Back to School Party

Summer is ending which means that it's Back to School time!  It is really bittersweet, yes, you love sleeping in and hanging out at the pool all summer, but...the kids get to go back to school and you'll have your days to yourself back again!  

So, let's celebrate with a Back to School Party for  our kids.  If this is your child's first year attending school, then perhaps you can invite your family over, or some friends they will be going to school with.  It's a great way to transition them into the school year.  Hopefully everyone can give words of encouragement to the child and this will help ease them into this change in their life.  Otherwise, if they are returning to school, invite some classmates that they haven't seen in a while as well as some new summer friends over and party!

So the theme is obviously classroom related.  You can either go with your school's colors as the palette or just stick to primary colors.  You'll want to decorate your table with classroom appropriate decor: books, apples, chalkboards, pencils, crayons, globes, maps, school buses, numbers and letters.

Food can go 1 of either 2 ways.  Either you can have a buffet of favorite cafeteria foods like: chicken nuggets, pizza, french fries, apple sauce and chocolate milk with silly straws.  Using compartmentalized trays would be very fun!  Or, you can can individually pack brown bags with foods like: peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, string cheese, pudding or applesauce cups, grapes, baby carrots, chocolate chip cookie, and  juice boxes.

Some activities you may choose to do at your party may be: a game of dodge ball, school race "pack lunch bag, collect homework, put on back pack, run to school house", paper airplane contest, making bookmarks or book covers and finally a game of Show and Tell - describing their favorite summertime activity. You can also ring a bell between activities to make it even more appropriate.

Party Favors should be some extra fun school supplies that they wouldn't ordinarily get: glitter pens, stencils, stickers or personalized items.  Otherwise, you can just give them their new book bag with supplies in it: crayons, pencils, erasers, note pads, folders, pencil box, pencil sharpener, rulers, lunch box ect.

Last, but not least, it's fun to plan a small event for the first day of school itself--something like a Bus Stop Bagel Bash. Fueled by good food, good friends, and a send-off by mom and dad, who knows? Your kids might even look forward to that first day of school...and you may too!