We started our first full day of homeschooling yesterday. We have been doing a few things for the last couple of weeks, but yesterday became a full school day. For the last two years, I have tried to do a Back to School dinner the night before school started, but since we started on a Monday, that just didn't happen this year. So it was a couple of days late. In fact, being a couple of days later made me realize how much my boys look forward to this special dinner in their honor each year. They were really sad today, when it dawned on them that they had started school and had not had their special night. So they were extra excited when dinner time came around.
As I have done the last two years, the theme of our dinner revolves around apples and the decorations around school supplies. Maybe that has to do with my insane obsession over buying school supplies, but either way, it is cheap and easy decorations that add a lot of color to the room.
This banner has been used every year we have done our dinner. Adds just a touch of festivity to the room!
My table decorations started with several sheets of normal notebook paper and I laid the in a circle and quickly stitched them together on my sewing machine. This gave me a base for my centerpiece.
To create my center piece I just pulled out several composition books, spiral notebooks, glue, crayons, etc. I also reused the pencil holder that i made last year as well. And of course the room smelled of apples from the apple scented candles on the table.
Last year I took a couple of sheet of notebook paper and ran it through my laminator to make place pats that could be reused and wiped clean. So those were used again this year, but I added a touch of color with a sheet of yellow paper marked like a ruler.
Gren Gumballs in a tube with "Back to School" label.
Our glasses were these cute little plastic mason jars with lids and striped paper straws (from the Party Fairy) inserted with flags. I used Chalkboard labels and wrote "A+" on the labels and tied them with a piece of red and white string.
The kids each had a place card with their grade on it and everyone at the table had the smaller card with an apple on it and their names.
Here is the finished product
Now to the meal....we started with appetizers (kid friendly of course). It is the only meal of the year that we do this and I know why...they fill up and won't eat their meal!
Our Appetizers: Cheese cubes, crackers, veggies and ranch dip
Our meal: Apple Cider baked chicken (not a huge hit, but it was ok), baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, friend apples, green salad, and dinner rolls.
Our dessert table was covered in a green table cloth with a few more school decorations. We had Apple shaped Rice Krispie treats, Apple Oreo Pops, and Caramel Apple Dessert.
So we have officially kicked off the school year in style, now we are ready to have another great year. And this time next year, I will be even more amazed at how fast the year flew by.
