Revive these easy, no-props needed summer traditions.
We’re pretty sure that while some “old last day of school traditions” may have been better left in the past, many are worth reviving. These days it seems that parents are more apt to print out a cute chalkboard to hang in their kid’s face or send them off with this sweet paper countdown, but we’re here to tell you about traditions that required NO planning, NO props and NO advance arrangement.
Those adorable exit doors? Yep, kids sprinted through them with gusto.
We’re pretty sure these tried & true traditions have lost steam and shine in recent years, but we’d be shocked if there was a kid alive that DIDN’T love doing these things. Sometimes the classics are classics for a reason.
They’re simple, easy, effective, fun, relevant to all generations and require no effort.
1. WALKING HOME INSTEAD OF GETTING PICKED UP
There were no tracking apps and no line of parents waiting by the curb to scoop their child up and drive them home. We were free.
And not just for the rest of the afternoon, for the next three months.
2. SIGNING EACH OTHER’S T-SHIRTS WITH A SHARPIE
Remember the last day of school? The excitement?
The freedom? The knowledge that summer was HERE?
You’d put on a plain, white tee-shirt and pass it around the classroom to have everyone write their name and a little doodle if they wanted on them. We may not always get yearbooks but they were never as nostalgic and treasured as your very own classmate-signed shirt that you wore to bed for the entire time during the summer.
3. THE TEACHER LETTING YOU WATCH A MOVIE THE LAST WEEK
In the last week of school, worksheets were tossed aside and teachers would bring in the TV cart and allow us to watch Homeward Bound, Beethoven or The Sandlot. The lights would be turned down and we’d settle in.
It was glorious.
4. CLEANING OUT YOUR LOCKER AND CARRYING IT ALL HOME
All of your possessions that you shoved into your locker in September and forgot about came out on the last day of school. Your sweatshirt that you haven’t needed since October.
Your half-used notebooks. Things you’ve completely forgotten existed.
You’d cram it all into your backpack or tote and carry it all home, smelling of forgotten items that had possibly started to rot. It was a badge of honor.
5. TRADING PHONE NUMBERS ON NOTEBOOK PAPER
We’d scramble and trade numbers, which we’d dutifully write down on a piece of notebook paper and fold up, as we ran out of class before the final bell rang.
6. ICE CREAM RIGHT AFTER SCHOOL
Whether we made it to an ice cream shop walking home, waited by the curb for the ice cream truck, raced into Dairy Queen piled into each minivan we could get into or stole a forgotten, hastily-unwrapped bar from our own freezers, ice cream was the only thing on our minds.
7. RUNNING OUT THE FRONT DOORS WHEN THE BELL RANG
Lockers banging shut, backpacks being chucked aside and us running out of the front doors SCREAMING our heads off and running into each other in the yard and school parking lot. It was glorious.
8. STAYING OUTSIDE UNTIL IT GOT DARK THAT FIRST NIGHT
Somehow our parents gave us an extra-special pass on curfews that very first night of summer break. Maybe some of us played games in the street, maybe some of us congregated on porches, maybe some of us rode our bikes around the neighborhood.
Whatever we were doing, it was glorious and carefree. We played or rode around the block until the streetlights came on, maybe even a little after.
9. A CLASSROOM PARTY WITH HOMEMADE FOOD
Somehow, and we’ll never know how or why, there was a party in our classroom. Someone’s mom had made Rice Krispies Treats and there were bags of potato chips and two-liter bottles of soda.
There were no waivers or permission slips for food-related activities, no one was allergic to anything and nobody questioned why there was a pile of potato chips sitting on top of the teacher’s desk. We danced around to popular tunes for forty-five glorious minutes.
It’s hard to imagine such parties happening in classrooms today, considering all the food-related restrictions, permission slips and consent forms, complete with multiple rules and regulations, that come with any type of food-related event today.
10. PROMISING TO WRITE LETTERS OVER THE SUMMER
Before we left that very last day we exchanged addresses and promised that we’d write letters during the summer and catch up on everything. Most of us forgot all about it.
But some of us wrote letters, for weeks, months, years.
11. THE NEIGHBORHOOD BIKE RIDE THAT FIRST AFTERNOON
The summer stretched out ahead of us, infinite, promising, full of adventure. It was going to be an awesome summer.
We just knew it.
12. MAKING SUMMER PLANS WITH FRIENDS FACE TO FACE
There was no group text. If you wanted to do anything together this summer, you made those plans in person on the last day of school.
“Let’s meet at the pool on Tuesday,” “Come over Thursday morning.” “We’re doing fireworks at my grandparents’ house.” It’s incredible to me that anyone remembered all of these plans. But you did.
And if you didn’t, well, tough luck. There was no text thread you could go back and check.
Making plans took commitment, intentionality.
13. STAYING UP LATE BECAUSE IT WAS FINALLY SUMMER
Summer vacation’s first night was special. You could stay up an hour later than normal, your parents graciously informed you as you climbed into bed.
No one was going to drag you out of bed in the morning. That meant you could stay up as long as you wanted.
You might stay up later than you’d been permitted to. You might stay up reading or watching television or just staring at the wall, enjoying your freedom.
14. THE SUMMER READING LIST FROM THE LIBRARY
Some kids signed up for summer reading at their local branch of the public library. It was nice and air-conditioned in there, and there was a big fluffy carpeted area for babies and toddlers.
