Our grand prize winner of a classroom party is Kim Hardiman. Her winning tip:

We’ll be sharing lots more tips over the next few weeks so stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s a handful of ideas from the experts, room moms in the classroom…

  1. We hold the party in the gym. Each grade has 50 minutes. We have 5 or 6 stations for the classes to rotate to with volunteers to man each station. That way, each class has the same party in case there isn't enough room parents for a class and the teachers can have a break! 
  2. The key is to keep it simple! The kids don't care if the treats are shaped like something special. If you stress about making it perfect they can tell. Fun games that you played when you were little are still a hit!
  3. Keep the activities surprising and interactive!  With older kids I love to do theme parties with trivia about the topic and offer prizes.  One time the child who answered the most questions correctly won... and his prize was to help me clean up at the end of the party!  All the kids had a good laugh, but they all pitched in to help and at the end I sent him home with a surprise bag of sweets.
  4. I recommend sending a note home with all of the children at the first of the year asking parents to send in "party money." This money is strictly used for parties. You can budget it accordingly. Some will send in $5 some will send in $30, but at least you know what you're working with for the year. Now there are some cases where parents will volunteer to bring other stuff in sort of on a by party basis. Take the help! Seriously, listen to me. Take the help! :) There will be years where you have no help at all and if someone is willing please accept it.
  5. I like to make name tags for the kids as not all of the parent volunteers know all the kids names. I also put a little sticker on the name tag to go with the party theme to split them up by stations. So at the Halloween party the 5 kids with "bats" started at the craft table, the 5 with "ghosts" started at the game station etc...
  6. Always have a back-up plan with extra supplies!