First Day of School Celebration Dinner

I primarily decorated the dining room since it was a dinner party.  I made a garland out of circles punched from the three books that were then strung on a ribbon. It was easy to make but a bit time consuming.  It's one of my favorite details.    I purchased wooden chalkboards on clearance at our local JoAnn's that had gray "slates" to use as place cards.   I then painted the gray part black and put each child's name on one using a paint pen.  I then put one at each place and placed an apple on it.  Each place also had a red napkin peeking out from behind the chalkboard.  In the center of the table I placed a bouquet of sunflowers, billy balls, daisies and cabbage on top of two vintage copies of "The Bobsy Twins."  I also put a wonderful vintage globe in the center of the table with more red apples and a metal school bus.