Back to School Traditions

It seems that most families, over the years, has started a back to school tradition. Even if they aren't sure that they have one, if they look close enough, they will notice that there are certain things they do every year around back to school time. These traditions can be as easy as buying school clothes and supplies together.

I remember my mom would always plan a 'date' to go back to school shopping. The girls would all go together and have dinner out followed by school clothes shopping. Then the boys would get their turn. I have fond memories of these back to school times with my mom. We also attended back to school night together and would then head over to the store to get our needed supplies. I would like to start this as a tradition at my house at some point. Right now, with a baby, it's a bit hard to leave him home. Once he is older, I will give it a try. In the meantime I have been molding and shaping our back to school tradition. I usually do school shopping as a family event. Then the night before school starts we do a fashion show and have a school themed dinner and family night. If you are looking for a new tradition, check these out below.

Here are some sample pictures of our dining room table for our back to school dinner.  Now, believe me, I never really plan these things really far out in advance.  I mean, I know that every year I will do this, however, I just throw it together and so can you.

2012
•Take those school supplies you just bought for your kiddos and open them up, spread them around the table for decor.
•Use leftover party poms.  What?  You don't save yours....hmmmm.  I didn't think I would be the only one to save tissue poms.  Whatever.  You don't need them if you don't have some laying around.
•Raid your scrapbooking stash and cut a cute school themed pennant banner to hang from the window.  Don't have school themed paper, no sweat, just use primary colors.
•Finally, write a back to school message on your child's art easel.   

If you want to get fancy, you can print these 'You're so Sharp' tags at Eighteen25.  You can even do a whole party like they did. 

2013
{Side note...I was pregnant this year.  sigh.  So you know I did the bare minimum.  HA!}
•Went with left over balloons and some crepe paper streamers.
•Broke out the same back to school banner.
•Added some things that I have picked up along the way.  The puzzle pieces and foam shapes actually came from the Target Dollar Spot (LOVE that spot).  The name tags I did have left over from when I was teaching. The lunch trays are way cool.  I bought them at Oriental Trading so the kids could use them with beading, playdoh, coloring, really anything that you want to keep contained (i.e. those darn lovely loom elastics).  They come 6 to a pack.  You can get them here.

When putting together your back to school dinner table, just remember that kids love bright and exciting.  Remember we are trying to get kids excited for back to school!  As for the dinner, I like to either make comfort food or a smorgasbord of everyone's favorites.   

After dinner we hurry and put all those school supplies back in their backpacks for the first day of school and then it's time for our Back to School family night.  Usually these things happen each time : a fashion show of their new clothes, and dessert.  The lesson, however, changes depending on the kids.  Their age, their attention span, their needs and desires.

I stumbled on this lesson by My Mix of Six and thought it would be perfect for elementary aged children all the way up to college students.  A lesson that everyone needs to be reminded of.

The lesson is on civility and getting to know people for who they really are before judging them.  It helps to remind children that there are more things to a person than their appearance and their downfalls. 

The other back to school night tradition that I might try this year (due to the fact that my kindergartner is a bit scared) is this Kissing Hand one.  First, read The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn.

Then make kissing hand cookies.

Lastly, the morning of their very first day, we have a mini photo shoot.  I love having these pictures of them.  You can find the back to school printables for them to hold up here.

2012

2013

Plan to go to the school for drop off just a bit early and take your camera with you.  This way, you can capture your cutie on school grounds to get pictures to remind them of their playground, their classroom, and their school entryway.  It adds depth to the picture and tells a story on it's own.  If you don't drop off, you can pick up and do pictures then.

What do you do for Back to School?

Valerie