Today I am whipping out my flip flops because summer is on its way. School is almost out and it is time to celebrate. My husband and I have started several family traditions to honor our children for all of their academic hard work. Here are some of our favorites:
Last year, I ordered Oh the Places You’ll Go! off of Amazon.com and had my daughter’s preschool teacher sign it. Each year I am going to sneak it in to her teacher to have them leave a message for her. I am thinking that it will be an AWESOME graduation present by the time she is done with school! I love reading the sweet messages her teachers leave her, too.
2. Water Balloon Bash
I borrowed this tradition from my fun sister-in-law. Nothing says summer like water balloons! My husband and little boys hid with a large bowl of water balloons to surprise my oldest when she got home from school. We set aside a stash for her as well to make it a fair fight. Perfect fun for the younger crowd, but I imagine that we may need to get more creative in our sneak attacks as the children get older. For even more fun, we added a bubble machine to the mix.
3. Make it a Banner Day
My daughter was positively giddy when we pulled up to the house and she saw the pink streamers laced across the entrance to the back yard. Who doesn’t love a victory run for their hard work, right? My advice to Utah residents – use thick tape. Two years in a row we have had a light wind and it is just enough to wreak havoc with the streamers. Taping each streamer line individually with a thick piece of packing tape worked much better than doing a continuous back and forth line. It would be just as fun to use butcher paper to make a sign to run through, too.
4. Favorite Places Photo Shoot at School
Ask your child to show you all their favorite places and people at school. Makes for a fun photo shoot and it’s a great way to communicate with your child about school. My daughter was so proud of all of her favorite places from her letter on the carpet to her best friends. You can take the pictures and turn them into a book for your child and let them add the captions. Preserve those precious memories in their own words!
I hope this post helps to make your end of the school year memorable and fun. Traditions strengthen our families and keep our children close.
A big thanks to Kaysi for letting me visit and share some of my favorite end of the school year traditions with you! I would love it if you popped on over to Keep Moving Forward With Me to say hi!
What are your favorite family traditions?
How do you celebrate the end of the school year?
jennifer zuna
I love all the pictures!
Celebrate the BUMP!
What fun! They'd be great traditions. I love the Dr. Seuss Book idea š
Dawn from WithaSideofThriftiness.com, and launching soon: CelebrateTheBump.com!
Summer Rumsey
How fun! We have impromptu water ballons fights here as well in the Summer. The kids just love to surprise their Dad when he gets home from work!
april
some really good ideas
Victoria
Such a great post. It sounds like you have such a fun like. I love that book by the way š