Pre-School Parties

We celebrated the close to a Pre-school year {the last for one of my girls} this Thursday.  I'm sure I say this every year, but wow, has this one flown by.  The bitter sweetness of it me hard this morning.  On the one hand I can't wait have to my kiddos home for the summer.  And on the other, how are we already finished with one girl's last year of pre-school and one girl's first year of pre-school?

With the end of the year comes all the hustle and, most importantly, the celebrating.  I was thrilled to put together gift's for the kid's teachers.  We have truly been graced with FABULOUS teachers this year.  I couldn't wait to show them how much they were appreciated.

I gave each teacher one of these...

With five teachers to buy for, I was mighty impressed with my ability to keep each gift at $16.  I found the platters and acrylic cups at Target in the clearance section.  I have no idea why.  But the cups were a mere $1.29 and the platters $1.49.  I snatched them up in a New York minute.

I grabbed the buckets from the Dollar Store and the napkins from Tuesday Morning.  I split one package of straws among all five teachers and tied them up with a ribbon.  And as for the vinyl monogram...I have a wonderful local lady who made them for nearly nothing since I was getting so many.  I'm hoping the teacher's can enjoy a relaxing summer with their drink of choice.

The celebrating continued with Maggie and Lucy's end of year parties.  With this being Maggie's last year of pre-school {what?!?!} I knew I had to be her party mom.  I had the absolute pleasure of planning with Eliza Kate's mommy.  A dear friend and past co-worker too.  I absolutely love party planning with her.

We went for the Ice Cream theme.  I was able to pull out my old stash from Lucy's 1st birthday party. It was a huge hit with the kids and it was fun to plan.

I found these great baskets at the Dollar Store in the perfect colors.  Maggie and I added a little ribbon and filled them with "ice cream" novelties.  We had ice cream punches, ice cream bubbles, and ice cream shaped lollipops.

Our table was filled with sweet and tasty toppings as we did the best to fight the wind.  The decor was scattering as we fervently tried to batten down the hatches.

Clearly the graduates didn't mind a bit.  They were literally screaming for ice cream and filling their bowls to the top.

We had a few fun games and activities around for the kids.  This was Maggie's face when she heard about the Ice Cream Relay Race.  Needless to say, she did not participate.

But, she did love the ice cream bubbles...

...the ice cream poppers...

...and attacking her teacher with them!

Eliza Kate and Maggie were nearly glued together the entire party.  We were so blessed to have such a dear friend in class this year.  I only hope we can get these little gals together once they head off to big kid school.

Lucy even joined us for the tail end of the party.  She immediately headed to the topping table and grabbed an entire bowl of strawberries.

Before that she could be found at her very own End Of The Year Party.  Because I was hosting Maggie's party, Daddy attended Lucy's.  She was more than thrilled and I don't even think she noticed my absence.  As for me, I was just dying to know what she was doing and who she was playing with.

Luckily I was able to grab a couple photos from a classmate's Mommy.  It looks to me that Lu had a beach-tastic time.  I promise I will be there next year baby girl...and every year after that!

So with the celebrating behind us, we prepared for Pre-School Graduation.  Boo hoo...bring on the tissues...