You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day School Party
You Are My Sunshine is just one of those songs. It’s a classic obviously, but there’s also something extra sentimental about it that just about everyone can connect to. Which is what makes You Are My Sunshine such a great theme for a Mother’s Day school party!
Not only is it a touching song that moms love, but the bright and happy “sunshine” element lends itself well to Mother’s Day invitations, gifts, and decor.
Here are some ideas and tips for planning a You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day school party to celebrate the moms (and other mom figures!) of your students.
You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day Invitations
It’s often one of the first steps when planning any celebration- sending invitations! When hosting a Mother’s Day tea or party, you could have students help make the invitations to give to their moms.
Rather than sending moms an email or a typed flyer, it’s a nice touch to have students play a part in making the invitations. It can mean so much more to receive a more personalized invitation from one’s child.
If you’d like to use the same template as the one pictured above, you find it here in my website shop, or on TPT. It’s super easy to just print, copy, and cut these into half sheets.
Simply write the date, time, and location on the board for students to refer to, and then let them take care of the rest! They fill in the information and color the invitations for their moms.
It’s often helpful to send out invitations far in advance. Moms are some of the busiest people on the planet, and this allows them enough time to make arrangements if needed to be able to attend.
You know your class community best, but you might also consider sending out a quick email in addition to the invitations. This separate email can help serve a couple of purposes:
- It’s a “backup” notification, just in case the invitation gets lost in the child’s folder or backpack on the journey from school to home.
- It is a way you can let them know that in the event they cannot attend (or for any students without a mom), another family member is absolutely welcome to come instead.
Just like moms will love an invitation written by their child, they will also be sure to appreciate that extra line of open and clear communication.
You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day Cards
While many moms would happily welcome fancy gifts like spa days and fine jewelry- more than anything, most moms just want to feel loved and appreciated.
And a great way to pass along that sentiment to them is with handmade cards and gifts from their child!
As a mom myself who loves these types of keepsakes from my own kids, I’ve always liked to provide my students with a chance to make ones for their moms.
One of my favorites has always been this You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day card.
Actually, this is more of a booklet than a card. It’s filled with writing prompts and space for student illustrations. The kids can draw a portrait, fill in best guesses about her favorite things (which usually leads to hilarious answers that their moms love), and write all about her.
I’ve always enjoyed getting to see students shares these with their moms at our Mother’s Day school party. They just look so cozy, the kids often sitting on their mom’s laps and reading together.
If you’d like for your students to create these same booklets, they are available in the same places as the invitations: in the shop on my website and in my TPT store.
You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day Gifts
It’s always nice to have a handmade gift to go along with a handmade card!
My favorite kinds of handmade gifts always tend to be ones that include a photograph. Can moms ever have too many photos of their kids? No way! (Just check out my phone’s camera roll if you need confirmation of that…)
To go along with the booklet, you could have students create a photo frame as a special gift to give to their moms at your You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day celebration.
These are super simple to make. First, take a photo of each of your kids holding a sign that says “You Are My Sunshine.” You could have them wear sunglasses too if you’d like.
You could use pre-painted popsicle sticks or have students paint their own, and assemble/glue them into a the shape of a frame. Then just glue on the cloud and the sun (you could have students draw a face on the sun to put their creative touch on it) and glue the frame over the photo.
On the day of the class party, you could leave the frames and booklets on each student’s desk to give to their moms. There are always lots of smiles when the moms see their gifts!
The You Are My Sunshine sign for the kids to hold (and the cloud and shine templates on the frame) are included with the same download for the booklets, on my website and in my TPT store.
You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day School Party Planning
Sometimes we get sucked into a Pinterest vortex when it comes to party planning. It’s easy to spend hours looking for *just the right* decor, and it’s also easy to start spending a lot of money on it too.
There’s nothing wrong with going all out on the decorating…I say, do what makes you happy!
My advice, though? Don’t overthink it and keep it simple. You can have a fantastic party without Instagram-worthy classroom party decor. The most important part is simply making moms feel appreciated, and giving them some special time to spend with their child.
When planning a You Are My Sunshine party, just think “bright and cheery.” One year when I shared the student gifts (booklets and photo frames) with one of my former co-workers to make with her class, she used the theme for her classroom party too!
