In August, we had a Back 2 School night with our Relief Society. This one was a lot of fun to put together! To create this vignette, we brought in the portable chalk board from the church, and strung up my Target special bunting that I use for every party. I also pinned up my book page wreath handmade for me by a friend of mine as a housewarming gift. Love it! We stole the stool from under the podium to raise up our vintage school desk one of our members just happens to have, which seemed just a little too small next to that chalkboard, and threw some books and lunch boxes on there for good measure. BYU even made it to this party in the form of a crate from the Creamery we somehow inherited while we were attending years ago.
We strung jute string across the ceiling and clothespinned and paperclipped flashcards to it to create a school themed bunting. On the chalkboard, I wrote welcome to class, in true 'first day of school' fashion.
And the podium table was just decorated with a bunch of nicknacks from around my house.
The more I looked at my house, the more I found I could use to make this look like a vintage school room.
Globes were a must. I put some $1 flags in a vase, and got a pack of pencils and put them in a mason jar. I had recently bought a slate chalkboard from Hobby Lobby to do the '1st day of school sign' with my son, and wrote Back 2 School on it in chalk.
I also filled a container with scrabble letters, and bought a bunch of cheap rulers to put in a pitcher. These pinwheels I made using doublesided scrapbooking paper. I just hot glued them onto scewers. They don't spin, but they sure look cute!
I used some photo albuns to raise up my vintage lantern, pulled in a vintage clock I have, and at the last second thought it would be a good idea to use a statue of the Savior in our display.
He is, after all, our greatest teacher.
I just love the mix of the neutrals looking like a vintage school room with a little bit of those bright colors still thrown in. That bucket was filled with bookmarks which we gave the sisters at the end of the night. Loved the colorful rainbow of ribbon they provided in the display.
I found this quote to go along with our theme, printed it off on cardstock, punched a hole in the top and looped different ribbons through. Easy peasy!
To make it feel like a school room, we brought in all the classroom tables and put them together, so each table sat six people.
We had set up different displays in the center of each table as well. Most with bundles of books from my house.
And more pencil bouquets.
At each seat, we placed a notebook for them to take home as well.
These were just the mini composition books Target and Walmart sells during back to school season, with a "Search Ponder & Pray" label stuck to the front of it. Our last mini class was on studying the scriptures, and this gift tied in with that lesson.
On the side board, we had a back to school bunting hanging, as well as grade level printables found on Pinterest. Here is another shot of the flashcard bunting we made across the ceiling. That really made it seem festive!
On this table, there was more stuff from my house. These giant crayon penny banks were perfect for our display. I also threw my magnet letters in a few jars - amazing how that classes them up. Maybe I'll start doing that at home!
More pinwheels - I loved the feel those gave to this activity! I found this printable (along with most of my other ideas) on {here on Pinterest} and just clipped it to our clipboard. Had an apothecary jar filled with apples. And this is actually how I store our blocks. I love the way they look on top of my kids dresser. A decoration that can be played with! Cute and functional are my favorite.
Our dinner that night was a school lunch. We had veggie cups with rach dip, apples, chip bags, sandwiches, lunch drinks, and rice crispy treats (which didn't make it in time for the picture).
I was surprised at how fast we ran out of chocolate milk! You're never too old for that stuff, I guess. However, hardly anyone drank regular milk. Curious...
When I told my helpers my idea for the food, no one was too excited about it, but it was actually really good!
The display over here consisted of my oversized scissors, some mini trunks, another globe, and a vintage style lantern.
I had fun making these plates.
Just added some paper leaves using double stick tape and voila! Apple plates!
We had 3 mini classes:
Home Economics - we learned how to make our own laundry detergent.
Mathematics - we learned about Budgeting and Finances
Reading - we learned about studying the scriptures.
All in all, it was a great activity!
