everything so carefully. It meant our son could eat with everyone."

What it costs, plainly

The preview is free, so you can see how it looks before deciding anything. Publishing the link costs one credit (€3.99), or less per puzzle with a bundle. It's a digital puzzle, not a printed or cardboard one, so there's nothing to post. The person receiving it doesn't need an account or an app; they open the link and your note appears when the last piece goes in. If a card is enough, it is.

Ideas that are not a puzzle

• a card in the hall kitchen signed by the people who came
• naming the supper team in the parish newsletter or the notices
• offering to peel, lay tables or wash up next year
• bringing a pudding so the team has one less thing to make
• staying behind to stack chairs and dry plates
• asking the team what would make it easier, and sorting it

Where Puzzlify fits

Puzzlify turns a personal photo into a private digital jigsaw that you send as a link. It isn't a printed puzzle, and it isn't a public puzzle board: only the people you send it to can open it. It's one option among many, and it works best when the photo means something to the person receiving it. Please don't confuse it with puzzlify.io, Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things.

If a photo puzzle feels right as well, choose the laid tables, the produce waiting for the auction or the pot of stew on the cooker, pick a piece count that suits them, and write the note in your own words. You can make one here.

Written by the small team behind Puzzlify (info@puzzlify.app). Not legal, religious, food hygiene, allergy, charity law, fundraising, safeguarding, privacy, photography permission or gift policy advice.