Not to have a back to school ritual?

A balloon arch? Are you fucking kidding me?

Jesus. I really feel sorry for children today. No wonder they have no resilience, a complete inability to cope with anything mundane or remotely challenging, and the attention span of a gnat.

Going back to school is not a celebration or an achievement. It doesn't need 'marking'.

We have a special breakfast. Pancakes usually. With berries, squirty cream and chocolate spread available, all the best options…
My mother did this for me when I was a child - along with a birthday/ celebration cake after tea!!! I think I was about 6 or 7 when we got dial up, so certainly wasn’t for the gram. I don’t even use social media unless you count mumsnet! Certainly not a new idea, or something people just do for the gram!!

Balloons at all I’d consider excessive and probably just for social media.

I think it depends on what the gift is? Does a new backpack, shoes and uniform count? I personally don’t wrap these up and my kids know which one they’re having before first day but I wouldn’t think it was super weird to do it, I’d think that family just love celebrating/ a bit of mystery and excitement…. In primary school, my mum used to surprise me with a pencil case on first day, always very cute and had lots of brand new pencils and a sharpener with a container to hold onto sharpenings instead of having to go to a bin each time - how exciting! Used to love finding out what I got each year, always had something extra special in - different each year, sparkly writing pencils, cute rubbers or a massive 36 pack of pencils… It was never wrapped, and not compulsory, so felt like a real gift to me. I was one of the lucky few that had my own pencils. I fondly remember it. At secondary I just picked my own and no surprises then!

My DC also get a pencil case in primary, it seems most do now even though not compulsory. They already know what’s in it as they put it all in. But no harm if you want to do it as a surprise, count it as a gift, even wrap it up? I think it depends on what the gift is whether it’s unusual/ excessive

Our ritual is that we take the day off work - have a nice relaxing day together after a busy summer juggling childcare etc. Weather permitting we usually go for a long walk.

I've got better things to do with my time.

Although like many PPs, I have taken the day off before to spend in a quiet house!

If it's someone that happens organically and you want to do it then great*

But doing it because other people do is just the endless marketing of every non event ever eg Easter snd Christmas boxes. It's just a way to get you to buy landfill

*except the balloon arch, that is simply insane for going back to school

I always book something nice to do on the last day of the summer holidays, afternoon tea out, a spa day at home together, a day out etc. Not so much as any sort of ritual but more because it gives them something to look forward to right up until the last day. Partly, it stops the back to school dread creeping in too early and also I found that otherwise we tended to spend the last few days just preparing to go back, naming uniform etc which meant you sort of mentally "lost" the benefit of the last few days if that makes sense.

No,but this thread has just reminded me to book him into breakfast and after school club

That ‘first day at new school’ photo has always been a ritual in our family……..but nothing more!
Balloon arches????????? Waste of money AND very bad for the environment! And a special breakfast? FFS, who thinks these things up, as if there wasn’t enough pressure on finances ! Give the children food they’ll eat rather than fancy stuff that only salves a parents conscience.

Damn social media for making parents feel inadequate. I've never heard of anything so ridiculous as a back to school balloon arch/gift, but it's up there with the North Pole Breakfast and Christmas Eve box for me. Unnecessary tat that Instagram 'influencers' make us feel we must do so our precious darlings don't miss out.

The only back to school ritual children need is a good night's sleep and a nice full tummy to set them up for the day. It certainly doesn't have to be a special breakfast, just their usual will do.

Take a photo if you must, but that's as far as I'd go. For most children, the excitement of a new backpack/lunchbox/pencil case and new shoes etc is enough to get them out of the door on the first day back. If you do feel the need to mark the occasion with a gift (unnecessary imo) I'd make it relevant to school, so the new backpack can be their gift (for example). Absolutely no need to be lavishing them with new toys to mark the first day back to school.

I’m thinking of booking myself into a spa for the day… does that count?

A long time since mine were in school but I would drop them off and cry with relief that I had made it through another holiday without murdering one of them.

All Influencer nonsense
Feel for you Mums today. Thought it ridiculous when I heard about Christmas Eve boxes. As if it’s not enough with all the Xmas prep and Santa stockings - and now there’s a bloody box to prepare on Christmas Eve! It’s all gone mad!
Take the picture and be done with it.

I hate that ‘pamper’ word! So often always associated with things I’d run a mile from! Especially sodding spa days…

Yes! 👏

Nope. We dud the obligatory first day back pic in front of the house. That’s it. Unless you count sorting out their school bag/sports kit as a ritual…

I used to take my dc to our nearest seaside town for a day out the day before they went back to school. Nothing to do with a ritual or celebration of the end of summer.

We went because my kids always slept better after a day in sea air. And a good night’s sleep is my number one aim.

Oh and then a photo on the way to school in their uniform. Job done.

Photo by front door. That’s it.
I started doing it before social media was a thing. My kids are grown up now.
baloon arches etc sounds bit ott.

New uniform and a photo at the front door.
Balloon arch?! Do people really do this?

Ours usually have different starting days so I take each kid on an individual day out. Do slightly adventurous but fun things to build confidence and round off the holidays.

What absolute nonsense! Children go to school from 5 to 16/18 - it's the law (unless they are home-schooled). I think it's a mistake to be seen giving them 'rewards' for something they have to do anyway. I was always excited to get back to school - choosing a desk, seeing which lunch table you were on, catching up with friends. It's not some horrible ordeal to be barely tolerated!

One year we were in town getting last minute ‘random stuff’ they suddenly desperately “needed” (how many pencil cases does one household need?) anyway I digress - we walked past the greasy spoon cafe and they asked if we could go in for the all day breakfast because apparently I’d told them we would go ‘one day’. So we did!
They loved it. They following year we were again in town the day before school started and they asked if they could go again, “like we did last year”. And so a family ‘tradition’ was born which lasted 10 years. It certainly wasn’t for instagram or SM and wasn’t forced. One of them started a new proper grown up job recently and the day before their first day I suggested we should probably go to the cafe for breakfast. The smile on their face as they said “maybe a bacon roll” made my heart happy.

No. My daughter is 10 and for the last couple of years she doesn't even want us to take photos.

Giving a gift for going back to school, as if the entire new uniform, shoes, bag, lunchbox and stationary isn't enough. I wonder who came up with that idea because it wasn't a skint, frazzled mother😅

I think it’s best to keep things calm on the first day back at school!!!

God no! Unless you count spending a ridiculous amount of money in Clarks for style-guide-compliant shoes. Why does there need to be a fuss about going back to school?

I will be taking my oldest for ice cream on his last day of holiday because he goes back the day after my little one, so it will be nice to just have him for a whole day, before he goes to secondary school. But otherwise, it’s weird