Owls & Apples – Back to School Party

An Owls & Apples party is a perfect theme for a Back to School celebration.  Using the Owl School and School Days clip art by Revi Devi along with the Apples Digital Paper I created some really fun party elements for a reception for my daughter’s French Immersion tutoring group.

This past summer, my daughter was forced delighted to take part in a French Immersion tutoring group hosted by my neighbor, Janice, whose son is also my daughter’s classmate.  I was so happy when Janice allowed me to come in and set up a party table and dessert display for their end of session/back to school reception.  The children would be performing a small skit based on a caged bird.  So, my owls & apples theme tied in perfectly with the theme of the performance!

To start, I created a door sign that read ‘Bienvenue’, which means ‘welcome’, in French .

Since there would only be light refreshments, I did not have a lot to do when it came to treats.  We had cupcakes, Madeleine cookies  and apples (of course!).  Using an antique secretary style desk that Janice had on hand, I set up the desserts.

As I started setting up I just knew I was in decorating heaven because Janice has so many educational tools in her home, that styling everything was a cinch for me!  I used an abacus, old school teaching clock, a wood apple plaque, blocks, books and pencil cases to create lots of visual interest.  This gave the display a very vintage school house feel, I think.  I added my own elements like mini buntings created using the patterned paper, a cut out of an owl was used as a cake topper and I always love cupcake toppers and added some to the apples and created apple pops!

I find great ideas in the most random places.  Recently I saw an adorably whimsical back to school window display at a local florist shop that had giant pencils, apples and rulers.  I took that same idea and created a blackboard using black foam board to write ‘Back 2 School’ on and then added a bunting and giant pencil to the board.  I found this tutorial and made giant pencils using poster board.  I also added a few cute dollar find owls and crayons to the display.

There was a poem that I remembered from childhood called A Wise Old Owl.  I created a  print of it using the clip art and framed it in an Ikea Tolsby frame.  It really makes for a nice gift for a teacher’s desk as well.  You can print out your own; simply save the image to your computer and print.

Using cut outs of the clip art, I created party picks to add to a flower arrangement.  One of my go to styling tips is, instead of using a glass vase, I like to wrap a container with patterned paper to make everything look cohesive.  In this case, I disguised an empty juice can with a piece of the patterned paper.  The giant pencils were also a fun element that was added to the table.

When the ceremony wrapped, the children got to go home with a fun certificate of completion and back to school supplies.  I embellished some of the supplies with the patterned paper.  You can easily customize glue sticks, pencils, and more with the paper .  I also created  a favor box using the cut out apples as embellishment.  This project was a bit taxing for me, so I won’t go into how to make it.  If I’d searched further, I would have found these very useful apple shaped gift boxes by Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff.

If you’re throwing a back to school celebration this year, try an Owls & Apples theme – you’d be wise to do so!

MG Party Planner, Keisha Sibert, Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams