Host A Back To School Party

Summer is over. It’s time to return to the days of learning, school lunches, and h-o-m-e-w-o-r-k, yuck! While parents are excited to get back to some sense of routine, not all kids look forward to returning to school, but they do welcome the idea of meeting up with long lost friends and sharing of what they did over the summer months.

So what better way to kick off the new school year then with an old fashioned BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY!

There are actually two ways to go about this: have the party at home or host the party in the child's new classroom.

If you wait until school has started, you can meet with the new teacher to receive permission to plan and host the party in the classroom. But if you want to save a few headaches, and really give the kids a chance to get to know each other, and start to form bonds before the school year begins, you can host the party in your home.

When hosting a Back To School "At Home" Party, invite last year's classmates as well as this year's classmates. It will relieve the tension and awkwardness of being in a room with complete strangers.

Invitations:

On the invitation, go for something fun and recognizable, like a yellow school bus or apples. And include all the important details like: time, date, where to meet, and what is expected.

For instance, if you are planning a swimming party, ask the kids to bring their swimsuits and towels. If you are planning a barbecue at the lake, tell them how to find your group amongst the ground, i.e. a yellow streamers or crepe paper borders. And if you're planning on having them talk about their summer, ask them to think about what they did over the summer and come prepared to share.

Decorations:

You can purchase a Back to School Banner at your local party store or have your kids color one of their own. Again, consider the school theme. Use red apples, a yellow school bus,  a chalkboard, pencils, paper clips, and notepads.

Food:

Kids love simple things and they love junk food, so why not combine the two.

How about Jell-O snacks in the shape of school supplies? Or a cake designed to look like a blackboard? For the cake, consider a rectangular shape covered in black frosting with "Welcome Back Class! Teacher’s Name" in white icing.

Pizza would make a simple addition to your Back To School Party, but if your kids aren't into pizza, consider alternatives like barbecue hot dogs, hamburgers, carne asada, and roasted corn on the cob.

As for drinks, think water and old fashioned punch. That way, you can avoid having half drunk cans thrown in the trash, or tossed on the ground.

Party Favors:

Host a Scavenger Hunt. It's a lot more fun than just handing out party favor bags as the kids leave!

Give each child an empty party favor bag. Then divide the kids up into groups, give them a treasure map, and tell them to go treasure hunting. For older kids, give them a sheet of paper with clues and tell them to figure out what the item is and where it is located.

Hide items the kids can actually use in school like, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, pencil boxes, glue sticks, notebooks, back packs, and other school supplies!

Games:

When it comes to games, think about games that would allow the kids to share what they did over the summer, offer a way to build teamwork—thus giving them a chance to get to know the other kids, and are, of course, fun.

A nice game of tug o' war would build teamwork, as would a two-legged sack race. Charades or Pictionary would allow the kids to share about their summer vacation. Just have each of the kids write down what they did over the summer, then transform those ideas into a game! You can place all the ideas in a bucket and have each child pull an idea out or have the child with the event perform, while the other children guess what he or she did over the summer!

You can even host a lip sync contest. First prize, a Free Homework Pass. Courtesy of the teacher, of course!

In the end, a Back To School Party is only as much fun as you allow it to be. Remember to relax and give the kids breathing room to be kids. Don't worry about everything being on a time table and definitely don't make events too structured. Let the kids use this opportunity to get together without all the pressure of classroom rules or peer pressure.