Last Day of School Traditions

My kids are about to start their final week of school for the year – yay!  Have I mentioned how excited I am to not have to get them up and out the door quite so early? That’s certainly something to be celebrated! 😉  As a Mom, I have tried to institute quite a few fun little traditions for my kids for various holidays and events and the Last Day of School is no exception.

The year my daughter completed Kindergarten we were living in a fantastic little neighborhood.  On the last day of school some of the moms set up a table by the bus stop and gave all the kids ice cream as they arrived home off the bus.  I thought that was such a fun little tradition to have so when we moved to North Carolina I began a similar tradition there.  We had a fun neighborhood with lots of elementary-age children that liked to play together all the time and a neighborhood pool, so it was easy to set up a casual Last Day of School Party for the kiddos.  All I had to do was send out a few Facebook/Text Messages mentioning we would be meeting at the pool shortly after the kids got home from school, and that I would bring popsicles if anyone else wanted to contribute anything to share and viola – instant party.

Ok, so yeah I put a little bit of effort into making it feel like a party by setting up a table for the drinks and snacks and decorating it.  It took me all of 10 minutes to whip up a cute Summer pennant banner, grab a plastic tablecloth from my party stash, and find one of our striped beach towels to provide a fun pop of color.  As I always say – it doesn’t take a lot of money, just a little bit of planning and attention to detail to make something special.

One year it was a really rainy day so we didn’t go the party route.  Instead, I bought a couple of boxes of ice cream sandwiches, printed out some fun tags and met my daughter at the bus stop where she hurriedly handed them out before everyone got soaked.  (You can find the printable over on the Eighteen25 blog.)

This year we no longer live in a neighborhood so I’m thinking we will do our own ice cream sundaes or rootbeer floats when the kids get home from school.  Or go out for shakes or snow cones.  Or…ok so I haven’t decided yet.

Another thing I started doing on the Last Day of School is putting together a little suprise of some sort for the kids.  Sometimes it’s something simple, like the cups and treats I put together for them last year.

And other years I went a little overboard more elaborate, like this:

and this:

As you can see, I look for things that the kids can use in the summer.  You could include food items like freezer pops, drink mixes, snowcone flavorings, Jello mix, snacks and treats of any kind.  Items related to keeping the kids busy in the summer could include bubbles, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, jacks, beach balls, pool noodles or toys, splash balls, water balloons, arts and craft supplies (I see googly eyes, colored pencils and brightly colored pipe cleaners in this bucket), snow cone cups and straws, etc.  That Chinese jump rope kept the kids and their friends occupied for hours that summer.  More personal things to include might be summer-weight pajamas, new swimming suits or towels, water bottles, and books.

Oh – and before they go jump in the pool don’t forget those Last Day of School photos!

It really doesn’t matter what I do for the kids on the last day of school, my intention is just to do a little something to make it memorable.
Do you have any Last Day of School traditions you do every year or are wanting to try?

Related blog posts:
-2016 Bucket of Summer Fun for teachers and kids.

Linking to:  Lifestyle Link Up, DIY Sunday Showcase, The Party Bunch, Pin Me Party, The Saturday Sharefest,