Making Back-to-School Fun

For families with kids, nothing marks the passing of time quite like the first day of school. I’d say it’s even more momentous than New Year’s Eve, and not only because I’m actually awake. It’s a big part of our kids’ identities… for a year, a first- or second- or third- grader is what they are.

Going back to school requires a lot of preparation – shopping for school supplies, getting new clothes and shoes – and it’s also a big shift in routine. I know it’s going to take our family some time to adjust to using our evenings just to prepare for the next day. There will be lunches to pack and clothes to lay out and baths to give… and we’re all going to have to start going to bed a lot earlier!

In other words – back to school is a big deal!

And things that are a big deal for my kids tend to bring out the obsessive compulsive side of my personality (which is typically so buried beneath the surface, right? *ahem*), so of course I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time lately thinking about how to make the first day special, and to make it fun.

And by “thinking about,” I mean “googling.”

I’ve discovered all sort of fun things other (more organized, crafty, or thoughtful) people do to create BTS traditions for their kids. The obvious being, of course, the requisite first-day-of-school picture.

I ran across an article on RocketCityMom.com with a number of suggestions for creative ways to do the pictures. One idea was to add text to a photo that says the kid’s age and grade, and a few of their favorite things. I really like that one. I also like this idea, which I completely ripped off of that post:

Cute, huh?

Besides the picture, though, there are a million was to celebrate the first day back to school. A treat in their lunch, a trip to the playground after school, letting the school kid decide what to have for dinner… the list goes on.

So tell me, how do you and your family make back to school fun?

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Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Country Crock via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Country Crock.

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7 Replies to “Making Back-to-School Fun”

  1. Last year I celebrated Joshua’s first day of school by doing something FUN the LAST day of summer break, which I let him choose. He chose Chuck E. Cheese and I NEARLY chose suicide, but we both survived. 🙂 I am SO SO SO SO SO SO FUN!

  2. Our son makes it fun for us. He LOVES school so much, and his enthusiasm is just infectious. We try to always speak positively when we talk about school (I volunteer in the school library, and I think that helps, too), and his school is such a loving place that he’s always ready to go back. Definitely not the kind of kid who bemoans the end of summer.

  3. Holy moly do Kate and Lily not look alike in the first day picture!!! Its like looking at Lily in three years.

  4. Our little one is 15 months old so we’re still some years off of “back to school,” but hubby and I read an article about back to school traditions and one that we really liked was this: On the morning of their first day of school (or the night before if you’re worried about too much sugar or junk food in the morning lol), let your child decide what meal they want to eat. Whether it’s an ice cream sundae at 7 a.m. or lasagna, it gives them something to be excited for and allows them some “control” during a day when they don’t have much at all (to help calm the nerves). We’re pretty healthy eaters, but I don’t see the harm if our little one gets one breakfast a year that might be a root beer float 😉

  5. We do a breakfast out the morning of the first day of school along with me doing the snoopy dance all the way to work! 23 more sleeps baby!! Because we tell time in sleeps at our house!! LOL!! 🙂

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