HOORAY! School is out dinner

 

Back in the Spring I found these smiley plates at Hobby Lobby and snagged a few without having a plan for using them but knowing they were too cute to pass up ;)  As the end of school approached I thought it would be SO FUN to do a celebratory dinner to kickoff the start of summer and figured that these plates would be perfect.

The last day of school came and went and I had every intention of pulling together our fun dinner and then Luke went to the lake with a friend and then G went to a friends for a sleepover and then we had extra kids at our house for a week straight and then my boys went to camp... you get the idea ;)  So when we were all going to be home for dinner on Saturday night I decided "better late than never" and got things pulled together for a fun little summer kickoff.

I had  this cute acrylic topper set in my little party stash...

... as well as some fun wrapping paper that worked perfectly.  I pulled some coordinating scrapbook paper for placemats, a few beach balls I had planned on using in my classroom, some Bogg bags and towels and then headed to Dollar Tree where I gave myself a budget of $10 ;)

I snagged some straws, little palm tree stir sticks and a few other decorative items in the colors of the topper and wrapping paper.

The only thing that didn't cooperate? The sun. A thunderstorm blew in making my pics super dark but, it is what it is!  I just kind of laid things out at one end of the table and saved a spot for the special treat... an ice cream cake ;)

The meal in itself wasn't anything super special (just our regular taco situation), so I figured a fun dessert was perfect.

The school's out bag is G's and was the perfect addition filled with a few towels.

Funny thing - I didn't realize that these flamingo straws were supposed to look like this until one of my kids pointed it out about midway through dinner - so if you head to Dollar Tree and buy these make sure you fluff them out!

If you aren't out for summer yet I hope you found a little inspiration today and if you're already out I hope you take this as your "better late than never" cue ;)  HAPPY Monday, friends!!!