Perfect Parties Theme Three: The School Party

Guess what? This party is actually mine, and not credited to my party-planning friend Krista!

(In case you missed it, she brought us The Polka Dot Party and The Pajama Party, with more themes on the way!)

Since Frannie is starting school in September, I decided to have a little get-together for the five girls who will be in her Junior Kindergarten class. (There will also be twelve boys, in case you’re curious.)

I would have called this a back-to-school party…except they haven’t even been yet! So instead it was more of a starting-school party.

I wrote the invitations on little school-themed magnetic notepads, and sent them through the mail. (Note: some post offices will process envelopes that are eight cents short in postage. Some will return them, delaying the whole process. Get your mail weighed first if uncertain!)

When the girls arrived, I gave them some free time down in the playroom (since I have heard that kids seem to enjoy the unstructured time at parties more than the forced games). Then, I forced some games! (Hey, it was a school party and I’m a teacher – what do you expect?)

First, we sat in a circle and I read the funny “If You Take a Mouse To School”, by Laura Joffe Numeroff  (I adore her books.)

Next, we played a memory/name game:

“I’m Frannie, and I’m taking a lunchbox to school.”
“She’s Frannie, and she’s taking a lunchbox to school. I’m Tasha and I’m taking a backpack to school,” etc.

There were five girls in total, and I swear they still don’t know each other’s names!

By that time Daddy and Maggie had arrived home with the pizza (one cheese and one pepperoni), served with juice boxes – very appropriate to the theme – which few four-year-olds can finish in one sitting. (If this were a really authentic school party, I would have served peanut-free sandwiches that would have two bites out of them before being thrown in the garbage in favour of the snack foods and dessert. Believe me, I see it every day!)

After eating, we headed outside to burn some energy, and the girls did a little scavenger hunt that I had set up during naptime. (This is my proudest party-throwing-mommy moment.)

Each girl was given a hard plastic pencil case (pink, of course):

Then, they were instructed to search the backyard, where I had strategically hidden ziploc bags full of various school supplies: one bag had six pairs of scissors, one held six gluesticks, etc. (And since one little classmate didn’t make it, we even let Maggie participate.)

The girls ran around the yard looking for the bags, and when they found each one, they distributed the contents amongst themselves, and ended up with their own personal back-to-school kit (the total cost was about $32, with everything purchased at Dollarama. The only other costs were the pizza and the cupcake mix.)

They played on the playset for a bit after that, but then it was time for dessert! As I got it ready, the girls gathered around the kitchen table and coloured some school-themed colouring sheets I had printed off the internet.

Then, they were presented with…the cupcakes! (It was a little anticlimatic with no ‘Happy Birthday’ or blowing out of the candles. I’m sure Krista would have written a school song to the same tune, but oh well. Maybe for Maggie.)

They were just made from a mix, and I then decorated them myself. (“Whew,” you’re thinking. “I was afraid she paid someone to put together that mess!”) However, I thought the pencils and eraser toppers were cute little decorations. (I did wrap the bottoms in tinfoil, by the way, so no chocolate made contact with lead!)

It was a great experience, which I think the cute little classmates enjoyed. An added bonus was that it taught me Kindergarten is not in my future.

Child: I don’t want to play that game. I’m going to Frannie’s room.
Me: (thinking) Um, no. I said we’re playing the game, so we’re playing the game. I’m the teacher, don’t you get it? (I said something much more sensitive.)

I think I’ll stick with letting our excellent K/Grade 1/Grade 2 team break them in before they hit my classroom!

So there you have it…my first party for Frannie and her ‘friends’. Not bad, eh?