Kindergarten Kick-Off Celebration

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and it client. #DreamParty #cbias

Since I mentioned to the kids that we might have a Kindergarten Kick-Off Celebration a few weeks back, I’ve been asked incessantly when the big day would be. Like, non stop. I think that Reagan might have been more excited for this more than getting to go to preschool, which she’s been asking about for nearly six months. Even though we still have a few weeks left until their big day, we decided to head to Walmart to get our shop on and put together a special #DreamParty dinner celebration for our little family.

Because I went shopping at Walmart, I was able to get every single thing I needed for our special dinner at a great price so I really won’t feel bad having to put together another one of these shin digs the day before they really start school. Are you ready to check out what we put together?!?

We have never once eaten in our formal dining room with our kids, not even in our last home. The idea of carpet under the table with small children just never seemed super appealing. You know you feel me on this one. This seemed like the perfect exception to our rule.

When I began to set the decorations up in the formal area, I thought Reagan was going to come unglued. That girl was absolutely thrilled we were changing things up. Because I was able to protect the table with the Cars table cover, I didn’t have to worry about any spills or accidents and with disposable plates and silverware, I didn’t have any dishes to clean up.

Here’s a little closer view of the table set-up. I wanted to keep it simple and clean so the focus could be on the “race” through school the kids were about to start.

Luke’s fave part of the entire meal? The DecoPac cupcakes that he picked out at the bakery. He was so proud of himself!

Francesco, one of the characters from the Cars 2 movie, was a great addition to the centerpiece of the table. I love when I can re-purpose items from a party set-up. Even though the car started out as a decor item, Luke can easily play for hours and hours with this car. It’s a win for both of us!

Each place setting was anchored with a simple sheet of royal blue card stock that coordinated with the Cars themed products we purchased and served as a place mat so I can use the table cover again.

Inexpensive plastic silverware continued with the color scheme and Cars theme, plus it was one more thing that the kids thought was “special” about dinner. Who knew that blue spoons and forks could make kids so happy?

We are big fans of these cups from Walmart and I’ve been known to get them for my children as rewards. At $0.87 each, you really can’t go wrong. They clean up nicely in the dishwasher and they hold the perfect amount of liquid for their age.

I knew I wanted to have the kids help me with something and when Luke asked if he could make name cards for the place settings, I had the perfect solution. I trimmed up some yellow card stock (again, coordinating with the purchased Cars themed items) and he wrote the names of each person on his own and then decorated each name card with Cars stickers. Easy peasy. Reagan, of course, in all her bossy glory was thrilled to get to tell me where each person would be sitting for dinner.

In all, we had a great time celebrating the beginning of the school year and making memories as a family.

If you’d like to check out more of what Hallmark and Disney have to offer, you can follow them here:

• Hallmark Party Website
• Disney on Twitter
• Disney/Pixar on Twitter
• Hallmark on Twitter

Linking Here:

Tatertots & Jello * Lil’ Luna * Positively Splendid

Whipperberry * I Heart Naptime