{Back to} School Party

Back to School Party! 

For my local MOMS Club, I hosted a little Back to School party this week. It was pretty simple, but a lot of fun!! Most of the items I purchased at the Dollar store, many were free printables online, so this was not an expensive or time consuming party to prep for!! (Which was good, considering we go back to school next week!! Aghk!!!) 

  

The 'blackboard' covers one wall, and is made from a black dollar store tablecloth, the decorations on it are part of a pack of 15 shapes, also from the dollar store. I cut the letters on my Silhouette Cameo, but you could easily use pre-cut letters from the dollar store, or cut some your self.

"Blackboard" from a black tablecloth, letters & decorations attached with tape

Hanging decor from the light above the table - dollar store pack of school shapes

I planned a craft, and 3 games/activities. The moms brought their favorite lunch-bag snack and we had a great potluck! Fruit, veggies, PB&J sandwiches, Mac 'n Cheese...  Cookies for dessert! Good stuff!

The craft was a sweet little apple treat the kids can give their Teacher on the first day... or eat on the way home from the party! LoL 

See How To Make These HERE

Sample of the craft used as part of the table decorations

It's red candy, a snack bag, tootsie pop, ribbon, green paper, a ramekin from the dollar store, and a free printable tag! Cuteness, but still easy enough for our Kinder crowd! 

One of the activities was discussing some back to school questions. They're conversation starters, free to print from here, I cut them out and scattered them around the table. Each person read one, and we talked about school stuff. Kids say the darndest things!! Some of the answers were pretty funny!

Table decor included Pencils in pencil holder baskets, more school shapes,
the craft supplies, and conversation starters.
Free Printable Cupcake toppers were used on some of the pencils.

A second activity doubled as out table center pieces, a pencil toss! It was actually a really hard game - I suppose I could have got bigger baskets!! But the kids (and adults) LOVED it!! We actually played it twice, the kids wanted to do it again after we finished School Bingo! It really was hard, but some people did manage to get pencils to stay in the baskets! Each person got 8 pencils, and stood about 3 feet back from the basket. The opbecjt was to get the most pencils to land/stay in the basket. If you do this game, look for a little bit bigger baskets!!

Do-able, but difficult! The kids really enjoyed the challenge, trying allll sorts of bouncing, tossing, and crazy silly stunts to try to get the pencils in. The mamas even had a go, and wow. We were not as good as the kids! LOL Fun tough!!

The bingo game, a free printable from here, was fun too! Easy for the non-readers, with both a picture and a word on the calling cards. Everyone had fun playing. Or eating all the cheese-it playing pieces... We seemed to run out after a few games! :) 

The game 'prizes' that everyone got were dollar store stickers from the school section. As party favors I made little packs of smarties, and added this cute free printable from here to some Big Shot Top Note diecuts. Slipped into a sealable clear envelope, and they were ready to enjoy! I also handed out some pencil boxes filled with pencils, funny erasers, and sharpeners - all dollar store loot, but cute and the kids were thrilled.

"Hey Smartie Pants! Have a great first day of school!"

A party blogger I will never be! ;) But I do love a party!! The kids enjoyed it, and I always love visiting with my mamas! You could totally do this party, it was pretty low stress for lots of fun! 

Happy Crafting!! 

-Angie