This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.
Before we know it, the kids’ summer break will reach its end. For some, it may have already. My daughter still has a few more weeks to play. It’s always bittersweet to say goodbye to the carefree days, but at the same time, my daughter gets excited about the prospect of a clean slate (pardon my pun) and a new teacher. So to welcome the start of the coming school year, I hosted this fun “Back to School Party” for my kids and a bunch of their friends. I must say that everyone involved, including myself, left well-fed and superbly entertained.
I firmly believe that parties don’t have to be elaborate or expensive to be fun, so, as with all the other parties I style, I once again challenged myself to stick to a reasonable budget. I used many items as decor that I already had and purchased others on-the-cheap. The food also didn’t break the bank and was a breeze to put together.
I made the “Back to School Banner” by coating some cardstock with chalkboard spray paint, then cutting out pennant shapes and writing the individual letters with a white chalk marker. Then I attached the pieces to some baker’s twine with wooden clothespins and strung it across a map of the United States that I borrowed from my friend for a backdrop.
I made some cute apple plates by cutting out leaves with green craft foam and hot gluing them to the edge. It’s a super simple dress up, but makes all the difference, don’t you think?It wasn’t until after the party that I realized I’d forgotten to set out my cute green polka dot napkins, but did one of the kids notice? Nope! Ha!
For additional decorations, I filled a glass vase with pencils and a jar with cherry sour candies. I served fresh apples (the perfect size for little hands) from our tree in chalkboard buckets. I grabbed some small chalkboards from my craft room and wrote school-related phrases on them to further the theme. I pulled the Roald Dahl book collection from our library shelf and worked it in because I loved the colors, and they’re some of our favorite reads!
The tin crayon is actually a bank, but I stacked it up on some colorful books to add more school pizzazz! I pulled the globe from my shelf and dusted it off for another decor piece. I also displayed some rulers in a white spray-painted vase from my party supply stash.
For the fun table runner, I used chalkboard spray paint to coat some brown kraft paper. I really wanted to have the option of doodling on it, and I think it was an eye-catching table element. I ran a piece of burlap down the center.
Quite possibly my favorite part about this party was the fuss-free food. The kids didn’t complain about STOUFFER’S® Mac Cups and HOT POCKETS® either.
Because school and teachers remind us of apples, I made some Applesauce Cupcakes for dessert. I followed this recipe for the cupcake base and then made cream cheese frosting and colored it red with food gel. I sliced gummy worms in half and stuck them into the frosting. Then I cut some pretzels for the stem. The leaves were made with green Tootsie Rolls that I smashed flat with my clean fingers, then hand-cut in a leaf shape with a sharp knife. I’m not going to lie…this part was a little tedious, but I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear when I saw the cute end result and witnessed the kids enjoying them.
For Back to School “Brain Food” I served baby carrots and broccoli pieces in mini decorative cups with a little Ranch dressing in the bottom.
The STOUFFER’S® Mac Cups were a huge hit with the kids! Cheesy pasta goodness! I was a fan of the fact that they only take three minute to warm in the microwave too. Now that’s what I call #FoodMadeSimple! And simple is just what I need when I’m scrambling to get the million last-minute details done on party day before the guests arrive.
I picked up a couple of 2-pack STOUFFER’S® Mac Cups in the freezer section of Walmart with STOUFFER’S® Single Serve Entrees.
The thirsty kids really appreciated the “Get Smart Drinks”…tasty Juicy Juice boxes, made from 100% juice, and the rich chocolate milk that I made with Nesquik Chocolate Syrup. I love the fun-sized Juicy Juice! Pretty much everything is cuter in mini form, don’t you think? I tied some A+ tags to the boxes with baker’s twine. Find the free A+ printables, along with the food labels, at the end of this post.
It’s easy to throw a memorable back to school party, especially when it involves kid-friendly sustenance! The little guests came hungry right at lunch time and immediately asked to dig in. 🙂
I just had to serve yummy HOT POCKETS®, because what kid doesn’t like pizza. And as a parent, I applaud my children when they can eat it without making a huge mess. Got to love the pockets! They make a great after school snack, too, when the kids come home starving from a long day. I served them in some brown cardstock sleeves that I cut and used double-sided tape to hold together. Then I tied them with some baker’s twine.
Most of the kids ate picnic style on a blanket in the living room, but some preferred to kneel on the tile at a chair. It doesn’t look comfortable to me, but kids never seem to care about that sort of thing.
For entertainment, we played bingo and the kids got to find mini school supplies in a jar filled with rice.
I handed out black and white Back to School Bingo Cards that I designed and let the kids color. Because kids and crayons go together like bread and butter!
Our bingo rounds were great fun! We practiced being a good sport if we didn’t win every time. 🙂 Life lessons learned…check!Find the free printable file for this Back to School Bingo game at the end of this post with
the other “Party Printables”.
I also put together an “I Spy” type game in a large Mason jar, along with a search list. I used some small school supplies from our collection and then filled the rest of the jar with white rice. Find the printable list at the end of this post.
I sent the kids home with these adorable Candy Pencil Favors. I’ve seen variations of the idea out there, but basically I just rolled some Rolo candies in yellow, grey chevron, and pink paper, then hot glued in place and added a chocolate kiss candy for the point.
{FREE PARTY PRINTABLES}
BINGO CARDS (5″x 7″)
Back to School Rice Search List (4″x 6″)
A back to school party is a great way to get kids excited about a new year of learning! Do you have back to school traditions with your kids? I’d love to hear!
Thanks, #CollectiveBias, for the opportunity to style this fun back to school party!
For all other party ideas go HERE.
Comments