Back to School Pinata
Pencil
Back to School 

Invitations (Yipee! We're having a party!)
Print the invitations on a crayon shape or blackboard cutout. “Back to School and Back to Cool. Come party before classes begin.”

Decorations (No spit wads on the ceiling)
You're celebrating your school experience, right? Then colors for your back to school party should either be your school colors or school bus yellow with black and primary color accents (red, yellow and blue).

Place a bouquet of sharpened pencils as your centerpiece or a bowl of apples.

Make giant pencils made from foam noodles (found in the swimming toy section of your department store). Sharpen one end and use a permanent marker to blacken the tip.

Make a giant ruler from scrap plywood or foam sheet from a hardware store. Use a permanent marker to mark oversized inches on the board.

Use green or black butcher paper and draw on it with chalk to create a chalkboard backdrop.

Cakes (Sugar high. Teacher's worst nightmare)
Bake a cake in a loaf pan and decorate like a locker.

Decorate a rectangular cake like a chalk board. Write a message on the board.

Costumes and Dress up (Cheer for your team)
Cheerleader pom poms-Yes. This is okay for boys, too.

Games and Activities (The fun never ends)
Simon Says (ages 3-10)
Play Simon Says by having the guests follow the leader. Choose one guest to be the leader, have the leader face the other guests and give out instructions: “Simon says put your hand on your head,” and other similar instructions. All the guests are supposed to do the instructions preceded by “Simon says,” but are eliminated from the game if they follow instructions that are NOT preceded by “Simon says.” Last one to be eliminated becomes the next leader. Or, if that takes too long,  just let everyone take turns being the leader and they may each give a set amount of instructions, three or five minutes.

School Maze (ages 3-12)
Make a maze or dot to dot of your school building. Get a picture of your building, possibly from the website, and place the picture under a thin paper. Draw the outline of the building and use it to create your own maze or dot-to-dot. This a great way to celebrate going back to school at your party. Get it? The maze shows the way back to school. 

Food Fight (ages 3-16)
Prepare a table outside with dishes of food for a food fight. Try foods that are smearable like jell-o jigglers, mashed potatoes, or even cooked peas. If you want a traditional food fight, warn the guests on the invitation to dress appropriately. Another option is to provide each guest with a large piece of paper to paint with the food provided. This could be a good ending game for your back to school party.

Red Rover (ages 4-10)
Play Red Rover by dividing the guests into two teams. Have each team line up across from each other, holding hands. Team one decides who they want to have sent over from team two and chants, “Red rover, red rover send Madeline right over.” Madeline then runs across and tries to break through the arms of someone in team one. If team one holds steady, Madeline joins team one. If the hands let go and Madeline breaks through, Madeline gets to take someone from team one back to her team. Then team two repeats the chant, “Red rover, red rover send ________ right over.” This play continues until everyone is tired.

Paper Airplanes (ages 4-16)
Fold paper airplanes and have a contest to see which can fly the farthest. You may provide markers for decoration or paper clips for weights for the planes. Don't you wish you could fly back to school?

Back to School Word Search (ages 7-16)
Create a word search of typical school terms. Be sure to include the name of your school and the name of the school mascot. This type of game can be a good filler or a break between more active games at your back to school party. Click for this PDF file here.

My Summer Vacation (ages 7-16)
Split the guests into teams of 3-4 people. Give each team a bag with a few items and instruction to create a skit using all the items in the bag about what you did on your summer vacation.

Back to School Crafts (More school party fun)
Back to School Pinwheels (ages 3-12)
Use this file to create your pinwheels. Cut on the dotted lines. Decorate both sides of the square. Gently fold the outer corner of each triangle toward the center of the square and use a push pin to push through the four corners and the center of the pinwheel to attach the pinwheel to the side of a pencil eraser. And then blow away the blues from your back to school party.

Pencil Holders (ages 3-12)
Save your cans. You may use juice cans or soup cans or chip cans. If using tin cans, be sure to use the kind with pull top lids, because they don’t leave a sharp rim. Provide each guest with a very clean can and materials to cover the can. Glue paper or craft sticks to the outside of the can. Decorate with stickers, glitter glue, pictures cut from magazines, markers, etc.