School Posters

• Visit a teacher supply store and purchase some classroom posters. Posters of maps, places, alphabet, numbers and common classroom sayings, such as "Learning is Fun" or "E=MC2," help children get back into the school mood. If you do not want to have a bunch of school posters after the party, then you can consult with your child's teacher about borrowing some of his or her posters, or you could donate the posters to the school once the party is over.
  
  

Colors

• Purchase balloons, streamers, plates and cutlery in common school colors. You can either use a color scheme that uses your school's colors, or you can use the more generic school colors of yellow, black, red, white and blue. Some party supply stores sell back to school decoration packages, which you might want to consider using. Even if you do not purchase more than one set of decorations, or any at all, you can pull some decoration ideas from the color and design scheme of these back to school decoration packages.
  
  

Paper Cutouts

• Paper cutouts of apples, letters, numbers, math symbols, buses, skeletons and other school-related items can also be used to decorate the party area. You can purchase paper cutouts from most teacher supply stores. These paper cutouts can be taped to walls, chairs, windows and other surfaces in the party room. You can even hang some cutouts from the ceiling with string and tape.
  
  

Interactive Decorations

• Some decorations can be incorporated into party activities. Line up chairs to create a "classroom" for children to sit in as they eat food or play games. Decorate each desk with a red apple. Children can take the apples home as edible party favors. Place a large chalkboard along one wall and allow children to draw on it with chalk.
  
  

Food

• Decorations can carry over to the food eaten at the party. Cupcakes can be decorated to look like apples. Place small shaped pencil erasers onto the ends of toothpicks and stick the toothpicks into servings of cut fruit. Make a large cake in the shape of a chalk board or school bus. Use icing to pipe numbers and letters over cookies.