I’ve been room mom for both my kids every year, and with that I’ve learned some tricks along the way. For this Halloween, I had to be conscientious of the fact that I have a preschool (3 year old preschool) party and a first grade party so I couldn’t do the exact same crafts unless I wanted my six year old’s class to be bored as fuck. So, below are ten ideas to throw an awesome classroom party. I’ve included 6 craft ideas and 4 game ideas as well as tips on how to save money when planning everything!
My general rule of thumb for any holiday school party is to have two crafts or activities the kids can do at their seats, and then one to two games where they get to work off some energy. Divide the class in thirds or at least half. While it sounds easier to have the entire class do the same activity at once, they get bored fast and chaos ensues. So if you split them into smaller groups, they seem more into the task at hand. Plus, if other parents are there to help out, each group can be run by a parent volunteer so that they feel like they’re helping and aren’t just spinning their wheels.
My Biggest Tip: Even if you’re the room parent, other parents are generally willing to help. So send out a sign up genius two weeks prior to the party asking for items and snacks you’ll need. I figure some of the responsibility of room mom means I have to provide the things the kids do, so I rely on other parents to bring in juice boxes and two or three snacks. Let them know if there are any students with dietary restrictions too. I also provide plates, napkins and table cloths, but I buy all of these items either at the dollar store or the day after the holiday has passed when they go on sale. Anything to save some money….especially if your’e a sucker like me and are habitually the room mom.
Utilize the items that are already in the classroom. Did your child’s school require you to buy 3 fucking boxes of markers, 4 boxes of crayons, 48 pencils, and 6 glue sticks. No? Just mine? I digress. We aren’t going to reinvent the wheel here, you paid for those school supplies, so use that shit! I just ask the teachers in advance to have markers and glue sticks out and then I bring in stickers or pipe cleaners or other “craft” items that aren’t regular school supplies.
Craft #1: Decorate your own trick-or-treat bag. I’m doing this for my 3 year old’s class because immediately following their class, the parents all line their cars up in the school lot and do a “trunk or treat” where we pass out candy from our cars. So what better thing to have them make than their own trick-or-treat bag? That way they don’t have to haul those bullshit pumpkin baskets to school. Make sure you buy the craft bags from Michaels or Hobby Lobby that have actual handles like these. Brown paper lunch sacks with no handles can be a real bitch for your preschooler to tote around.
Craft #2: Decorate your own mask. You can find free printable masks online easily like this one. I bought these ones half off at Hobby Lobby last year. And the beauty of these is you just need the kids to use their own markers, crayons, or colored pencils.
Craft #3: Decorate foam pumpkins. I got this pack of 12 for $1.79 at Hobby Lobby. You can let the kids glue on google eyes and make faces on them or cover them with stickers or whatever they want.
And that brings us to my next tip. I learned this one from my mom when she worked for Hobby Lobby. Every other week, half of the store is on sale for 40% off. So if you walk in this week and the holiday shit isn’t on sale, it will be next week, so do your shopping then!
Craft #4: Hand print spiders. If you know your teacher isn’t going to shy away from a possible mess, you can bring in orange construction paper and black or purple washable paint. Have the kids paint the palm of their hand and all their fingers but not their thumb with the paint and then lay it flat against a piece of orange construction paper. There’s one half of the spider. Have them do it a second time overlaying where their palm prints are so that the palms come together to make the body and their fingers are the spider’s legs. Glue on some google eyes and they can draw a web around it. The final product will look like this:
You can do a less messy version of this by having the kids trace their hands on black construction paper (once again all but their thumbs) and cutting them out and gluing them to orange paper.
Craft #5: Decorate real pumpkins. If you have a smaller class you’re working with, buy the baby pumpkins that are .50 each at the grocery store. Use washable paint and let the kids paint faces or designs on their pumpkins. I got this paint at the grocery store, but any washable kind will do:
Craft #6: Popsicle stick ghost window. Each kid will need 6 popsicle/craft sticks if they have smaller hands, or 9 sticks for grade-school kids . Have them color them whatever color or pattern they want with markers. Next, have them trace their hands on white paper and cut their hand print out. Then, have them glue that onto black construction paper and draw a face on their white hand print so that it looks like a ghost. Now glue the popsicle sticks down around the ghost to make a window. Once the glue on the popsicle sticks has dried a bit, cut the excess black paper off surrounding the frame. The end result will look like this:
Game #1: Halloween Bingo. Every class I’ve done this with loves bingo. For prizes I just hand out an extra piece of candy to the winners. Once again I got these half off at Target the day after Halloween last year. You can also get a free printable here and then use candy corns as the markers that the kids get to eat when they’re done playing. (And the candy corns are another thing you can have a parent sign up to bring in if you don’t want to purchase them yourself.)
Game #2: Witch Hat Ring Toss. Once again, I got this bad boy half off last year. You can get it at orientaltrading.com (another staple website to shop on if you’re a room parent) for $7.89 full price. On a strict budget? Get a witch hat from the dollar spot at Target, stuff it with tissue paper and use pool rings or glow in the dark necklaces (also from the dollar spot.) That brings your cost down to $2.00 for the game.
Game #3: Pin the head on the skeleton OR the nose on the pumpkin. Here’s one from Target. Be aware the kit usually only has five or six skulls to pin on the skeleton, so this is when it’s vital you have the class broken down in smaller groups unless you want to xerox or draw extra ones for every kiddo. Otherwise, take 5 or 6 kids at at time to play this game so that there are enough skulls to pin on. Then when that group is done, have them move on to the craft station while the next round can re-use the same skulls. Unless you’re into pain and suffering, don’t make the whole class play this game at the same time….
Game #4: Jack-o-lantern Bean Bag Toss. You can get this game at Target or Oriental Trading. Or if you already have a corn hole game at home, use those bean bags and you can make your own cut-out pumpkin from cardboard to keep your costs down.
Decorations: I don’t go nuts on decor because the party usually is less than an hour and the kids honestly never notice when I do decorate. So I buy dollar store table cloths and get 4-6 festive balloons and set them out on the tables. Then I figure the holiday themed plates and napkins will be enough. I also like to add in a party favor. The kids are so stoked to see festive snacks and treats at their tables that they won’t even realize there is no decor up. If you want to get fancy, play some Halloween music on your iphone and tape up some streamers or paper cut outs, but I don’t find it necessary.
Party favors: I made each kid a play-doh spider as well as a treat bag full of goodies like pencils, erasers, bubbles, notebooks, vampire teeth, witch fingers, eyeball super balls, and candy. Besides the candy, everything was purchased half off last year. So making 35 bags for both of my kids classes cost me about $20 when it was all said and done. These spiders were super easy to make. You can get the mini Play-Doh containers in a pack of 15 for $5.99 at Target, cut the legs out of pipe cleaner, and glue them on along with some google eyes.
I’ll follow up with another blog about Halloween themed snacks you can have at your party so stay tuned. Until then, I hope you got some good ideas on how to throw a creative school party without breaking the bank!!
