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At the start of the school year I like to have a special dinner. Where we talk about what we are excited about for this new school year, the girls get blessings from their dad, we talk about the new theme or topic we are focusing on for the year, and we have a special, planned dinner together!
This year our theme/topic or phrase is Be Kind (It’s Cool To Be Kind!)! Initially I wanted to go with daisies and play off their colors of yellow and white and all the cute things I found for the girls in the Walmart Dollar Section.
Dinner for us is usually just the main course, with one maybe 2 super simple sides like a vegetable or fruit so a planned dinner like this with the table set and everything prepared is really special for all of us.
Dallin was getting the drinks ready while I was prepping other things and I loved that he put a lemon on Violet’s sippy cup, just like everyone else’s! He really is the cutest, sweetest dad!
I love how it all turned out! The table definitely looked a bit crowded but the girls had so much fun and that’s exactly why I do it! Let’s start breaking it down! I have done plenty of dinners with things that I have on hand, honestly I usually shop my own things first so I can save money and only buy a few signature pieces that will really pull together the event.
For this dinner I was so happy I already had the daisy platter! I couldn’t find a similar online but I did find other options that are really cute like THIS or THIS! My yellow and white cake stand is old but HERE is one on my wish list. I got the yellow cups from the Walmart Dollar Section but you’ve got to check THESE out they are so fabulous, and I love THESE for a paper option. I can’t forget one of my favorite signature pieces the gingham table runner! I also used a galvanized cake stand for the cookies (old, HERE is a super similar option).
I got the cute daisy school supplies that says It’s Cool to Be Kind that sparked the theme idea for this year from Walmart’s Dollar Section, as well as the clear school supplies containers, mini back packs, daisy lunch bag and matching daisy notepad. I got these cute but a little too pricey for me daisy plates. I love how they looked but once my mom saw them she said “Oh you could’ve cut out white paper plates to look like a flower and added a yellow cardstock circle paper center!” Definitely should’ve done that! But if you don’t mind the price these daisy dessert plates are a really cute, no fuss option.
We made turkey, cheese sandwiches on wheat bread with a cherry tomato center and a basil leaf, and peanut butter and raspberry jam on white bread with a raspberry center and a basil leaf, cut out with a daisy cookie cutter to match all the daisies. They looked adorable on a yellow and white cake stand (old, linked a cute option HERE).
I have an easy and delicious fruit dip that we all just love!! I’ll share it in a post soon! It worked out so perfectly as the center of our fruit tray. Even without this fruit tray you could make your own with regular bowls!
I loved these little goblets that made the dinner a little fancier! The girls love lemonade so we had to serve it! I wanted to have daisies or little chamomile flowers (they are the absolute cutest things ever) but TJ’s didn’t have any that week so I got a variety pack that would work and I rolled with it! I’ve loved these galvanized metal tins, we used them for Liv’s gender reveal years ago. They have a hole in the bottom so when I use them for flowers I just put a small cup in the bottom half full of water, it works really well!
Dirt cups just felt right! I got the adorable plastic trifle dishes at Dollar tree (online option for an even better price with spoons HERE) and made instant pudding, crushed some Oreos to resemble dirt, added a gummy worm (linked the very best gummy candy brand of them allll) and a cookie/candy flower to make it tie in with the theme obviously! I’ll share more of that later too, be sure to check my insta stories because I captured a Bake with Liv segment and those are super rare now a days!
I really wanted to make daisy sugar cookies using the same flower cookie cutter and my favorite soft sugar cookie recipe of course! I use gel food coloring to get the color I like, even though I just colored the yellow for these cookies, I love that I only have to use a little bit to achieve the look I want!
There were a few books that I bought for the night to introduce the topic! It’s Cool To Be Kind, Be Kind, and How to be kind in Kindergarten. Along with a few other Kindergarten themed books, you can find them all in this post.
Liv had so much fun opening her new school supplies, I filled a super cheap clear school supply container with a few fun things I thought Liv would love to tinker with (spoiler I was right!). We know she isn’t going to be needing anything for Kindergarten and told her all of this is going to stay home so she can use it home any time she wants.
We also planned to make bracelets that had be kind on them to remind us to be kind always! It was such a fun night as a family!
I love the matching head tilt!!! Here’s to a great school year ahead!