Here is the food and refreshment table she set up:
Nothing that cost an arm and a leg, or took forever to prep! But still bright and cheery, and very welcoming for all of the moms.
Decor ideas
Like my co-worker did, you might use a yellow and blue theme to reflect the colors of the skies. You could get paper goods (table cloth, plates/napkins/cups, etc.) in those colors.
Flowers are always a nice touch as well! You could even add an extra pop of color by using yellow flowers, like sunflowers or yellow daisies. Pro tip: If you purchase artificial flowers, you could reuse them for your Mother’s Day school party year after year.
Refreshment ideas
Continue with the yellow theme for your food and beverages. You might serve lemonade, lemon cake, or other lemon pastries.
At my own class celebrations, I would talk with my students ahead of time about how their moms were the special guests of honor, and that WE were the hosts. And that part of being good hosts is to take care of your guests.
So at the party, I’d have the kids serve their moms first (they would bring their food and a drink to them) before having their own. The moms have always enjoyed that!
You Are My Sunshine Party Entertainment
You don’t even really need entertainment for a Mother’s Day celebration at school. To be honest, many moms are just excited to get to spend some time in her student’s classroom and take a peek into his/her daily life!
But if you’d like to have a couple special things planned, here are three ideas for entertainment at a You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day party:
Read Aloud a Book
Nothing like the right picture book to express all the Mom feels!
One year at my younger daughter’s class Mother’s Day celebration, her teacher read aloud the book I kid you not, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. If you’re wanting a book that aims straight away for a mom’s heart, this is the one! I’ve always liked to have the class perform a couple of songs at our Mother’s Day celebration. The moms absolutely love it, and so do the kids! Here are a couple go-to songs that I’ve used most often each year for the kids to sing for their moms: If you’d like the lyrics (and a video with tips/suggestions (such as hand motions, etc.) for the class performance, I am sharing those with teachers for FREE via email. Click here if you’d like me to send you a copy of those to check out. Moms rarely show up in photos because they are always the ones behind the camera! So, by providing a photo booth at your Mother’s Day school party, you are providing moms a rare opportunity to take a picture WITH their kids instead of taking pictures OF their kids. And photo booth props can help make their pictures extra memorable! These ones go right along with the You Are My Sunshine theme: The props themselves are super easy to put together. Simply print on regular paper or card stock, cut out the images, and laminate if desired. Then just tape a popsicle stick onto the back, or I personally use skewers (like the kind you would put kabobs on at a BBQ) because they are longer and therefore easier to hold. You can also find these You Are My Sunshine themed photo props here on my website and in my TPT store. I kind of mentioned this before, back when I was talking about invitations. It’s often best to make it known to students and families that ANY mother figure or family member is welcome to attend a class Mother’s Day party, not just biological moms. For the You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day cards and gifts I shared above, there is an inclusive version that celebrates stepmoms, grandmas, aunts, and any other mother figure in a student’s life. This is just one way of keeping inclusivity in mind when celebrating Mother’s Day at school. You know your own students and their families best, and how best to make everyone feel included (and that may look different with each school year that comes along)! If you’d like to use more than one of the resources I’ve shared, you receive a discount when getting the You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day Party Growing Bundle (in my shop and on TPT). I plan to add more to it in the future, so by getting it now at the current price, you’ll be able to re-download the bundle with any of those additional items for free once they’re added! And if you don’t need it all but just want one thing in particular for your class, I’ll link them for you again right below! Just so everything’s nice and easy for you to find in one spot (speaking as a mom, I know it always helps me out when things are easy to find)! 😉 “My Mom” Mother’s Day song (this is available via email only) Mother’s Day “You Are My Sunshine” Book and Picture Frame Craft Stepmom, Grandma, & Aunt Inclusive Mother’s Day Gift: Sunshine Book and Frame Mother’s Day Gifts for Mom, Stepmom, Grandma, Aunt: “You Are My Sunshine” Bundle If you prefer to purchase through TPT, all of the above resources can also be found by searching “Mother’s Day” right here. Being a mom is hard work, and not every day is always sunny. Sometimes, as the song lyrics say, “…skies are gray.” But you can certainly bring some happiness and sunshine into the lives of your students’ families with a You Are My Sunshine Mother’s Day school party! 
Have students perform a song.
Have a Photo Booth
Inclusivity for Your Mother’s Day School Party
Where can I find everything?
