First Day of School Traditions?

Reading these almost makes me cry already! I have 2 going to K this year. Great question and great ideas everyone! Something I had not thought about yet.

Thank you.

My mom always made our first day special ; ) It started with a breakfast of our choice!! She made the best breakfast!! Then we got to school went to unload our book bags and there would always be a little good luck card in there with a sweet note from my mom then when school was done we would go home and always find ballons on our door handle with candy ( maybe if u don't like candy give her heathy snacks she loves) on the floor infront of our bedroom door!! I loved it and looked forward to it every year!! Hope this helps : )

I take my grandkids for ice cream after school. Of course, their mother takes pictures before school. Looking at the pictures makes the first day fresh over and over. And a new outfit for the first day.

We just took pictures with our son's new school outfit and backpack...as well as fixed a special breakfast chosen by our child. And yes, it is a very emotional day for many mamas. My 1st born will be in 1st grade and I'm already tearing up just thinking about it. It's amazing how quickly they grow, isn't it?

Best of luck to both of you!

My daughter is going to K this year too! Having loving the idea to having more time to get things done, half sad I will not have my one and only child away from me for a large part of the day.

Love the Schultute (school cone) idea, I am so doing that for my daughter's first day of school. I will also be making a specail breakfast of muffins since that is my daughter's favorite breakfast that we only have when camping or at a hotel. Also tons of first school day pictures.

So exciting to read these b/c I want to do first day of school traditions. Thanks for posting this, I send you a flower :D. I will be taking tons of pictures in her school outfit and backpack, putting her backpack away, and a few in the classroom before class until the teacher gives me that "really" look (they are probably used to it haha). I'm going to do the special breakfast and balloons with special treats (what a great idea!) and a nice dinner to talk about her day of school over to. On her first day of school, when I leave and go home I'm going to cry like a big baby b/c MY baby will be growing up too fast haha.

I take pictures of the kids holding up their fingers, what grade they are in. My mom did this and has all 13 of ours in a book.
Brownies!!!!!!!
For Kindergarten all my kids got a book at dinner, wrapped. I think all of them got a Dr Suess book. I wrote a little in it saying, for the first day of your educational journey blah blah blah.
In kindergarten they get a new outfit for the first day, (in high school they get an allowance to buy what they want and still wear last year's clothes).
This year will be number two's senior year. I am a little emotional about that.

Both my husband and I come from a German heritage. In Germany, the first day of school children receive Schultute (school cone) full of wonderful little gifts. We have turned this into a tradition that we practice every first day of school each year. You can google it, there are many designs (some quite elaborate) and ideas for filling it out there. What we do is take a poster board and tape it into a cone shape and decorate with stickers/words/etc of what interests our children at that time. We then fill it with one new outfit for school, some fun school items such as pencils, crayons, travel size tissues, etc. We have been doing it for three years for my daughter and this will be my son's first year receiving one. It has been well received in our household! Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have a camera handy to record the extra special day!

i see lots of folks said take pictures. I love the one that takes them with their fingers showing what grade. we always like to take them in front of something each year that will show how much they've grown. like the fireplace, front door or something like that.

We always go out for a pancake breakfast on the first day of school, right after we take their pictures in front of our fireplace wearing the clothes they picked out and their new backpack.

Mine will be in Kindergarten this year but has been to pre-school and pre-k. I do the picture thing of course! Taking her shopping for a new backpack and school supplies on Fri. I let her pick out her outfit for that day. She gets to pick breakfast. Make her a special dinner and she gets a back to school present when I pick her up--a new book usually. This year it might be an educational game for her Leapster.

But her fav is going out for ice cream on the way home from school!!

All the answers I've seen are terrific and I know all are appreciated too! It seems they all have three things in common: taking pictures, lots of positive attention, and something special and fun for this milestone. Whatever you decide on, just have fun and enjoy this!

I am from Germany and we give our kids a cone filled with goodies and small toys to sweeten their first day of school. It is such a wonderful tradition.

Take a ton of pictures. First day of kindergarten I went into the school with my son and sat with him until the teacher took him. He'll be in second grade this year. We do a picture in front of the house, which I do every year. I scrapbook too. Also we take him out for dinner that first day.

Oh and each time your kid goes to school is emotional, not just kindergarten.

Well for my kid we did a video from the time I woke her up, until we hugged and said our goodbyes in the class. We did mini interviews throughout the school of the teachers and talked to some of the students in her class. Got it all on camera. Of course we took pics too

When my daughter went to kindergarten we gave her her first wristwatch and showed her what time school would be out. Tommorow my son goes to kindergarten for the first time and he will be getting a spiderman wristwatch. As excited as they are they are also scared and this reminds them that we love them and will be there right after school to take on an ice cream date!
R.

Pictures Pictures Pictures! My kids are going into First and Second!
They always have a funky fun new outfit! I have them pick out their own bookbag.. I sneak in a little note for their first day and a little treat..
I always request a late date at work-- a nice breakfast.. pictures.. play some of their favorite music.. and walk them both to their classes! My little girl is a double extra girly girl with sprinkles on top so I paint her nails and do a nice hairstyle on her!
They grow up TOO fast dont they!

Pictures are a must. My family always did that so I did with my daughter last fall when she started kindergarten. My husband's family always went out to breakfast on the first day of school, usually McDonald's. So last fall my husband took my daughter out to breakfast and then brought her home since we homeschool. She loved the extra attention and special time with daddy.

We always hated it growing up, but my parents would take pictures of us waving as we walked to school. Now we talk about it all the time and make our kids do it. We would always have a special day with mom to go buy a back to school outfit for the first day. My parents didn't have money to buy us all new wardrobes for school, so that brand new outfit was really important to us. My dad would always go to work late so that he could be there to see us off.