An Unforgettable First Day Of School

Do you remember your very first day of school ever?  It’s one of the most important days of one’s whole life, and it can be an intimidating, scary endeavour.  I thought I’d share with you one of my favourite German traditions that will help your child get excited and feel special about heading to school – it’s the Schultüte (‘school cone’ – it really loses something in translation).

So, what the heck is a Schultüte?  Well, a Schultüte is basically a cone made of cardboard which is decorated and filled with candy, back to school items such as fun pencils and erasers, and other treats (whatever you want to include, basically!).  It’s the Christmas stocking of back to school!  (That’s my mama pictured above with her Schultüte on her first day of school in Germany in 1955.)

While I’ve been making Schultüten for kids I know who are starting Kindergarten for years now, this craft idea can be adapted to include school children of all ages, even if it isn’t their very first day of school ever.  Here’s how it’s done:

• Head to your local dollar store and purchase a piece of white poster sized card stock, tissue shred, some nifty wrapping paper that reflects the child, and some matching tissue paper and ribbon.  Also use this opportunity to purchase some toys, stickers, pencils and erasers.
• Next, get your hot glue gun ready and shape the card stock poster paper into a cone (it’s up to you how wide and long).  Use the hot glue along the seams to glue the card stock into a cone shape.
• You’ll have an uneven top for your cone because of the size of the rectangular shaped card stock, so use scissors to even out the top of the Schultüte.
• When the glue has dried, use tape to attach wrapping paper to the outside of the cone.  You may need to trim along the bottom and/or  top, but leave enough to tape the wrapping paper into the inside of the cone.
• Tape tissue paper along the inside lip of the Schultüte, leaving it long enough so that you can tie it together using a ribbon at the top.
• Finally, before you use ribbon to tie the cone shut, fill it with the tissue shred and goodies of your choice!  I made the one above for my little friend Anna who’s starting Kindergarten this year, and I know she loves stickers, removable tattoos, and candy.  I also found some tulip bulbs in her favourite colour (yellow!) and so I packed all of these things inside her Schultüte.
• Ta da!  Anna’s Schultüte took me literally only 20 minutes to put together, and it’s a great, easy, homemade back to school gift your child will love and remember forever!

You might remember this review from last September, but the Schultüte is a German tradition done every year for all children starting Kindergarten.  We thought we’d publish it again just in case your little one is headed off to their very first day of school – make it one they’ll never forget!

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