Managing Classroom Parties at School
Classroom Parties at School – are they good ideas or not? There are lots of different policies at different schools across the nation when it comes to class parties. Some schools don’t allow any, while others celebrate often, but most schools lie somewhere in between.
Managing Classroom Parties
I have worked at numerous schools throughout my career and they had a wide range of policies. One school allowed teachers to decide, so you could celebrate every holiday plus birthdays.
Another school allowed birthdays plus three parties that the teacher could choose. Another school designated Christmas,
The most restrictive that I worked at did not allow birthday celebrations in class, but as a compromise to complaining parents (gotta love them sometimes), parents could pass out sweets (most did cupcakes) as the students were leaving at dismissal.
I always thought this was not very smart because then you had over half of the students climbing onto the bus with the treat in hand. And the others were either walking or climbing into their parents car.
But, I digress.
Types of Classroom Parties
As mentioned above, there are a few different types of parties. The holidays celebrated most often are Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter.
Many classes love to have an End-of-the-year party in celebration of the completion of a great year together.
And of course, many parents enjoy bringing cupcakes and juice to celebrate their child’s birthday. This is often fun for the students, but I always felt bad for the kids who didn’t have parents willing or able to do this.
Making Sure Students are Treated Fairly
No matter what your policy becomes (or what your mandated policy is), you need to do your utmost best to ensure students are treated fairly.
For example, for Valentine’s Day, I sent a note to parents (and explained thoroughly to students) that the decision to bring valentines or not was theirs to make. HOWEVER, if they chose to give out valentines, THEY MUST CREATE ONE FOR EACH STUDENT.
Speaking of treating students fairly across the board, I have a FREE Classroom Routines Checklist that you can access to be sure you have established all the routines you need. Just complete the form below and I will zip it right over to you!
**
One year, for Christmas the students wanted to have a gift exchange where they selected a gift from the stack of gifts brought in. On that day, I kept track of the gifts as they entered the room and added gifts for ones we were missing. This ensured that each child was able to select a gift.
We limited the price per gift to $5 (this was quite a few years ago).
How I handled Classroom parties.
Even when there was no limit on parties at one school, I still would usually only have three. When I taught primary grades, we would have some lessons or activities centered on the holiday also.
I always made the students and parents responsible for the food items. I would send a note home listing a variety of items they could send for the party. About 85% of the time, we got a good variety. A few times I had to scramble to find plates and napkins when none were provided.
The years that I had a “Room Mother” the parties were very organized. And there was a good variety of party foods and supplies provided by parents. But you can still have a fun party without a Room Mother.
Depending on the age of my students, I would provide games to play together like BINGO or other such games.
Here are some fun ideas for a Valentine’s Day Party from blogger Teach Mama; Valentine’s Day Party Ideas, 2.0
Organizing the Classroom Party
To organize a class party, I would start by creating a note/letter home to the parents about a week before the event. There is nothing more frustrating to parents than finding out about school things at the last minute.
If you have upper grades (from about 5th-8th) I would ask the students what kind of party they want. Sometimes they ask for a “game” day, or a dance party, or a PJ party, you get the idea.
Of course, you guide the discussion and if it is something new that you aren’t sure about, let them know you will ask the principal to be sure it is Ok to proceed with the plans.
Back to the note, in the note I would tell the when the party will be and what items I need the parents to contribute. In my early years of teaching I tried to be super organized and find out what each parent could bring/send. And then try to make sure everything was included that we needed.
You might also find the following articles interesting:
Why Did You Become a Teacher? What’s Your Why?
Learning to go with the flow
Later in my career I learned that it really wasn’t necessary to get that regimented or specific in the plans. You just go with whatever things that got contributed.
There were only about two parties – in my whole career as a teacher – where I actually ran to the store during lunch to get something for the party.
Even later I would just tell the students, “Well, that’s all we got for this party.” Most of the time they would just go back to eating their chips and chatting with each other, so it wasn’t an issue. Some years I got so much food contributed that I had to send some things back home with students that didn’t get passed out.
When the time arrives for the party, select students to pass things out. Most students liked to hand out what they brought so if it worked out, I let them. If you have items that are not in a sufficient quantity (like 12 cupcakes only for a class of 20) I wouldn’t pass them out (to be fair) or I would cut them in half so every student go 1/2 a cupcake.
The worst thing of all would be getting a sheet cake and nothing to cut it with or no plates to put the pieces on. I learned to keep a butter knife in my cabinet that I could use if needed.
I would also have a little game like BINGO or a word search to keep the kids busy if they wanted it. But usually, I would just let them chat with each other. Most little kids were fine staying at their
Know when the party is over!
You never need to spend more than 45 minutes on a party. As a rule, I usually made it the final hour of the day. I made sure to end the party 10-15 minutes before dismissal so that we could all clean the room and pack up to go home.
Make sure you require the students to help you clean up. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, don’t leave a mess for the custodian. Remember, they are your friend. (smiley emoji here!)
Other Fun Activites
There are so many other fun activities that can be spread out in your school year. Here is a list of the ones I can think of:
- science fair
- field day
- spelling bee
- talent show
- international day
- career day
- timeline activity
- solar system activity
- Easter egg hunts
- St. Patrick’s Day “gold” hunt
Of course, you don’t want to be “IN CHARGE” of all of these if they are
As you can see, quite a few of these activities can be tied to academic areas of the curriculum.
Some Curricular Holiday Activity Ideas.
If you browse Pinterest for some holiday classroom ideas, I’m sure you will find a ton! Teachers are among the most creative people I know (along with most being SUPER ORGANIZED!
Here are a few I can think of right now:
- creative writing around a leprechaun for St. Patrick’s Day
- Christmas around the world
- The Pilgrims Thanksgiving
- Art projects with an Easter egg theme
- mask making for either Halloween or Mardi Gras
And there are tons and tons of more ideas. Many can be purchased for just a few dollars on Teachers Pay Teachers. So, don’t forget to check there.
Until Next Time,
Your Teacher Buddy
