Hi there Re-Play fans! I am Jessica, and I blog over at a Monkey and his Mama. I had so much fun planning this fun back to (pre) school party for my son, Elijah, and some of his friends, using replay’s Back to School set. Although it makes me a little weepy to think about my first baby starting school, I am determined to make the most of it. Here in Michigan, kids don’t start school until September, but back to school time has always been my favorite. I sometimes wish I was still in college so that I could have a good excuse to buy new notebooks and pens…
I love decorating for parties, much more than I love hosting them. I really enjoy using my limited crafting skills to make party decorations. So I was definitely in my glory planning this cute back to (pre) school party, and the Re-Play back to school set was great inspiration, with the colors of the basic crayon box.
I stuck with the colors of the set: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, and added in some fun chalkboard details, because what says back to school more than a chalkboard?
I set up the replay plates, cups, snack cups, and utensils in front of the fireplace, along with the crayon box favors each child got to take home.
I made little tags out of chalkboard labels to tie to each of the snack cups and created a print out of an appropriate Dr. Suess quote from “The Places You’ll Go.”
The food and actual eating happened at the kitchen table. PB&J is not easy to get out of carpet. One of my favorite parts of throwing a party is finding foods that fit the theme. I served bookworms (grapes), berries, apples, Smart Cookies, alphabet treats, and the classic lunchbox staple, pb&js. I made fun tags and stuck them in all the foods.
The pb&j sandwiches were the biggest hit with the kids. I had to keep making more. They also loved the Smart Cookies that spelled out each name on their plate. I found the Smart Cookies at Target and bought them to help Elijah with letter recognition. Plus they’re organic and yummy.
I had this great idea to take superlatives pictures of the kids, like you’d find in your high school yearbook. But, as is life with toddlers, they had other ideas. Elijah’s friend Addison was really the only one to comply…she is quite the little model.
Jess~
A Monkey and His Mama
