Thank you for joining us for Views on Back-to-School! VolunteerSpot is honored to be featuring guest posts from our favorite bloggers about what back-to-school means for them. Today, please welcome Cindy Hopper, author of the blog Skip to My Lou, where she provides tips, recipes, patterns and ideas to help you craft, create and celebrate.
Today, Cindy shows us how to start the school year off right with a touch of German festivity. Thanks Cindy!
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Surprises for your Brand New Student
We were fortunate to live in Germany when our boys started school. Our children attended German schools and we were honored to be included in their traditions. Lucky for us they send children off to school right! We loved the attention to detail and care taken to make the first day of school a special time. The children entering the first class were given a special bright orange hat to let us all living in the village know to take special care and pay attention to these children making their way to and from school for the first time. Before the first day of school the children walk with their families, new back packs and schultuete through the town to the local church where the children receive a special blessing. What special memories we have!
Now we live back in the states, but had to share this special tradition with our daughter.
1. The schultuete is traditionally made from a large piece of cardboard (poster board). Usually the children make them in kindergarten and then the parents fill them with surprises.
We made one for our daughter by cutting out a pie shape from a large piece of poster board.
2. The cones can be simple to elaborate. Ours was decorated with a ruler lacing the cone together.
To make a similar schultuete lay a ruler along one of the straight edges and mark where the holes are on the ruler. Punch holes on those markings.
3. Roll the poster board into a cone shape and mark where the holes are punched.
Punch holes on those markings.
4. Match up the punched holes and hot glue the cone together.
5. Take a long piece of ribbon and feed it through the holes attaching the ruler to the cone.
Tie a bow at the top.
6. Create some fringe for the top by sewing layers of crepe paper together.
7. Snip almost to the stitching line on each side.
8. Hot glue the fringe to the top.
9. Gather and glue tissue paper to the inside all around the top. This will hide the goodies inside!
10. Fill the schultuete full of fun school supplies and candy!
11. Gather up the tissue paper and tie.
Our brand new student!
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From hosting a shrimp boil, celebrating holidays, making homemade
scratch art paper, sewing gifts and throwing parties to cooking
delicious food, Cindy Hopper writes about everything you need to craft, create and celebrate at Skip To My Lou. The site
is full of free patterns, downloads and plenty of inspiration. Find Cindy on twitter and Facebook.
