The end of the year is quickly approaching and I know you may feel pressured to throw some elaborate end of year party or awards for your students! It doesn't have to be some crazy, expensive celebration for your students to remember it. Here are my ideas for an end of year class party!
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Create a Slideshow to Share this Years Memories
The end-of-year slideshow is always a HIT with my students and parents! I use iMovie (or Windows Movie Maker) to upload photos I've taken throughout the year. You do not have to be super knowledgeable in the technology department (I most certainly am not!) to create one. This program does the bulk of the work for you! I set the transitions to about 2 seconds per picture, which is plenty of time for parents to “ooh” and “aah”, and the students laugh and scream at themselves. Try to keep the slideshow to under 10 minutes. One year it was almost 17 minutes long and by the end, I was ready for it to be over and my students were getting restless!
I like to upload a few songs to play while the slideshow is playing. Some of my favorites include:
- You've Got a Friend in Me- Randy Newman
- Best Day of My Life- American Authors
- Happy- Pharrell Williams
- Can't Stop the Feeling!- Justin Timberlake
- My Wish- Rascal Flatts
Celebrate Each Student with End-of-Year Candy Bar Awards
The end of the year is the perfect time to acknowledge all of your students and their special traits that you will always remember them by! I used to do various Candy Bar Awards, like the Skittles Award for most colorful student, but I found that it got to be very time consuming and expensive driving all around time trying to find different candy bars. Plus, I didn't want to worry about nut allergies with certain kinds of candy!
So, I created a new type of “Candy Bar Awards” using Hershey chocolate bars and picking a superlative for each student. I just look at the list, type in the student name next to the superlative I want to give them, then print the pages out. I wrap each award around the Hershey bar and ta-da! Easy candy bar awards! When I hand these awards out, I like to say a little something about each student. Then, I give them a hug, hand them their award, and any other certificates that the school may give them. They get to walk down a “red carpet” and just go crazy over that! It is so special and meaningful to celebrate each student! Find the editable end of year candy bar awards here:
You can find them in my TPT store here: End of the Year Candy Bar Awards
Create Memories with a Photo Booth
Creating a photo booth is so much easier than it seems! This is something fun the parents can do during the end of year class party with their students while waiting for the awards to begin or while they are eating their snacks, etc. I like to get one last big group picture of my students in the photo booth.
Here's how I set it up:
β’Grab a big piece of butcher paper or wrapping paper and hang it to the wall. Using a bulletin board makes it super easy to hang up and then take down!
β’Create props using clip art and long skewer sticks. I used Educlips Hollywood Clip Art to create mine! You can use any theme you want- summer, beach, or something that goes with your classroom theme. Another option is to just use things you find around your classroom, like big sunglasses, puppets, or feather boas.
Here's a fun summer themed photo booth prop kit from Amazon!
I have a class iPad I set up on a desk in “selfie mode” with the timer feature turned on. Students can just press the picture button and pose! Their parents will also take lots of photos with their phone.
Decorate for the End of Year Class Party
Depending on your theme, you can make decorations very inexpensively! I've done a Hollywood theme and a Hawaiian luau theme. I head over to the Dollar Store or Target Dollar spot and usually, I can get everything I need for under $10! I grab some cheap plastic tablecloths to spruce up the tables and then create a red carpet using red butcher paper. How much you decorate is up to you!
Another thing I like to use for decorations for the end of year class party is student work. I take some of their writing samples or we will do a craft to help “decorate” the room for summer. This Sunglasses bulletin board and writing craft is always fun and is perfect for summer! Students write about what they want to be when they grow up and take a picture wearing really big sunglasses (I found these on Amazon!)
You can find this activity in my TPT store here: Sunglasses Writing and Craftivity for End of the Year
Bring Snacks!
We can't forget about snacks! My go to is Dunkin Donuts munchkins or grocery store mini cookies. You can grab them with your hand and limit how many the students take. For drinks, I get a coffee traveler from Dunkin Donuts for the parents and then juice or lemonade pouches for the students. Easy and less mess than something like cupcakes!
I always keep all my end of year things in a bin so I can use them from year to year. If it is your first year teaching, I suggest to start small and add on each year. I used the same Hollywood theme for a few years, then switched it up to Hawaiian theme for a few years. The Dollar Store is your GO TO for this! You can always ask for donations from the parents to help supply your end of year party snack or sometimes your school may have a budget to help you out.
Let's Plan Your End of Year Class Party!
I hope this post helped you get a few ideas to plan an End of Year Class Party for your students! Make sure to check out this list of end of year books for Kindergarten here!
