Back to School Dinner ~ Be a Builder

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I loved the idea I saw a while ago on NieNie Dialogues to have a family back to school dinner with a theme. This year, I decided to get myself together and do just that. Most of the ideas are grabbed from resources on the web–not my own, but I just wanted to share our end result, and our family theme.  (Many can be found on my back to school pinterest board). Even if you started school a few weeks ago, the first month of school is still a great time to hold a dinner. It’s never too late!

(I made no bake oreo truffles from Chef in Training, and dipped them in Red Wilton melting chocolates. For the first time ever, I added vegetable oil to the chocolate, and they came out smooth! Thanks to Our Best Bites for that tip.)

I thought about a few different themes, and I wanted it to be something that we could focus on all of the school year. Not just for school, but in our home, and individually work on. I liked the idea of Being a Builder that I saw here. My husband did a little visual with lego’s that we want to build on a strong foundation. We touched on one of my favorite scriptures: Helaman 5:12 that emphasizes just that.  He built two buildings: one solid and strong, the other not so stable. My daughter noted that the “other” looked cooler, which gave a great opportunity to say that, yes, sometimes there will be things that look cool, but won’t help build a solid foundation. We talked about being a builder/leader in the classroom.  Looking for opportunities for service, showing kindness to others, and helping the teacher. Build themselves by strengthening their spiritual strength daily and keeping their minds sharp. At home, we can be builders by having peace and kindness with our words and actions towards our family members.

Before the actual dinner/lesson, I told the kids when we got home from church that I had a fun surprise for them, but that they would have to wait upstairs for an hour or so.  Well, that turned into 2 hours, and just that small build up of suspense was almost like Christmas morning! They kept asking if it was ready yet, daughter squeeled with delight, and that element alone made it rather fun.

 

The You’re So Sharp printable is from my friends at Eighteen25 last year (I just changed the colors for my theme).  I made the kids most favorite meal, homemade macaronni and cheese. I’ll share that recipe soon. I found the giant crazy crayons at Target. I didn’t do TOO much to prepare for the decoration, just a bunch of scrapbook paper as placemats, extra crayons and pencils, and the fun apple treats. It was well worth the effort to see their excitement, even if they grumbled a little bit to hear there was a lesson built into it.  We did that lesson while they ate. Did you do something fun for back to school that you’d like to share? I always need new ideas!

Also, if you’d like, I made a ton of school lunch jokes last year, I printed them again for this year.

August 2012

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