Want to have a little fun with your back-to-school traditions?
Image by Dieter Martin from Pixabay
Schultüte!
Don't worry, we're not cursing at you in another language. We're telling you about fun German back-to-school traditions. As the inventors of kindergarten (translated: "Garden of Children"), Germans make a big deal out of kids moving on from kindergarten or preschool to a real school by giving students a schultüte—strictly translated, it means "school bag," but don't think backpack.
Traditional schultütes are cone shaped and can sometimes be as big as the child herself! They're filled with school supplies as well as sweets and toys. The tradition is so popular in both Germany and Austria that empty as well as pre-filled cones are sold in stores. But often parents make the cones themselves out of thick paper, and then they richly decorate them.
If you want to be a stickler, go way back to the beginnings of the tradition when the schultütes were hung from trees.
Other forms of the word: schultuten or schuletuete.
What to Put in a Schultüte?
Fun sticky page tabs. Find them in our Toy Room.
These playful sticky tabs are both practical and delightful. Kids will enjoy bookmarking important pages in their school texts or favorite passages in the books they read for fun. Heck, we know more than a few grownups who'd enjoy doing that, too.
Felted Fair Trade Pen Covers. Find them in our Fair Trade+ Gallery.
Not only are these felted pen and pencil toppers adorable and unique, proceeds help sponsor education for Nepalese children. It's like giving a double gift. Find your students' favorite animals and send them off to their first day of school with a smile.
Shortbread Cookie Fries. Find them in our Candy Room.
What's more fun than this? Your students will be the hit of the lunch table with these yummy shortbread cookies shaped like french fries. They even come in their own french fry container. Choose from three flavors: original, chocolate, or confetti. Or get them all! Know what's even cooler? They're locally made in Northbrook, IL.
Reusable Water Bottles. Find them in Housewares.
Good for the environment and good for keeping their drinks cold for 24 hours or hot for 12. That means icy lemonade in the warm beginning weeks of school and hot cocoa during the frigid winter months. We have tons of classic styles for older students and cutie-pie ones like these for younger students.
Design Your Own Back-to-School Traditions
But we know back to school time is busy, so if you don't have time to make a cone, you can always put it all in one of these:
Reusable Lunch Bags. Find them in Housewares.
These lunch bags are more than just durable and reusable for the whole school year. Some can be frozen and then filled with a lunch that's sure to stay nice and chilled until lunchtime. Some can be unzipped and used as a placemat!
Vera Bradley Backpacks. Find them in our Vera Bradley Shop.
Nobody makes a more user-friendly backpack than Vera Bradley. She puts pockets, zippers, and handles right where you need them. The Little Traveler carries the hottest new prints as well as sleek solids. Stop in to find the backpack of your dreams (P.S. A Vera Bradley ID case also makes a great schultüte stuffer).
And we bet you can even hang them from a tree.