Summer reading lists didn’t require applications and had no repercussions for not completing them, and were not required for entrance into the next grade the following September. And they didn’t award points.
15. TELLING YOUR TEACHER YOU’D MISS THEM — AND MEANING IT
You’ll pull up a chair to her desk on your way out and tell your teacher you’ll miss them, and mean it. Teachers rarely received an online shout-out or formal evaluation from their students, so they were left to rely on memory to know who truly meant it.
16. RIDING YOUR BIKE TO SCHOOL ON THE LAST DAY
It’s OK to race. In fact, everyone does.
You make it home just as fast as you can because your backpack contains every item that used to reside in your locker. It’s a mad dash down the streets and bike paths.
17. WATCHING THE CLOCK DURING THE LAST PERIOD
No matter what’s being taught, somewhere around noon all bets are off. All of a sudden, all 40 sets of eyes in the classroom fixated on the second hand on the clock.
If the teacher’s gaze falls in our direction, everyone will loudly count down the final 10 minutes and sigh in unison as the hand reaches 12. Summer has begun.
18. GETTING YOUR REPORT CARD AND IMMEDIATELY LOSING IT
After all that staring at clocks, you’re going to be receiving report cards today. About half the kids in your graduating class will somehow manage to lose theirs before they get home.
But, honestly, grades aren’t going to matter today. It’s the amount of days attended that’s going to impress your parents.
You made it.
19. SCRAMBLING TO RETURN LIBRARY BOOKS BEFORE THE DEADLINE
Out of nowhere, you remember that you have some library books you need to return. Somehow, you’ve been holding onto up to four of those babies for months.
Luckily, it’s the last day and the librarian is feeling extra jolly. She scans them in without blinking and wishes you happy summer without charging a dime.
20. THE TEACHER READING ALOUD ONE LAST TIME
Whether it’s something she’s been reading every Friday or a short story she’s been saving especially for today, your teacher is going to read aloud to you one last time. Maybe it’s been every day after lunch.
Whatever it is, you’re going to remember it as she draws it to a close and it’s weirdly silent in the room.
21. EMPTYING YOUR DESK INTO A PAPER GROCERY BAG
Summer means emptying out your desk. It’s important that it’s a paper grocery bag.
Elementary-aged students were given grocery bags to pack up anything they wanted to take home from their desks. Glue sticks, old tests, crayon stubs, random erasers, etc.
Moms sat at kitchen tables going through these bags of items and throwing most of it away.
22. STOPPING AT THE CORNER STORE ON THE WALK HOME
There was no ceremony involved, it was just an opportunity to celebrate that it was the last day. Students would stop in on the walk home either individually or together and buy whatever they wanted: a bag of chips, a candy bar, a drink, etc.
I don’t know what they spent, probably a dollar or two or their remaining pocket change.
23. THE TEACHER GIVING OUT CANDY AT THE END
Teachers would leave a bowl of cheap grocery store candy like Starbursts, Dum Dums, and Jolly Ranchers by the door as kids exited for the last time. It was a cute way for teachers and students to say goodbye to each other for the summer.
24. SKIPPING THE AFTER-SCHOOL ROUTINE ENTIRELY
There is NO homework to be done on the last day of school. There are no nagging parents saying things like “go do your homework” or “you should start studying for your upcoming exam.” There’s no after-school activities/practices to attend and no tutors to call and cancel.
It’s one afternoon, ONE, where kids can relax and enjoy themselves without worry.
25. SIGNING YEARBOOKS IN THE HALLWAY BETWEEN CLASSES
The last day of school was devoted to collecting signatures from all of your classmates, teachers, school janitors and cafeteria workers in your yearbook. As classes changed throughout the day, you raced down the halls and begged or demanded signatures.
It was an exercise of status and popularity. The kid with the completely-filled yearbook was popular while the kid with the empty yearbook left countless opportunities on the table.
26. FIELD DAY THE WEEK BEFORE AS THE REAL KICKOFF
While the last day of school marked the end of the school year, it wasn’t a particularly exciting affair. But that’s OK.
After all, we survived Field Day the week prior and were too exhausted and sunburned from parachutes, relay races in the grass and water balloons to muster excitement for another day. Field Day was our real kick-off party into summer.
27. MAKING A POPSICLE RUN WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS
Either we pooled our pennies together and made a run to the corner store to purchase popsicles or a neighborhood mom had popsicles waiting for us on her porch. Either way, we sat on curbsides, driveways, front porches or lawns eating popsicles with neighborhood kids and contemplating all of the fun we were going to have during our break.
28. THE LAST DAY WALK AROUND THE BUILDING WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Especially in 8th grade and your senior year of high school, there’s that sense of closure on the last day of school. It’s a quiet, contemplative walk through the halls and cafeteria.
Peers hug goodbye and look through lockers one last time.
29. CALLING YOUR BEST FRIEND THE SECOND YOU GOT HOME
Once you made it home from school, whether by foot, bike, school bus or your dad’s pickup truck, you rushed in, closed the door and grabbed the telephone to call your best friend and ask if she was coming over. Depending on the mercy of each individual parent, you’d either get in trouble after ten minutes for staying on the phone too long or be dragged away from the receiver several hours later.
30. FALLING ASLEEP THAT NIGHT THINKING ABOUT THE WHOLE SUMMER AHEAD
Summer vacation starts off with that night spent staring at the ceiling contemplating everything you want to happen before September rolls around. For one magical night, we escaped bedtime, homework and alarm clocks.