Back to school is an exciting time for parents and kids alike. Whether kids like school or not, the first week back is exciting. New clothes, new backpacks, and catching up with old friends! For parents, it means we have a little peace and quiet after a crazy summer! What better way to celebrate a new school year starting than by hosting your very own back to school party?!

For today’s Sweet Styling DIY, I’m going to be making apple mason jars! These will be great favors for the kids to take home, or you can use them as decor for the table and fill them with candy. Or both! Why not? This could also be a fun way to get your kids involved with crafting and decorating for the party.

You’ll Need:
Short, stumpy mason jars
Water based paint
Paintbrush
Scissors
Green construction paper
Wooden cupboard handle
Gorilla glue/hot glue

Use a paintbrush to paint the glass part of the mason jar red, and the lid of the mason jar green.
Cut out a leaf shape from the green construction paper using a pair of scissors.
Glue the leaf down to the lid of the mason jar, then place the wooden cupboard handle right over it.

And sticking to the theme of apples, we’re going to be making delicious apple cupcakes. Any teacher would be excited to receive an apple on the first day of school if it were this kind of apple!

You’ll Need:

Baked red velvet cupcakes
Cream cheese frosting
Sanding sugar
Pretzel
Mint leaf

Pipe the cream cheese frosting directly onto your red velvet cupcake.
Dip the top of your cupcake into red sanding sugar. Use your hand to flatten out the top of the cupcake.
Stick half a pretzel stick and fresh mint into the top center of your cupcake.

The color scheme of this party is yellow, black, and red: the quintessential back to school colors. Some fun ways to bring those yellow colors to the table are to print some yellow ruler templates, and tape them over candy bars!

Or with push pop pencils! You can fill these with cake, or candy. Whatever!

Then, you can wrap the push pops in a pencil template. It’s the feeling of back to school, but so much sweeter!

The main decorative element is this three tier cake stand with back to school items! The tiers feature boxes of crayons, glue, and colored pencils. It’s visually very unique, and colorful. I promise you all moms will be happy to go home with some extra school supplies instead of extra candy!

The chalkboard display opens up a huge opportunity for fun and creativity. It also ties in the back to school feeling best. Leave some pieces of chalk around and see what’s on your board later 🙂

A way to add color to the display is with varying sized jars filled with red candy. You can also go the health route and fill a long glass jar with apples (I know I did!).

And a final decorative tip to really tie the whole theme together are with apple balloons. They’re simple, but simply cute!

You’ll Need:

Red helium balloons
Green construction paper
Scissors
Tape

Fill red balloons with helium.
Cut out a leaf on a green piece of construction paper.
Tape the leaf to the top of the balloon.

And, of course, I styled this all on a metal desk. It feels just like school again!

Go ahead and throw your very own back to school themed party! They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and this party has tons of them!

-Watch the full video on YouTube https://youtu.be/KPUYaPhs0j8
-Buy the My Cupcake Addiction Cookbook http://bit.ly/MCAbook
-Subscribe to my YouTube channel for 2 new videos each week! http://bit.ly/MyCupcakeAddiction
-Follow me on Facebook for short snappy sweet ideas daily! http://on.fb.me/1cOOpu6
-Share your sweets with me on Instagram http://bit.ly/134thON Use the #mycupcakeaddiction so I can see them & I’ll re-share some of my favorites!
-Sign up to our #SweetSquad for early access, exclusive offers and fun party planning tips