Fun fact – I was born and raised in Germany {fellow military brat} and my mom is full-blooded German. I was ten when my dad finally got stationed back in the states and a few years later, he retired from the Air Force.

So now that you know a little more about me, let me tell you more about this fun German tradition. It’s called the school cone, Schultüte and it basically means “a cone full of gifts.” It’s a pretty big deal for the first day of school and they get elaborate as well. When I think about this tradition, I always think about mums on homecoming night. The bigger the better and you always have to out-do someone! You could even say this is like an Easter basket but school themed instead.

I recently decided to make a handmade “pencil cone gift” for my son for the upcoming school year and I figured I would share all the details with you all, right here! After all – small gifts and gestures are always nice on the first day back {even if you aren’t German yourself!} It could easily kill those first day back jitters or just make it extra memorable.

Just follow my simple tutorial below to see how I pulled it together. All the supplies were purchased at Michaels and the trinkets {most} were from Dollar Tree. It’s not a super expensive idea and I hope it inspires you to make something special for your child, on the first day back as well. Real quick – I threw a Starbucks gift card in ours because I thought it would be a fun “date” idea for lil man & I, after school, so he can tell me ALL about the first day back. Just food for thought for you to include in yours! :-)

Schultüte Pencil Cone Craft Supplies:

• Paper Mache Cone {I used a 10.6″ cone from Michaels}
• Yellow Craft Felt
• Pink Craft Foam
• Gray Ribbon
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun
• Black Puffy Paint
• Yellow Tissue Paper
• Ribbon/Twine for tying
• Trinkets {I used a Kinder Egg, magic wash cloth, toy car, gift card}

Directions:

• Get the glue gun hot and ready.
• Measure and trim down the yellow craft felt so it will fit around the cone. Hot glue it to the cone.
• Next up – trim down the pink “eraser” felt and hot glue it to the cone as well. Depending on the size of your cone, this could be one-two long strips of pink felt. I made mine about 1″ thick.
• Finally – the silver part of the pencil. Trim down a piece of gray ribbon and hot glue it to the cone.
• The last step on the decorating the cone, is taking some black puffy paint {or craft paint} and drawing on the tip of the “lead” of the pencil on the corner.
• Set aside to let it dry completely.
• Once you are ready to fill the cone, grab all your little trinkets and some yellow tissue paper. Place the tissue paper inside the cone {making a small cubby inside} stuff your trinkets in the cone and tie off the tissue paper on the outside, with some pretty ribbon.
• Then save your beautiful pencil cone, for the first day of school and gift it to your child that morning!

Isn’t this idea super fun?! I sure hope you think so! We have a few other gift ideas for the first day back on our blog, so be sure to check those out as well! My personally fav is our “the glue that holds us together” post! Happy crafting and gifting, my friends!