Children Food

Kick off your Back to School Traditions

BACK TO SCHOOL TRADITIONS

Next week we kickoff our first day of school.   A bittersweet moment, as I love my kids at home during the summer but very excited for them to launch another year at a school they love.  Normally we go back to school after Labor Day, but with some new timelines set forth by the diocese, we head back 3 weeks earlier this year. And so the efforts begin to make a smooth and happy transition.

Every year I look at the first day of school as a fresh start for new traditions and agendas for our family. In case you’d like to do the same, I’ve put together a short list of ideas for traditions you can start with your own family.  Everyday this week I will highlight a new tradition…enjoy!

Create a special celebratory dinner.

A fun way to jump-start the school routine back into your life, is to let your children be in charge of planning  a “Back to School Dinner”.  Let them pick the menu, buy character paper plates, blow up balloons and tie them on the backs of the chairs. Do something above and beyond the norm to make it memorable.  This could possibly lead into wishes to host dinner every night.

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Since we have 4 kids, I grabbed a white board and let my oldest be in charge of working with siblings to choose who would be in charge of the menu for dinner and breakfast once school starts.  They can either choose what we have to eat, set the table or help prepare the meal.

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For your big back to school dinner, make it dressy if they wish! Let them help put together a delicious dinner, complete with the fancy china and crystal goblets to celebrate the beginning of the new school year. If fancy dinners aren’t your cup of tea or the thought of using your good china gives you the chills, try replacing your Lismore flutes with plastic goblets filled with Martinelli’s (my kids love those).  Then grab those 5 sets of mismatched china that were handed down to you to make personalized place settings for each child.  They will love their unique table setting placed just for them!

For some ideas on back to school dinners,  look to Food Network’s Back-to-School Headquarters to help you make the grade. Each week in September FN Dish will share can-do weeknight meals, easy lunchbox picks, after-school snack strategies and more from our best collection of recipes and tips.

There you have it, our first idea for a tradition to embrace this new school year!  Looking forward to sharing more with you later this week, so be sure to check back with us.  I’d love for you to tell me in the comments if you already do some of these suggestions or if you have other yearly back to school traditions that your family makes sure to do each year. I’m always looking for more ideas to kick the year off right!