Back to School Feast {2018} + Free Printables!

Every year we have our annual Back to School Feast for our kids.
Some people have this the night before school starts or the first night of school.
We have found that having it the first or second week of school works best for our kiddos.
They look forward to it so much.

 Ever since Kate started preschool, we have done a Back to School Feast to kick off the school year.

The kids get so excited to find out what the theme for the year is going to be & they wait upstairs while I decorate.

 

  I had a black chalkboard banner that you can see in the background & you can write on it with chalk, so I wrote our theme on that. 

I usually chose the "colors" of the Back to School Feast based on that I have in my party supply bins. 

I had flowers that Kevin got me for our Anniversary, so I decided to go with a pink, black & gold theme.

The theme this year is:

UNDIVIDED

The past several years, we have had our Back to School Feast outside, so most of the "decorations" were outside. I made some sayings & then printed them out and put them in frames.

 I got the idea of having the theme of Undivided from this Family Bible Study:

Kate went to Summer Camp with her youth group this Summer and when she got home she said she wanted to start doing a Family Bible Study each week. We are trying this one out!

It is 12 weeks long & has a theme each week, so I took those 12 chapter themes and made them into a printable.

 I uploaded all of the printables at the end of this post if you would like to download them :)

The kids love having Breakfast for Dinner for our Back to School Feast. 

 I give them the choice of Waffles, French Toast or Pancakes. 

 

This year they chose my homemade Pancakes. So light & fluffy and so good!

 

 I also had fresh berries, bacon, sausage & breakfast potatoes.

These are the roasted potatoes from Trader Joe's. So good!

We serve the kids Orange Juice in wine glasses

 And, fun straws to use...leftovers from parties in the past.

YUM!

  At the Back to School Feast, we talk about the theme for the year and what they are looking forward to & goals they have for the year.

We talked about the 12 themes of the Undivided book and how we can apply them to school, family & friends.

This is one of my favorite traditions! 

Check out the Themes from years past......
Back to School Feast {2010}
Back to School Feast {2011}
Back to School Feast {2012}

Back to School Feast {2013}

Back to School Feast {2014}
Back to School Feast {2015}

Back to School Feast {2016}

Back to School Feast {2017}

If you want any of these images/printables...here you go:

 To save them you can right click & hit save.

 These 3 verses I picked out for each of my kids:

 I should have used another font since the cursive is hard to read. Ooops!

 Even though it's hard to read, it's pretty :)

Do you have a Back to School Dinner with your kids?

It's a great way to start off the school year!

Valentine, I "Chews" You {Free Printable}

Valentine's Day is a week from tomorrow....Do you have your Valentine's ready to go?
If not.... here is a Valentine idea for you if you don't want to give candy.

Luke saw these Chewy bars in the Valentine's isle at Target & he picked these out to give to his class. 

I mean...I have 10 other Valentine Printables, but nothing that would go with these Chewy bars, so it was time to make a new printable! 

You know how much I love making printables :)

For this Valentine, you need:

 - Chewy Valentine Mini Bars
(I got mine at Target)
- Scissors
-Stapler 

Pen
-  Printable (You can download at the end of this post)

I'm all about a play on words...I "chews" you for the Chewy bar ;)

 Print out the Printables on white paper or cardstock, cute them out & staple on the Chewy mini bars.

Super easy, super cute!

Luke's TK class was told to just leave the "To" spot blank & only write their name so it's easier for them to distribute Valentine cards.

And, look how cute the Chewy bars are...they have sprinkles on them:

 Sprinkles make everything better :)

 

{Click to download. Right click & then Save.}

Here are some that I have made over the years....

Ring Pop Valentine {HERE} // Goldfish Valentines {HERE}

Smores Valentine {HERE} // Valentine you are just Write!" & "You've got the Write stuff, Valentine" {HERE}

 

 

Valentine, You are Fun! {HERE} // Starburst {HERE}

I'm stuck on You & Let's Stick Together {HERE}  //  You make my heart Pop {HERE}

 

 

Sunglasses printables {HERE}

 Sour Patch Kids {HERE} //   You make my heart flip printable {HERE}

  

All of the free printables can be found on my Printables tab {HERE}
And, all of the items for the Valentines were found at Target in the Valentine section.
 

Last week we picked out what the kids wanted to give this year.
Kate chose Sour Patch Kids,  Claire chose Fun Dip & Luke chose the Chewy Bars :)

Hope these are useful for you!

Elf on the Shelf :: A Cautionary Tale {Plus a Free Printable}

Our Elf is usually boring each year (which I am totally fine with after having him for 8 years).
We just move him from spot to spot. 

