Now that the kids are back at school, it’s time to party, Kalamu, Fiesta, forever…..sorry lost in a Lionel Richie song. Come on and sing along! Gah! Sorry, sorry. I just love parties. And what better way to celebrate that the kids are back at school than with a fun get-together? Not for you and your friends, although I definitely think I need to plan that, but for your kids and their friends!
I’ve had parties every year for the kids to celebrate the beginning of a new school year and to get to know their classmates better. Last year I planned a party for the beginning of the school year and sent the kids home with a time capsule and an invite to come back in June for a pool party. This year, my girls got kind of picky and insisted that no boys be invited. That meant we were able to get a little girly with the planning.
We planned our party for the Sunday after school started but you could do it anytime in September as far as I’m concerned. I picked up some very cheap composition books and invited the girls to Sundae School. Note the ‘e’ in Sundae. I had the party after lunch and before dinner so I didn’t have to serve a meal. We had fruit platters and of course, make-your-own Sundaes.
When the girls arrived, I had them write their name and the date on a piece of paper and we took individual pictures, one goofy, one nice under the tree in our front yard. We also took group shots, with you guessed it, one goofy, and one nice. I immediately sent these to Walmart for printing and had my husband go pick them up.
For activities I had the girls fill out questionnaires about who their favourite band was, what they wanted to be when they grew up, what they wanted to do really well with at school this year, what subject they loved, what subject they hated etc. They also filled out a True/False sheet. These, along with their pictures were placed in a small Mason jar and sent home with them with instructions to return in June.
They also sat on the lawn and wrote “warm fuzzies” in each other’s composition books. It could be kind words or a nice picture, or it could be totally silly, which is just like 7 and 9 year old girls to do. Finally, we had a good old-fashioned game of Bobbing for Apples (just for kicks we added lots of ice) which not one single kid there had ever played before. They loved it. So much so that they asked if I would do it again at the summer party.
In June I sent reminders to all the kids to join us and to bring their time capsules with them.
We repeated the same poses we did in September.
The girls opened their time capsules.
Laughed at some of their answers from when they were so much younger, like, a whole nine months ago!
And couldn’t believe how much they changed.
As promised bobbing for apples.
A ridiculously easy Pool Party Cake.
Each girl received a notebook where they exchanged their contact information for the summer.
And these adorable summer time cookies from A Couple of Squares.
Then I collected my hugs from my children, because I totally deserved it! 🙂
Lemon Garlic Spaghetti
I just have to ask – can I rent you out for a week or a month? My kid would have WAY more fun with you around I think….. This is a tremendously awesome idea.