I can’t believe my little guy is starting preschool! It’s just a few hours a week, so I’m not sure that it “really” counts, but I’m also not sure that it doesn’t count either. Regardless, we are celebrating the first day of preschool with him! (PS Trying to think of a fun “first day of school” tradition we can start, any ideas?!)
In addition to all the normal little things I needed to get for the big day (backpack, water bottle, etc.), I wanted to get a special “first day of school” pennant for him to hold. I immediately started looking online, but couldn’t find anything that was exactly what I wanted. The more I looked, though, the more I thought I might be able to DIY one. With a DIY, you’re fully able to customize not only the text and font, but also the color to match first day outfits or uniforms and adding the special touch of ribbon makes it even more fun.
I loved it so much that I made one for Jack and his little friend who lives on our street and is going to the same preschool! (I cannot wait to get a picture of the two of them together on the first day!!!)
I have to admit, this is so easy…. I can barely call it a DIY, but wanted to share anyway with some of my tips!
THE SIGN:
I made a quick template in Canva. It is truly nothing special. I set the canvas to be the size of a sheet of paper, added a filled triangle, and then added white text. (There are also tons of fancier designs you can buy from Etsy to print from home yourself too!)
I had mine printed at Staples on heavier cardstock and picked it up the same day. Super easy. It’s not the highest quality print option, but for an at-home project, it works just fine! (I also think they’ll photograph nicely anyway.)
WHAT YOU NEED:
– Printed pennant
– Ribbon options*
– Scissors
* I liked mixing different kinds of ribbon for added texture and interest. What I used: Gingham, similar solid, tweed (in stores at Michaels), and pom pom.
Cut out the pennant carefully, as close to the printed edge as possible. (When in doubt, cut the color though so you don’t have any white edges.) Leave the white “tail” cutting it so you create a bit of a tag.
You can use a tool for scoring, or you can just free fold the tag back. The trick here is to fold a little sliver of the color to the back, so you’re left with a clean full color edge on front!
Using a hot glue gun, draw a line of glue in the crease, leaving a little bit of the edges clear so the glue doesn’t press out. Immediately place the dowel in the crease, ensuring that the dowel doesn’t stick out the top. Then add another line of glue on the far end of the tag and fold over, sandwiching the dowel in the middle.
Cut each ribbon to the desired length, carefully knot the ribbon around the dowel. You can add a dab of hot glue on the inside of the knot, on the back, to secure it if you’re worried about it slipping.
There you go!
Very sweet! For a first day of school tradition, I like the idea of getting a treat like ice cream (or hot chocolate if it’s cold!) after school and debriefing on everything together. My son is only a baby but I’m looking forward to starting a tradition ourselves when he’s older!
My mom and siblings and I used to do this every first day and last day of school! We did it from kindergarten through high school graduation, and even revived it for my senior year of college. Even in high school when we were less generally thrilled by time with mom, the ice cream was there to sweeten the deal. We were allowed to get anything we wanted, and we would always get huge hot fudge sundaes with all the toppings, which was a big deal because my parents were a real health nuts.
The first day we will report back on our teacher seemed, how many friends were in our classes, what we were the most excited about learning, what activities we’d want to do, kids we wanted to get to know better, etc and on the last day we’d recap how all of those things had turned out.
What a super easy craft! I love it!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
This is so cute! My friend’s tradition is to make one of those big tape balls to unwrap and discover little treats along the way. Not sure when she started. That’s probably too hard at this stage. They’ve grown over the years. He’s a senior this year and it was epic. I’m surprised at all she fits in!
When I was a child, my mom always made us French toast on the first day of school for breakfast and it felt so special! It is such a sweet memory to have now as an adult and I plan to continue it with my kids when they start school!
My daughter wanted spaghetti for her first day of preschool dinner. Which I rarely make. She’s away at college now (year two) but we still do it for her little brother. And when she told this story to the chef at her sorority house, that’s what they had for dinner on their BTS night too.
I’ve been making homemade alphabet soup and breadstick letters for my kids the night before their first day of school and they still love it! I have a senior in high school that was so excited for it! There are lots of great books to read and jitter glitter under a pillow helps with first day jitters. ❤️
Growing up our first day of school tradition was that we would come home to hot, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. It was always something to look forward to at the end of the day while we rehashed everything with my mom
So cute! We do a back to school breakfast (with something special like donuts and buffet style eggs, etc). After school we always go for ice cream.
I loved the simplicity of this! It’s sweet but not over the top. Great DIY 🙂
The first week of school can be a rough transition for little ones, so the Friday after the first week we do: bedroom camp out! Pillows/blankets/flashlights/books & cuddling on their bedroom floor so they get all the extra attention & snuggles to help with all the big emotions (only lasts 20min or so), which transitions to an early bedtime.