Muffins with Mom

This year was the first year that I tried "Muffins with Mom" in my classroom.  I wanted to do something special for the parents of my students, because they contribute so much throughout the year.  Also, I knew it would mean a lot to my Kinder Darlings for them to be able to spend a special morning with their mothers.

Both of my personal children have invited me to a "Muffins with Mom" when they attended a local preschool.  I used my experience from that to create my TPT file, but I added a lot more!  I wanted to make this event really unique and make sure moms felt exceptionally appreciated and loved. 

We started preparing for this day a few weeks in advance, mostly because I am the antithesis of a procrastinator.  We made our Mother's Day gifts first, which the students would give to their moms at the event.  I used a commonly pinned idea from Pinterest, making "You are my Sunshine!" canvases for mothers.  I bought my canvases in bulk from Amazon. 

We painted the background first with tempera paint. After drying, I painted one of each Kinder's hands yellow with acrylic paint and placed them in a sun shape off to the side.  After the whole thing dried (about a day), I let the students copy the words "You are my sunshine!" onto the canvas with a fine point Sharpie.  I think they turned out adorable!

The next few days were spent filling out the Mom questionnaire,  making the mothers' crowns,  & doing the "If You Give a Mom a Muffin" activity (all from my TPT file).  If I had any grandmothers RSVP, I had students do the questionnaire and crowns for their grandmothers as well.  I made simple centerpieces for the table by cutting flower shapes with our Ellison die-cut machine and gluing student pictures to the center.  I then did finger print stamps around the picture and laminated the flowers.  I hot glued green pipe cleaners to the backs and put them in simple candle jars from Wal-Mart that were about $1 each.  I filled them with Easter basket filling that I had stored! 

The night before I spent about 45 minutes setting up tablecloths, laying out all the student items, and hanging the banner (included in my TPT file, and not pictured).  I also set up a quick photo backdrop outside my classroom door with butcher paper and a tissue paper banner that was left over from my daughter's weekend birthday party!  I went home and baked muffins for the number that had RSVP'd.  I was ready!  

The day of, I set out my muffins, poured juice into cups and had as much prepared ahead of time as possible.  

I talked to my students about how special Moms are and how much they do for us.  We shared at circle time how we had celebrated Mother's Day, and we read the story "The Night Before Mother's Day."

I told students that when their mothers arrived they would greet them at the door, take them to their seat, and give them all of the gifts we had made.  Then they would ask them what kind of muffin they would like and serve them.  Next they would serve their mother her juice preference.  If they had a grandmother, they would serve her second.  After all their guests were served the student could get a muffin and juice and eat with their guests.  The last step was to visit the photo booth and have their picture snapped!

I was so nervous about how it would go, since this was the first time I had done this event, but it went so smoothly!  It was a very laid-back atmosphere, and the students were so polite to their mothers!  I received so many compliments from parents about how wonderful it was and how appreciative they were.  I will definitely do it again next year! 

Also, here's a photo of my cutie and her Gigi {my mom} at her Muffins with Mom. I did get to sneak down to her classroom for a bit, but was so thankful my mom could be there with her, since of course, my Kinders needed me!  Aren't moms the best?!