Ella's Pre-K Graduation was on Thursday of last week.
I really thought I would be in tears but a very smart decision by Ella's teacher to include upbeat, happy music during the slideshow kept me...
strong, aside from a little bit of tearing up right at the very end. (Thank you Ms. Clemens)!
The parents were invited by their child to stand up at one point and join them in singing a silly, silly song. So you see...there really was no time for getting all sentimental and sappy when you are completely embarrassing yourself in front of other parents singing the "Tooty Tot" song together. *wink*
We used the "Kindergarten Here We Come" Poster I made for the cake table as a photo prop - which I think was a darling idea! The kids had fun having silly pictures taken together before the Graduation got started. *wink*
If you follow me on Instagram you saw the sneak peek of the graduation preparations I was working on. I volunteered to put together the refreshments for the Graduation Party (since I felt guilty for not really volunteering for much of anything else throughout the year). Ha! Anyway, myself and another mom put our heads together and decided to keep things super simple for our sweet kids by offering a little something salty and a little something sweet as far as refreshments go.
Working around all of the classroom toys, desks and cubbies, we set up a mini version of the Chalkboard Popcorn Bar I created previously for our Neighborhood Fall Family Picnic.
I used the same Popcorn Bar Poster, popcorn tub, metal popcorn scoop and mini wooden scoops.
There were some small differences for this mini set up:
- No popcorn seasonings to add this time - too much for little 5 year olds to handle - or appreciate.
- No "Directions Sign"
- Only 2 candy toppings - nothing with peanuts
- Mini white popcorn bags
I intended to offer 3 different candy toppings for our mini popcorn bar but the person who volunteered to bring in gummi bears must've forgotten to bring them. Which worked out better because I'm not sure how easy they would've been to scoop anyway?
We just stuck with M&M's and Rainbow Skittles and it was absolutely fine. Because of peanut allergies I didn't offer the Reese's Pieces or Roasted Peanuts like in my original Rustic Popcorn Bar. Two candy toppings really were fine and I kind of love the way the two little polka pails from the Target Dollar Bin look holding the candy toppings! Don't you? (these phone pics are terrible quality - you know that irks me. I kept shifting back and forth between camera and DLSR and didn't pay attention to what I had photographed with which camera). Oh well…you get the idea at least!? I hope.
Nice pic of the cake in the box, huh? We couldn't unveil the cake until the last minute - and we actually even had cupcakes too but there were some unruly younger siblings whose parents couldn't seem to keep their children's fingers out of the frosting so we had to keep the cake in the box and move the cupcakes completely off of the table - and then I of course forgot to take pictures of the table with everything back on it. I'm letting that little detail go too…*wink*
Anyway, you've probably figured out by now the theme was black and white using chalkboard printables I made - so I focused on black and white polka dot accents using tissue paper and the mini pails from Target.
I did mini white lunch bags for the popcorn and attached a cute "Yum! Popcorn" tag on the front. Easy.
The other table held some drinks, cups, plates, napkins and utensils, along with the class photo cake the other mom had made by our local grocery store.
The kids sang songs (including Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with sign language - so cute) and then we watched a slideshow of photos from throughout out the year of field trips, school activities and classroom learning experiences. Ella was so excited and I'm so happy I was able to be there for her special day.
Even though they've already "graduated", pre-school isn't officially over until June 6th.
She's got another class "slumber party" to look forward to next week - complete with being able to wear jammies and slippers to school to watch the Frozen movie! So fun!
For those of you who are wondering…
the Pre-K Party Printables will be available in my shoppe - complete with:
• 24x36 "Kindergarten Here We Come" Poster
• 24x36 "Popcorn Bar" Poster
• "Yum! Popcorn" box/bag labels
• "Congratulations" banner
• "Hello Kindergarten" treat tags
• Popcorn candy topping tags includes the following:
- Chocolate Candies
- Gummi Bears
- Rainbow Skittles
- Peanut Butter Candies
- Junior Mints
- Honey Roasted Peanuts
- Turtle Candies
- Jelly Beans
BLOG READERS will be privy to a special discount code in an upcoming post! Stay tuned for the post and more details about the collection.
KEEPiNG iT REAL
I realize the set up isn't picture-perfect or magazine worthy. Ha!
I'm getting really good at letting go of the small stuff and focusing on what really matters.
Some years back I would've been up at the school 5 hours early to rearrange the entire classroom and may have even designed a backdrop to hide any sort of distraction that would've taken away from the dessert table or Popcorn Bar set up. (not saying it didn't cross my mind).
Instead, I worked around the stuff in the classroom (as much as it drove me nuts) and gave in pretty easily to the fact that it would end up looking a little bit junky. Ha! This just wasn't one of those times to get all crazy with perfection. I was still able to make it special and memorable without driving myself nuts with the details. PERFECT for a Pre-K graduation! Right? *wink*
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