Back to school is a special time of year for children and families. It marks new beginnings, and it's worth celebrating. Over the years I've thrown lots of back to school celebrations for my little ones each September and I've got lots of great back to school party ideas. From DIY apple to pencils, to smart cookie ideas, let's get celebrating!
Why We Love Back To School Parties!
- Transitions can be hard, but parities make them better!
- It's a great chance to make your child feel special and celebrated, and help them get excited about the year ahead.
- There's so many cute ways to incorprate the school, school supplies, apple theme.
- Themed foods are so fun to make and eat.
- It's a great way to make special memories.
Jump to:
- Why We Love Back To School Parties!
- Book Page Table Runner
- Chalk Board Table Runner
- Apple Centerpiece
- Apple Tealights
- Apple Balloons
- School Supplies
- Vintage Globes
- DIY MIni Book Bunting
- Vintage Books
- Pencil Box Cutlery Holders
- DIY Book Page Plates
- Gumball Pencils
- DIY Pencil Stirsticks
- Pencil Planter
- Mini Chalkboard Place Cards
- Library Card Place Cards
- Paper Bags
- Ruler Ribbon
- Scientific Glass Used As Vases
- Book Page Drink Flags
- Back To School Food Ideas
- Free Back To School Printables
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Back To School Ideas
Over the years I thrown many back to school family parties. One of my favourite tradtiions was surprising my girls on the first day of school with special dinner when they got home and hearing all about their new teachers, classrooms, and seeing their friends.
Every year I'd pretend I was to busy to plan it this year, and when they got home they'd find the table set for our own back to school party. I had a lot of fun over the years with different themes, decorations and foods. You can find them all in our Back To School Ideas Section. So if you see an idea below and you want to find more about it, you can find the orginal party there. You might also like our Back to School Themed Foods and Treats, Back To School Snack Mix, or our Free Back To School Printables.
I've put them all together here to inspire your own back to school celebrations. Some ideas are more elaborate than others, and some are really simple. To me, it's all about making our kids feel special and celebrating the start of a new school year together with all it's possibilities and new potential.
I love to decorate for back to school with school supplies, vintage pieces and apples. Here are some of my best ideas.
Book Page Table Runner
One of my favourite ideas was using old book pages as a table runner. Look for old books at a thrift store, and tear out the pages to make a runner. Hot glue them together. Using different books for varations looks great.
Chalk Board Table Runner
Use black wrapping paper, and write on it with a chalk, or even better a chalkboard marker to look like an old fashioned black board.
Apple Centerpiece
Apples always make me think of back to school. They look great just lined up down the center of the table.
Use them in a metal lunch box or vintage wood drawer as a centerpiece on the table.
Apple Tealights
To make apple tea light holders fo the table, use a small knife to hollow out the center and insert a tealight.
Apple Balloons
For apple balloons, use round red mylar balloons, these are from the dollar store, and add a brown construction paper stem, and green construction paper leaf.
School Supplies
Just sprinkling school supplies around is the perfect decoration for back to school. These pencils, rulers, and erasers look great in a mason jar.
Vintage school supplies have a special charm, including some vintage science pieces, vintage trophies, and old globes.
Vintage Globes
Vintage globes look great, along with some book page tassels.
DIY MIni Book Bunting
We made mini books with cardstock and old book pages to make a mini book garland to hang over our back to school table.
Vintage Books
Stack beautiful vintage books from the thrift store under glass cloches for the prettiest back to school center piece.
Pencil Box Cutlery Holders
These pencil boxes made the cutest cutlery holders.
DIY Book Page Plates
And these book page plates were a really simple DIY. We used white square plates, and then drew lines on the plates with non-permanent blue and red edible markers.
Gumball Pencils
We used test tubes and yellow, black and pink gumballs to make these pencil themed party favors.
DIY Pencil Stirsticks
I used yellow straws, with a little pink tissue paper on the ends, tied with gold string to make the cutest pencil themed drink stir sticks.
Pencil Planter
I cut down some pencils and attached them to a planter with elastics to make the cutest back to school centerpiece.
Mini Chalkboard Place Cards
Use mini chalkboards as place cards on your back to school table.
Library Card Place Cards
Library cards make adorable placecards for a back to school party. Fill in the name and year.
Paper Bags
Turn white paper bags into lined paper bread roll holders, all you need is a pink and blue marker and ruler for this cute DIY.
Ruler Ribbon
Add ruler or alphabet ribbon to glass bottles or glasses to add a fun back to school feel. You could also use back to school ribbon tied around napkins as a napkin ring.
Scientific Glass Used As Vases
Look for vintage scientific glass bottles at the antique store, or new ones at the craft store and use them as flower vases for your party.
Book Page Drink Flags
Make your straws back to school themed by gluing a flag made of a book page and writing "school days" with a marker.
Back To School Food Ideas
You can't have a back to school party without some special back to school food.
Check out all our special back to school food ideas in this blog post.
Free Back To School Printables
Free printables are such a fun addition to your back to school celebrations.
Check out our Back to School free printable party set complete with printable pencil gift box, banners, cards, even pencil tip hats.
You will also love our Smart Cookie back to school free printble set.
And lastly you might like our back to school free printables with an "All About Me" sheet, lunch box notes, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you're inviting friends over a week before school starts is a great time. If it's a famiy party some people like to set up a special breakfast on the first day. Our favorite is to have a special dinner on the first day of school and hear all about how everyone's day went over dinner.
Yes, why not? Let it become a family tradition and your kids will look forward to it every year. You could even use the same decorations and eat the same foods each year.
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If you tried any of our Back To School Party Ideas or any other ideas on my blog, please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!
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