Last year, I decided to step up my "elf game" one night.
 I had this idea for awhile & I finally executed it last year.
 I made a note for the elf to hold next to some magic elf seeds (starlight mints)
 The kids will plant them in the garden tomorrow and then the next morning our garden will be full of candy canes.
So cute, right?!?!?

Well.....let me tell you how it went down.
 Magic Elf Seeds "A Cautionary Tale"......
So, the Magic Elf Seeds were a huge hit in the morning. 
The kids were so excited when they saw them. 
It was raining when they woke up, so I told them they could plant them in the garden when the rain stopped. Fast forward a few hours (the rain has stopped) Luke was playing with his rescue bots downstairs & the girls were upstairs playing American Girl Dolls and I was putting away laundry. 
10 minutes later, Luke comes up stairs and says "I planted all the magic seeds in the garden" 
We go outside an sure enough, Luke has planted all the seeds by himself. He was so proud. The girls on the other hand, FREAK OUT and start crying & screaming. 
They were so mad he did that without him. The girls start digging in the dirt trying to find them so they can replant them. 
They are getting covered in mud. Luke starts crying because they are digging them up. 
I tell the girls to stop digging them up and that they can water the seeds. 
They are still hysterical, but agree to this. Claire gets the hose and waters half the garden bed. 
Then, she hands the hose to Kate. 
Kate takes the hose, aims it at Luke and sprays it in his face and screams "That's what you get for planting the magic seeds without us" 
Luke starts crying again and chases Kate through the muddy garden. 
All 3 kids were crying & covered in mud. EPIC FAIL. 
All I could do was laugh. It was HYSTERICAL.
The kids got over their fight later that day & all was well.


I call the next part of the story.....Magic Elf Seeds "A Cautionary Tale", Part 2

So, that night Kevin and I got home from a fun dinner out with friends. 
I decided that yes, I would go plant the candy canes because I knew how much joy it would bring my children. I was excited to "plant" the candy canes in the garden that night & hoped that the candy canes in the morning would redeem the epic fail of the Magic Elf Seeds.
My mother in law was at our house because she babysat our kids while we were at dinner. 
I said, "I am going to go plant the candy canes" 
Both her and Kevin said that I needed to unwrap the candy canes because how can candy canes grow with the plastic on them?
I wanted to be lazy and just plant them with the wrappers on and that way if they wanted a candy cane, they could unwrap in the morning & eat one. 
Kevin and my mother in law said they must be unwrapped now because it's more realistic. 
I said fine & they helped me unwrap them. Then I go out in the 30 degree temperature at almost 1am in the morning and plant the candy canes in the garden bed.

Fast forward to the morning. My kids don't even mention the magic elf seeds. Hours go by....it hasn't even crossed their mind that there might be a surprise in the garden. I am annoyed....ungrateful kids. LOL!
Finally at almost noon, Luke looks out his window and says "Our magic seeds grew!!!" 
At this point I was brushing one of the girls hair because her hair is full of knots and I wanted it to look nice for church tonight. 
 I say "No one is going outside to look at the garden until I finish brushing out this hair. We are all going outside together." A few minutes later the hair is shiny, brushed & doesn't look like a rat's nest anymore. We all go outside together & see the amazing Candy Cane Garden.

All 3 kids are excited about the candy canes and they each bend down to grab a few. 

Then, I hear a scream. My lovely daughter whose hair I just spent 20 minutes brushing has a CANDY CANE that is stuck in her hair.

 As she bent over to grab one of the candy canes, they were wet & sticky (since they weren't in their wrappers) and her hair is long that as she bent over to get a candy cane, one got stuck to the front of her hair. Are you kidding me?!?!? She starts crying because now her hair is sticky & she realizes I will have to brush it out again, which she hates. 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this point, but I am just glad Kevin & my sister Elyse were here to witness the entire thing. 

The other 2 kids are mad because they say that the candy canes are gross because they are sticky, wet, have dirt stuck on them & they can't eat them. 

I then take the crying child inside, who now has sticky hair &I have to wash her hair to get all the stickiness out. 

Good times!!!!!!

 Moral of the story? 
Just keep the Elf on the damn shelf and don't try and be creative....it will backfire. Haha!

But, if you do want to do this idea, I decided to make the printable available to you as well. 
I did 2 different sayings...Plant in your Garden or Plant in your Yard.
I also left 2 of them blank, so you could make up other notes from your elf if you wanted to.





{Click to download. Right click & then Save.}


Our elf will be bringing these Magic Elf Seeds again this year....we need to redeem ourselves from last year's fiasco! 
 
 Now there is an additional Moral of the story....If you decide to do these "awesome" Magic Elf Seeds, make sure you keep the candy cane wrappers on when you plant them so that your kids can actually eat the Candy Canes :)