My children are having a back to school party, they are each allowed 5 friends. I have 2 ten year olds, one twelve year old and one fifteen year old, could you help with some ideas, decorating, food, activities because all different ages.
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I think "party" is the word you should focus on. Remember that these kids are old enough to know what school is like, and probably won't consider a too "realistic" school theme to be much fun.
Do give them school stuff, but not the ordinary stuff. Get brightly colored pencils with glitter on them (instead of the plain yellow ones), pencils, rubbers, pencil sharpeners, pens, pen cases, note books, etc etc, with funny shapes, even scented gel pens (I know you can't actually bring those to school, but they're fun, and that's what parties are about). I once bought some nice "secret message pens" with UV lamps at Dollar$tore (yes, they spell it that way).
The party could have the form of a "day" with a series of "lectures" in different subjects.
Why not give away novels, and have a "literary" school party, maybe with a Hogwarts theme... Maybe include showing a filmed version of some classic book (but pick a good one! maybe something a bit older, that they haven't all already seen, Harry Potter is nice, but I bet these kids already know those films by heart...). As a Swede, Astrid Lindgren is a name that comes to mind.
Subjects like History, Geography or Biology could also become "lectures" in the form of films.
Gym class = disco, maybe with a dance lecture at the start (if you know somebody who is good at that). (last part of party)
(That subject where you learn how to cook, whatever it's called in English) could be a lesson in how to make a cake and cookies, etc for the party itself... (first part of party)
Math is a wonderful subject, where you could do creative things on themes such as M.C. Escher, fractals, or a treasure hunt ("This wall is the x axis, that wall is the y axis, a unit is this long, and the candy is hidden at the coordinates 21.3, 7.4...."). Possible gifts could include a sudoku book.
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For back to school, I'm letting my 3 daughters have a party. It will be during the day. They are each allowed to invite 4 friends. The invitation will be written on the back of a school map (my two older daughters will be attending middle school, but the youngest is in Elementary school, so I'll need 2 different school maps).
On the invitation, we are asking the guests to bring their top 3 choices of what they might wear for the first day of school. When the guests arrive, they will change into their outfits, model them, change in to their 2nd outfit, model it, and then their 3rd outfit. My oldest daughter has been stressing about what to wear for the first day of 7th grade, so this should help her and everyone else decide what to wear, since they'll have feedback from friends.
Then, I will put names of teachers (from both the middle school and elementary school) on each door in the house. All the doors will be closed so it's easier to see the names taped on the doors. Everyone will be given a "schedule" and then the "bell" will ring. The guests have about 30 seconds to find the door that has the name of their "first period teacher's name on it. Then they have to find their "next class" and so on.
This party will be during the day, and we will have lunch during the party. For lunch, it will be like in a cafeteria, where everyone goes down the line and picks out what they eat.
After lunch, there will be a scavenger hunt for things on the school supply list! I will use the kids' real school supply list. The things they need (such as glue, scissors, box of pencils, etc.) will be marked with a sticker because they might pick up a pencil that wasn't supposed to be part of the hunt!
The next game is more for my middle school kids, but maybe my daughter in elementary school and her friends will want to play along. There is a box of dress up clothes. You will also need a student handbook for this game. One person dresses up and has to walk around in it for 30 seconds or so. That person is the student. Everyone else will be teachers, principals, etc. and have to look in the student handbook to see if the "student" is out of dress code. If they find nothing wrong with the outfit or can't find the rule against it in 30 seconds, the "student" gets a prize.
This should be very fun. I hope this helps you!
Nicole
