20 Back-to-School Theme Ideas (+ 3 Traditions We Never Skip)

I asked our community to share some of the back-to-school theme ideas they’ve had, or ones they’ve used in their own families, and the response was so good I had to share! I’m listing the top 20 below, but before I get to the list, I want to talk about why we do a theme at all and share the three traditions we build our whole first-day-of-school season around.

We love the idea of having a back-to-school theme because it helps our family get on the same page! It gives us a shared focus for the year. I try to weave it into small moments throughout our home. I’ve heard of families doing this for New Year’s as well, which I love, but for us it naturally fits at the start of the school year.

THEME WE CHOSE THIS YEAR

This year, our theme is “give thanks in everything.” We used the scripture from 1 Thessalonians to talk to our kids about it at our back-to-school dinner, and I also found a talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that speaks to being grateful in every circumstance.

One of the biggest reasons this theme felt right is that we live in a world that can be very anxious and very entitled, and that is not what we want for our kids. Chad and I had been talking about gratitude, and so much kept popping up around it. For example, it literally changes the chemical makeup of your brain, how you cannot be stressed and grateful at the same time, and how gratitude can actually release stress. Tie that together with what our church leaders have shared, and it just felt right! We believe that if we keep our focus here, so many of the smaller things will fall into place, and it will help us stay centered on what matters most as a family this year.

I made a simple printable on ChatGPT for the kids’ rooms – took me about five minutes – and then I ordered a nicer one for our home off Etsy that I post in a higher traffic area in our home.

back-to-school theme poster

Let me know if you check out the talk, and I’d love to hear if your family has a theme this year!

20 BACK-TO-SCHOOL THEME IDEAS

Here are the top 20 theme ideas that came in from our community. Use these as is, tweak them, or let them spark your own ideas.

1. Let Your Light Shine Before Others
2. Kindness Begins With Me
3. I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me
4. Be the Good
5. Choose to Believe
6. Love One Another
7. Be Strong and Courageous
8. Trust in the Lord
9. Walk by Faith
10. Be Still and Know
11. Look Unto Christ
12. Seek Him First
13. Be the One Who Includes
14. Give More Than You Take
15. Shine Bright, Stand Firm
16. Grace for Today
17. Be Quick to Listen
18. Be an Answer to Someone’s Prayer
19. Choose Peace
20. With God, Nothing is Impossible

THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL DINNER

Generally the first week of school, we do a back-to-school dinner. Sometimes we manage it before school starts, but if not, we make sure it happens within that first week! I cook my kids’ favorite meal, broccoli and cheese casserole, and we introduce the theme for the year. Then we just talk through expectations – what they’re excited for, what they’re nervous about. It’s a really casual conversation, but it’s our chance to get them excited for the year ahead.

FIRST DAY MILK AND COOKIES

When the kids get home from school on day one, I have milk and cookies waiting. I usually grab Crumbl, because on that first day I don’t want to be baking, I want to get other things done, and honestly, they love it just as much! It gives me the perfect excuse to sit down with them and hear all about their day. It’s simple, ten or fifteen minutes depending on how talkative they’re feeling, but it’s something they look forward to every single year.

ONE-ON-ONE BACK-TO-SCHOOL DATES

This is just a date with one child and mom or dad. Nothing fancy – our kids are not fancy restaurant people. One loves Torchy’s Tacos, another loves In-N-Out, so we go somewhere like that and get dessert. It’s about spending time with them, talking, setting a goal together for the year, checking in on how they’re really doing, and telling them how much we love them. We want it to be a fun, positive time before they head back out into the world!

We’ve done this since our kids were toddlers, and it’s something we all look forward to. It doesn’t have a strict timeline. In fact, we’re almost a week into school right now and still have two of these dates left to do. We’ll make sure they happen sometime this month. As your kids get older it gets trickier because schedules get busier, so even though we call them back-to-school dates, they don’t always happen before school actually starts. I know some families use this time to pick up school supplies together – there are so many ways to make it your own.

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You don’t have to copy exactly what someone else does. Take what you like, tweak it to fit your life, and let it be something manageable, doable, and truly something your family looks forward to!

Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s a tradition your family has loved and found success with. I’d love to hear about it!

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