Yesterday we had our First Annual Back to School party (I told Mike it was the first annual and he sighed). I kept it small, just the kids of my three local besties, although that meant there were eleven kids here so I guess “small” is relative!
My poor cousin Leah had an emergency appendectomy on Saturday, so we spent a large part of the day visiting her in the hospital. The good news is that she’s doing great and is already home and resting comfortably! The not-as-good news is that threw a bit of a wrench into my day o’ party errands. Totally worth it to spend time with Leah, though!
So, I scratched a bunch of my food and game ideas and kept it simple. For food for the adults, I made chicken chili verde in the slow cooker with coconut lime sublimes to drink (and appetizers by my friends, thanks guys!). The kids got a packed lunch of chips, fruit, chocolate milk, and varying combos of PB&J, with snow cones for dessert.
I’d done a few things in advance – the crayon roll party favors were all done and ready to go:
I had also already made a ruler wreath I found on Pinterest:
It’s super-easy, just cut 14 wooden rulers in half, then hot-glue them to a six-inch embroidery hoop. I decorated mine with scrapbooking supplies I found at Joann Fabric.
This group of kids doesn’t need much in the way of planned entertainment. The only thing I gave out of the norm was a big wall of paper for them to color on.
Beyond that, I pulled out the old favorites: dress-up clothes, x-box, and the two-kid bounce house (the kids were all great about taking turns, yay!). There was also an awful lot of chasing each other from room to room while screaming at top-volume, but I was too busy covering my ears to get a picture of that.
I’d say the only mishap was when two of the babies thought it would be fun to color, too…
While it was great to see the kids have so much fun, it was so wonderful to have an excuse to hang out with the adults, too. The end of summer has been crazy, and even though things will settle into routines very soon it’s always hard for us to find a time for all of us to get together. There are just too many schedules to take into consideration now – grown ups AND kids.
When we’re together it’s like no time has passed – and it’s the same for our kids.
Elizabeth says:
It must be something about October brides this year! My friend who is also getting married in October had to have her gall bladder out last week.
Also I think I would have loved a back to school party… though one brother would have been miserable- he hates “too many” people around to this day. This seems like so much fun!
Malissa says:
Ha! I love the look on the baby boys face who had had some fun coloring on himself. Great decorations! I love the whole paper wall idea.
Auntie_M says:
I LOVE the ruler wreath!!!!!!
Auntie_M says:
LOL…I hit submit instead of return! I just love your party ideas and how fun you and your friends are!
I am totally going to make that wreath for Septembers for my front door! I just love it!!!
Have fun going back to school, Annabel!!!
Kat says:
Poor Leah, glad she’s on the mend, still looks like a lovely party though and that last picture of Annie holding hands with James – my heart!- what a luckily adored boy!
Nanette says:
CUTE!
DefendUSA says:
Very Cute! The “babies” coloring reminds me of a funny story…Kid 3, age 2- found the markers. She came downstairs, hair all askew, lifted her dress up. She was covered in lines of green and orange, front and back of her legs to her diaper. I said, “Where do we color?” She said, “Paper oh-ne!” and walked to the time-out spot. I couldn’t help but laugh…
Glenda says:
Looks like a lot of fun!
Rie says:
Your chicken chili verde is a huge hit at my house. We drain most of the liquid off and eat it over homemade tortilla chips with cheese and sour cream (or greek yogurt).