Fun Food Ideas

Serve food kids might find in their school lunches, such as sandwiches, baby carrots, grapes, and pudding cups. The sandwiches can be cut into fun shapes using cookie cutters. Lay a few blankets on the grass and let the children eat outdoors. You could even pack a brown lunch bag for each guest and pass them out at snack time.

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You’ll want something sweet to end the party, and ice cream sundaes make a great treat to help kids say goodbye to summer. Just set up a table outdoors with ice cream and a variety of toppings. You'll need chocolate and vanilla ice cream, dishes or cones, and syrups like fudge and butterscotch. Set out bowls of sprinkles, sliced fruit, gummy candies, and chocolate chips, and let the kids pick their favorite combos. Don't forget whipped cream and cherries to top it all off!

Back-to-School Games and Crafts

A back-to-school party should include games that let the children use their minds, along with some activities to keep them moving to use up excess summer energy! Change traditional games to fit a back-to-school theme, such as playing Teacher Says instead of Simon Says.

Here are a few more activities you may want to try:

• Twenty Questions – Before the party, write different school-related words, such as “homework,” “eraser,” “recess,” etc., and fold them in half. Then, have a guest choose one slip to begin the game. Other guests must ask a yes-or-no question to discover what is on the slip of paper. They must guess the correct answer within twenty questions.
• Memory Game – Fill a small tray with items related to school, such as a book, bookmark, small notebook, pen, pencil, water bottle, etc. Show your guests the tray for about 30 seconds, and then take it into another room and remove one item. Bring the tray back and see if anyone can remember which item is missing.
• Create a Pencil Holder – Before the party, collect empty cans such as soup or coffee cans. You will also need to provide construction paper, glue, stickers, and markers. At the party, let each child cut a piece of colored paper to fit around a can, and glue it in place. The children can then use stickers, markers, ribbon or other craft supplies to decorate their pencil holders. Be ready to drop a new pencil into each can as it is finished.
• Edible Friendship Bracelets – Provide licorice string and candy or cereal with a hole in the middle. Fruit Loops cereal and Life Saver candies work well for this craft. At the party, let the children slide candy or cereal pieces onto the licorice strings to create bracelets or necklaces. Help tie the ends together as the children finish.
• Paper Airplanes - Let your guests make paper airplanes and have the children decorate them with crayons, stickers, and markers. Then, organize flying contests to see which paper airplane flies the highest, the farthest, makes the most spins in the air, etc.
• Lunchbox or Backpack Decorations – Use a craft kit that lets the children make and shrink a cute design to use as a backpack decoration. Kits usually provide all the supplies to color and bake assorted designs in the oven. Kids love watching them shrink!
• Summer Craft Kits – If you’re looking for cool crafts your guests will love but you want to keep it simple, there are lots of fun craft kits available for sale. Here are our favorites from Birthday in a Box:

Candy Jewelry Kit	Foam Frame Kit	Shrink-It Art Kit

Back-to-School Party Favors

Fill a paper lunch bag with school-related party favors like an ID tag for a lunchbox, pencil sets, crayons and markers.  Print each child’s name on a bag and seal it shut with a sticker. You could even order a set of personalized stickers for each guest to use on their school supplies. At Birthday in a Box, you’ll find great personalized favors plus complete back-to-school party favor sets which include matching bags! Here are some of the cool personalized favors from Birthday in a Box:

  
Bag tags can be printed with one line, like a name.
                                                                   

Luggage tags can be printed with up to 5 lines, like phone numbers or an address.

Stickers can be printed with a name or a message.

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