The end is nigh! Well, the end of the school year. And you better believe that your children (or students) are well aware of that fact. We’re just about to turn a corner, weather-wise, when there’s almost a physical pull to be spending time outside rather than inside. Students will be restless in their seats, or staring longingly out the window. The end of the school year is so close, yet so far away.
It’s never too early to start planning ahead though! You can make sure that your students end the year with a bang by throwing a great end of the year party – and now is the perfect time to start setting things in motion. You’ll probably want some assistance from classroom parents to provide snacks, drinks, and maybe even some extra hands on the last day of school – and with just about 2 months left to go, parents will appreciate being given a heads up before things like Memorial Day weekend BBQs and summer camp registrations take over their brains.
Whether you’re a teacher planning an event for your class, a PTO or PTA member or school administrator planning an event for the entire grade (or school!), or a parent who has been asked to assist with either of the aforementioned possibilities, we’ve got a few ideas to help things move smoothly along.
And don’t forget – you can use Pay4SchoolStuff (P4SS.com) to make the planning process easy! Just set-up a sign-up form in the system and allow parents to sign up for shifts to assist, or for the snacks/items they’ll be bringing. You can also have parents easily submit payments to assist with the cost of purchasing supplies for the day. Best of all, everything is done digitally, paperlessly, and securely. Parents will never need to worry about whether or not the sign-up form and money ever really made it to the appropriate person, and teachers or parent-group members will never need to worry about losing a form or making bank deposits.
Easy Mac and Cheese Muffins
These mac and cheese muffins are perfect for little hands! While you may not be able to make a whole ton in one batch (unless you’ve got a ton of baking sheets!), each batch only takes 30 minutes to bake. If they aren’t being served right away, you’ll want to refrigerate them so that a) they don’t spoil, and b) they don’t lose their shape – but they’re incredibly easy to whip up the night before a classroom party.
Ingredients.
- 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, olive oil and salt; set aside.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for about 8 minutes, it should still be a little bit firm. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan; stir in the butter and egg until pasta is evenly coated. Reserve 1/2 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese and stir the remaining Cheddar cheese, milk and mozzarella cheese into the pasta. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture over the tops.
- Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is nicely browned. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. This will allow the cheese to set and they will hold their muffin shape.
Sour Worm Popsicles
If you’ve got access to a freezer for your class party these are super easy to prepare. You can make them using any juice you’d like, and kids will get a kick out of the worms inside! If you plan on making these for a class party, we would recommend calling the school to see if the cafeteria staff would mind lending you some freezer space to keep these in prior to the party. Otherwise, keeping them in a cooler in the classroom should suffice as long as there’s an adequate amount of ice.
Ingredients.
- Juice of your choice (fruit punch, perhaps?)
- Sour Worms candy
Instructions.
- You can either use a Popsicle mold or paper cups with popsicle sticks to create this cool (pun intended) snack.
- Line the mold/cup with the sour worms, and then pour your juice into the mold/cup.
- Freeze.
- Enjoy!
Rice Krispies Hearts
Now, you don’t necessarily need to make these treats in a heart shape – but they’re absolutely adorable! And again, these are a super easy snack for little hands to hold and enjoy.
Ingredients.
- Unsalted butter
- 1 16-ounce bag of mini marshmallows
- 1 18-ounce box of Rice Krispies (one cup per batch)
- Cookie cutter
- 6-inch lollipop sticks
- Measuring cups
- Rainbow sugar crystals
- Milk
Instructions.
- Melt ½ tbsp butter with 2 drops of food dye. Fold in 1 cup of mini marshmallows until they are completely melted. Add one cup of rice krispies
- and stir until mixed well and all the cereal is completely coated.
- Butter your hands and the cookie cutter.
- Gently press a scoop of Rice Krispies mixture into the cookie cutter. Next, push it out onto the parchment paper. You should now have 1 rice Krispie.
- Repeat for remaining treats and let treats cool completely. Each batch makes 3 Rice Krispies Hearts.
- Once treats are cooled, press lollipop sticks into the bottom of each treat.
- For the icing:
- Mix 1½ cups of powdered sugar with 2 tbsp of milk . Drizzle icing over treats.
- Optional: Sprinkle rainbow sugar crystals over the fresh icing.
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