Back-to-school season is here, and that means it’s time for one of my favorite traditions: our annual back-to-school party! This year I went all in on classic school supplies with giant pencils, crayons, composition notebooks, apples, and glue bottles.
I mixed a few easy DIYs into the back-to-school party decorations, plus a couple of my own new printables to pull everything together. Keep scrolling for all of the details and links from this year’s party!
Shop This Year’s Back-to-School Party
I’ve rounded up the decorations, tableware, and other pieces I used for this year’s setup below if you see something you’d like to recreate!
The Back-to-School Party Backdrop
I used my “TO DO: Have an Awesome School Year!” notebook paper sign as the focal point of the backdrop. I originally made this as a DIY, but this year I was so excited to be able to turn it into a printable design to use at our party- and make available for everyone to get a quick, easy, and cute prop for the back to school set ups!
GET THE PRINTABLE: LINK
Surrounding the notebook paper, I taped fun school-themed paper plates to the wall. There are always SO many cute partyware options that I can’t possibly use them all on the table , so incorporating them into the wall decor is such a fun alternative!
I hung colorful paper chains across the ceiling and draped them with gold star garland to add a little more sparkle.
DIY Giant Pencil Decorations
If you’ve been here for a while, you may recognize these giant pencils! They’re one of my favorite back-to-school DIYs because they’re made from inexpensive pool noodles and can be used over and over again as photo props and party decor. This year I used them both standing up and hanging overhead with clear fishing line.
I made them using yellow and pink pool noodles, silver duct tape and kraft paper for the sharpened pencil tip.
The Back-to-School Table
For the table, I went with a composition notebook theme using a black-and-white print tablecloth and a giant color-in back-to-school table runner. I designed the runner to have space to write the kids’ names or grades and lots of doodles to color- just like a composition notebook that might be covered in stickers!
My printable coloring table runner is 2′ x 6′ and can be printed as a banner, turning the entire table into one giant coloring page.
GET THE COLOR-IN TABLE RUNNER: LINK
School-Themed Place Settings
I used large alphabet scalloped plates layered with smaller notebook-paper plates, then added crayon-shaped napkins at each seat. I scattered a few school-themed stickers over the smaller plates. I love how this super easy DIY gave the plates an extra little simple but elevated customized detail!
For the centerpiece, I glued yellow pencils around a clean jar and filled it with colorful flowers from our garden. I also tucked in each kid’s First Day of School grade pennant, which added another personalized detail to the table.
Back-to-School Treats
I kept the treats simple and made my version of the trendy “dot” cakes I’ve seen all over social media lately! I made each of the kids a little individual snack cake topped with colorful alphabet sprinkles.
We also had Olipop crisp apple drinks (honestly, because how cute are the mini cans??) with colorful straws.
This year, we started a new tradition and I added number candles for their new grades- 1, 4 and 6. I love how they can blow out their candle in celebration of the year ahead!
Happy back-to-school! ✏️🍎📚
What do you think?