Tips and Ideas / Nov 18, 2017

How to Plan a Fabulous Winter Class Party

 

Yes, we just celebrated Halloween, but now we’re ready to talk winter parties.  It might feel a tad early, but before you know it, you’ll be all wrapped up in planning your own family’s holiday festivities. So how about planning your Winter Class Party well ahead of time and saving yourself stress and chaos?

A Class Winter Party should be a cheerful (merry!) event that’s enjoyable for your entire classroom community: students, parents, and you, too! Use our no-fail planning checklist to get your party prepped and polished before December.

1. Get organizers on board

One of the best perks of investing effort into creating an engaged parent community? You have already built trust among your room parents and you can confidently ask them for support when you need it. A winter class party is the perfect opportunity to ask room parents for help. Get them involved early on in the process. Give room parents a say in choosing the theme and activities to create the sense of ownership and them excited about getting everyone on board.

2. Pick a theme and activities

Your party theme will dictate all the nitty-gritty details: the snacks to request, the decoration materials needed. If you’re looking for fresh ideas, why not go to the source – your students! Ask them about a movie or game they are interested in – having a party theme related to their favorite story is guaranteed to delight them.

Next, jot down a few activities for your party. Check out this list of ideas for inspiration – how about creating a snow globes or setting up a snowman factory? If in doubt, Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers have thousands of other ideas to inspire you. If you find yourself getting lost in a multitude of options, limit your search to 15-30 minutes and settle on the best idea you can find within that time.

Students also love to get crafty and participate in creating whimsical classroom decorations. These macaroni snowflakes are budget-friendly and beyond adorable!

3. Involve parents

Did you know that teachers spend up to $500 a year out of pocket on classroom supplies? Brightening up students’ special day with fancy decorations feel good, but the financial burden of party supplies is much easier to swallow once its split between twenty or more families. Make a list of items you’ll need (classroom decoration, food items). Small contributions from every family add up and will help you organize a fabulous and plentiful celebration.

4. Create your event on ClassTag and we’ll do the rest!

This is the crucial step that ties it all together. When it comes to winter party planning, ClassTag is the solution you’ve been waiting for. If your parents are already invited to ClassTag, volunteer sign-ups and donations are a piece of cake.

ClassTag event functionality allows you to not only schedule your event, but also request item donations and volunteers at the same time.

Pro Tip: You can create the event yourself or save time by asking a room parent to schedule it. (Check your ClassTag Class Settings and make sure that parents are allowed to create events.)

Log in to ClassTag and follow these easy steps:

Click on the “+” icon to create a new Activity.

 

Next, you’ll be able to add and customize all aspects of your event.

 

Ready? Click “Done” and you’ll be able to preview all the reminders that have been created for the event. We’ll remind parents about the event, the listed volunteering opportunities and the items needed – you don’t need to lift a finger. You can now choose to announce the event or skip it, knowing that parents will be notified in the automated Weekly Summary and automated reminders nearer to the time.

If you’ve chosen to announce your event, it will be published in the Home Tab, and a notification will be sent to parents by email, text or push notification (according to their preferences). You can also see which positions are filled and how many parents saw the notification.

That’s it – you’re all done! The entire process shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes, and once you scheduled your event, ClassTag will handle all reminders and follow-ups. No more endless calling and emails parents or wondering if they saw your message. This year you can know exactly what kind of support you can count on. We hope that you’ll be able to banish stress and enjoy the festivities together with your students and their families – you deserve it!

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