In previous years, I've had a banner for the kids to run through, streamers and balloons to burst through, and an ice cream party. You can click HERE, HERE, and HERE to read about each of those. The last day of school is a half day so there's plenty of time for fun. The parties usually involve a fun arrival home, some snacks, a small gift and an activity.
This year the kids are once again in two different schools so that meant two different 'parties' especially since my son's last day was the day before my daughter's last day of school. So for my son's last day of school, I covered the door with streamers and he ran through that.
I found an easy way to cover the door with streamers and that was to use painters tape. I put a long strip of it at the top of the doorway and folded over part of it and attached the streamers to the sticky part that wasn't stuck to the door. This made set up and clean up fast.
My two little helpers got in on the fun. My 4 year old was blowing a party blower as my son walked up the driveway and into the house.
As for the activity, my husband took a half day off work and they did some fun things together that afternoon. The original plan was to go zip lining but the place was so crowded they sold out of tickets before they arrived. So onto plan B. They did some shopping and eating and went to the shooting range. My son requested a double layer chocolate cake so he got that when he came home that evening.
My daughter's "Welcome To Summer" Party included a banner and balloons. I made sure she could see the decorated driveway from the bus stop.
It's hard to tell in the picture but the banner is actually a large sheet and I just used a permanent marker to write the words "Welcome To Summer 2015". The sign on the little bench says "No bookbags allowed. Leave your things here."
I love how my younger daughter greets my older daughter at the bus stop. She runs up to her and hugs her every day.
After walking through the driveway, the girls (we also invited one of the neighbor girls) headed to the back patio for snacks and games. I had a "rainbow" theme to this party. I like to do themes when I can. There were balloons in rainbow colors on the driveway and for snacks we had different colored fruit to make a rainbow.
The girls wanted to do the painting activity first. I had 'paint shirts' for them to wear but also made sure the paint was washable. Good thing too, since my 4 year old had it all over her legs by the time they were through. They got to paint the banner which is why I just outlined the letters instead of filling them in myself. They also decorated the rest of the sheet with flowers, stars and such.
Next up were the games. They played Don't Eat Pete! We used marshmallows and this Don't Eat Pete board I got years ago from a primary activity. In case you've never played, it's really fun and easy. You put one piece of candy on each square. One child picks a number and designates that number as "Pete". Another child starts eating the candy one at a time and as soon as they pick up the candy on "Pete", the other child yells "Don't Eat Pete!" Sometimes it's the first candy they choose and sometimes it's the last. The kids had fun with this. We played three times to give each girl a chance to play and eat some marshmallows.
The kids also had a squirt gun / super soaker water battle. After my official festivities were complete, they continued to play inside the house for hours. Another school year done. Phew!
Now to entertain 4 kids all summer long while keeping my sanity. How do I do it? Lots and lots of activities. We get out of the house and do something at least once a week, and more often it's 2-3 times a week. I also make my kids do chores and some schoolwork. They are motivated to do this because they can't play video games till it's done.
I've written about our summer schedule and fun activities in previous posts and will keep you posted with what we do this summer too. You can click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE to see what we've done in previous summers with schedules, schoolwork and chores.
And here are some fun activities and crafts we've done:
