Back to School: 24 Super-Creative Event Ideas to Celebrate the New School Year

While it wasn’t officially a back-to-school event, the Robin Hood Benefit in May 2019 had an unexpected theme that transported its 4,000 attendees back to math class. Inspired by a “Power of You” tagline, the concept factored donors into the equation for finding solutions to issues like hunger, unemployment, homelessness, and more. Designer David Stark marked the entrance with an oversize classroom desk and chair—complete with the event theme cleverly etched classroom-vandal style underneath the desk—and a digital blackboard writing out messages tied to the foundation's mission.

From there, guests walked through a tunnel of 7,000 backpacks in colorful rows. (After the event, the backpacks were stocked with school supplies and donated.) Inside the space, meanwhile, large-scale shapes and symbols turned into decor, such as a ruler, a pencil, an abacus, a right angle, and the infinity symbol.

An oversize calculator was customized with buttons such as the Robin Hood logo, the infinity symbol, and letters representing the event theme. See more: Do the Math: New York's Biggest Benefit Turned an Equation Into Event Design

Here's a fun one: New York-based catering company Scoozi Events once hosted a dinner with a "childhood memory" theme. The first course, served in a tin lunchbox, included miniature grilled cheese and heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; there was also a fake note from "Mom" and a cocktail served in a milk carton.

Kendra Scott is currently in the midst of a six-market college mobile tour, tapping into the jewelry brand’s popularity with Gen Z and the sorority world. The multicampus pop-up tour, created in collaboration with Sunset Studios, showcases the Elisa pendant necklace, a popular piece that frequently shows up on RushTok. The brand created its first augmented reality video, seen on Instagram and TikTok, that virtually hung three Elisa pendant necklaces from the Scottish Rite Dormitory at The University of Texas at Austin. (See the video here.) The in-person component of the tour, meanwhile, includes complimentary custom iced beverages from local coffee shops.

The mobile tour also features colorful photo ops, including one with life-size Elisa-shaped characters. During the experience, students can receive complimentary necklaces and branded swag that’s been customized for each stop’s city and school colors.

Old-school lockers can be a fun way to evoke nostalgia at a school-inspired event. In 2022, for example, MGA Entertainment created a vibrant, 30,000-square-foot pop-up to celebrate its popular Rainbow High and Shadow High doll lines. Stoelt Productions anchored the event design around an immersive school hallway, with select lockers propped open and filled with on-theme props inspired by the different characters to create a colorful surprise-and-delight moment. See more: This Kid-Friendly Event Made a Big Impact With Color and Lighting Design

For back-to-school season in 2021, Lunchables took over FAO Schwarz in New York with larger-than-life builds, including a Cracker Stacker rocket ship and Pepperoni Pizza UFO. The snackable structures included a six-foot-tall Cracker Stacker rocket ship, a Kabobble Trojan Horse, and a Pepperoni Pizza UFO.

To celebrate the takeover, Lunchables also created 30 limited-edition “Lunchabuilds” kits, which were available for purchase at faoschwarz.com. Each kit contained the popular snack, a blueprint, a themed 3D puzzle, and an instant camera, plus an IRL experience. There were three different types of kits, including the Explorer Kit, a space-centric kit that featured a real-life Space Camp experience at Camp Kennedy Space Center, Space Center Houston, or Virginia Space Flight Academy. The Architect Kit, meanwhile, included a trip to an architectural wonder in the U.S. such as the Empire State Building, Space Needle, or Gateway Arch; and the Biologist Kit came with a visit to the San Diego Zoo, Bronx Zoo, or Omaha Zoo.

MoMA PS1’s inaugural fall benefit in September 2016 featured an artistic, subversive twist on the high school theme. Conceived by performance artist Ryan McNamara, the event featured more than 30 performances, lectures, installations, and other activations, along with more than 65 performers playing the part of typical high school characters. The evening’s dress code was casual, asking guests to “come as you were” in high school.

Guests roamed the halls and explored the participatory performance areas, as well as noshed on nostalgic cafeteria snacks such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and corn dogs. Guests could also decorate clever notebook cookies.

Fittingly, chalkboard signage displayed sponsor information. Attendees were also able to pose for class photos and share their high school “awards” on social media, thanks to a yearbook-style photo booth with quirky superlative plaques like “Most Likely to Have a Reality Show." The night culminated with a dance party in the gymnasium. See more: How This Benefit Made Going to School Cool

To promote the second season of The Sex Lives of College Girls in 2022, Max (formerly HBO Max) hosted two college-themed events with plenty of nods to campus life. The first event had a homecoming theme, produced by Team Epiphany with classic college games, decor elements, and photo ops, many branded with the series’ Essex College insignia.

The tailgate portion featured activities like a giant beer pong-inspired game and Jenga, plus food and drink from multicultural vendors and giveaways from Live Tinted and Boxed Water. Guests also experienced a screening of the first episode of the new season with an introduction by show creators Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, followed by a concert featuring music by DJ Rosegold and a performance by Joyce Wrice.

On the same night, Max partnered with Phenomenal Media and production agency Do Great Projects to produce a college-style mixer event. The “Essex College Career Night” tastemaker reception spotlighted how higher education propelled notable women into their dream careers. During the event, TikTok sponsored an interactive “Journey Wall” inspired by data visualization. Guests were able to choose a colored ribbon and plot their nonlinear journey, highlighting successes, failures, and other major life moments that brought them to where they are today.

Another fun moment? At a student ID station, guests were able to submit their name, major, and what they really majored in while at college.

Earlier this summer, supplement brand OLLY created a pop-up wellness cafe to celebrate back-to-school season. Members of the press were invited to Madam in New York for a day of school-related activities, giveaways, and surprise-and-delight moments, including a meet-and-greet with actress and singer Hilary Duff.

Experiential agency Coffee ’n Clothes designed the space with an elevated back-to-school theme, including a chalkboard installation where guests wrote down how they ace their own wellness. There were also quizzes to determine which OLLY products were right for each guest, and various nostalgia decor elements to remind guests of their own school days.

At the end of the school year in 2013, a New Jersey family feted its high school graduate with a backyard bash. But this wasn't any old barbecue: Designed by David Stark, the inventive affair had decor comprised of Solo cups—a college-style prop if ever there was one—including hundreds of red and blue ones arranged to spell out "Congrats." Strings of lights with red cup lampshades hung from the ceiling, while a DJ booth was made of hundreds of stacked Solo cups and framed with columns that evoked a classic fraternity house.

Dorm-style furniture included milk crates upholstered with plaid cushions, and the back walls were made of T-shirts with printed sayings. Graduates could enjoy root beer from a keg at the bar, which was also custom made with milk crates and topped with a wood slab that guests could sign with Sharpies. Who Knew a Frat Party Could Look So Good?

To kick off the back-to-school season in 2022, same-day delivery company Shipt launched a four-city consumer activation called the Shipt Back to School Bus. The mobile tour featured a branded school bus equipped with custom vignettes highlighting key data that the company discovered after polling parents, caregivers, teachers, and college students about the year's must-have classroom supplies, snack and lunch items, and dorm room essentials. The different categories were each color-coded, giving the bus' interior an eye-catching stripe effect. Shipt partnered with EventLink to produce the tour. See more: How Shipt Turned Data Into a Mobile Activation for Back-to-School Season

To get kids excited about going back to school, Old Navy and Nickelodeon teamed up to create “Multiply Your Style,” an interactive playground that spanned the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Intended to supersize the fun of getting ready for school in the morning, Industria Creative built an obstacle course that included a pillow pit with a slide into a bowl of cereal.

Other on-theme highlights included larger-than-life blow-dryers (pictured), a bouncy bus, wacky mirrors, and foam scrubbers. After passing through the fun house, kids strutted their back-to-school looks on a runway.

In another back-to-school touch, “lunch ladies” were on hand to serve Tater Tots.

To celebrate the end of its so-called Higher Education Challenge, as well as its 21st anniversary, Barry's Bootcamp hosted the Higher Education Graduation Party in New York in 2019. Called the University of Barry’s, the event—which was designed and produced by Shiraz Creative—featured a campus-style setting with a locker room, frat house, library, and quad. The quad featured a fabricated entry gate that was inspired by Johnston Gate at Harvard, and included a bronze-esque plaque with Barry’s mission statement in Latin. Inside, benches lined the AstroTurf lawn.

The library, a collaboration between Cocktail Academy and Shiraz, featured custom-built bookshelves and Polaroid Lab devices, allowing attendees to easily print old-school Polaroids as a keepsake.

Some other on-theme highlights: Staff were also outfitted in sports jerseys, fraternity shirts, cardigans, or just a towel for an authentic locker room experience. Further playing into the school theme, the evening was broken up into two entertainment sections: homecoming and graduation. For the graduation portion, singer Darren Criss was named valedictorian and performed a set featuring songs from 1998, the year Barry’s was founded.