The first official day of Kindergarten was last Thursday. I knew I wanted to do something that would become a tradition for the first day of school. If you haven’t already picked up on it, I am a sap for tradition. I read this quote one time and it stuck with me, 
Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world. 
S. Lieberman Two things struck me. First, when I was at orientation for my daughter’s school, this was in front of me 
There is nothing better than a bevy of beautiful sharp new crayons. And second, rainbows have been especially important to our family lately, so it only seemed right that we kick off the school year with a giant one! I first saw a rainbow cake a couple of years ago when I was reading The Idea Room. Then recently, a friend of mine made one for her son’s birthday party. Who knew it would take me so long to try it. I am sure most of you have already tackled it. You can see great ones here and here. r a i n b o w c a k e 
t h e h o w t o Now most of you know I fall short in the “I baked it from scratch!” department. Plus, I am all about keeping things easy so there is actual follow through on my end. I simply used two boxes of cake mix. We made three 9” cake rounds at a time. Separate one mix into three bowls and add your coloring. Pour into your three pans. I baked all three at once for about 12-13 minutes. Once they were cool and out of the pans, the kids and I mixed up another batch, poured into three bowls, added color and poured into pans. Very easy. Then stack with icing in between. Frost the whole cake and you are good to go. 
The best part of this was that my son and daughter were able to help with the entire thing and kept saying, “This is the best day ever!” when we were making it. Priceless. We made in on Wednesday and then served it up on Thursday after the first full day of school. It just so happened that the power had been out that night so it was even more fun since we pretty much ate the cake for dinner! 
We plan to make this on the last day of summer each year, and serve it after dinner to let the kiddos know we are proud of them on their first day of school. How about you? Any fun traditions that you carry on to kick off the beginning of school? Sharing with: Home Stories A 2 Z Shine Your Light
What a cute new tradition! This cake is perfection! And your children look so happy – precious!
Bisous 🙂
What a great idea Courtney! And, yes it will be something they will always look forward to and remember. We always take first day of school pictures. Sadly, this was the last year to do so as Kate is a senior (we do take dorm move in pics so I have those to look forward to). But, we've had so much fun looking back year to year to see how much the girls have grown.
Just beautiful, Courtney – love the tradition concept. It IS important. 🙂
Grandma Sue
Wow! What a great idea! Can you make one for me? 🙂 Your kiddos are adorable, by the way!
Such a cute idea! I am so impressed with how it turned out—it is beautiful!. I love your little girl's expression in that picture…..she looks so so happy! We don't have kids yet, so I have never thought of a first day of school tradition, but I love this idea!
Your kids are lucky to have such a fun Mom!!!
Great idea and I'm so glad it was a hit! My Mom is BIG on traditions as well and it's so fun to have and cherish those memories.
That is so cute!!! It turned out perfect. I love tradions too, I wish I'd started something like this when my son started school. My daughter is big into saying 'this is the best day ever!' right now too!!!
oh, and are you not going to tell us how to make it? i have to actually look it up somewhere?!? 😉
Such a gorgeous cake!! Totally Pinterest worthy…really! 🙂 Glad the kids enjoyed and you got to make their day…definitely a priceless moment.
What a great idea! My little guy isn't old enough for school yet but I'm going to file this idea in the back of my head for future 🙂
You never cease to amaze me! Seriously, you're the most thoughtful mama! What a fun tradition. My mom used to take us to ice cream the first day of school (: She's also pack my lunch with heart shaped sandwiches and notes on my napkins…precious.
Cake looks wonderful – we always make message pancakes on the first day of school – they say "fourth grade" if that's the grade their going into
Oh my goodness, I have been wanting to make one so bad, and yours turned out incredible! Yum! It's moving up to the top of my to do list!
xoxo,
Jen
Wonderful quote! We are a family of traditions, too. Your cake is beautiful, Courtney! How fun for the kids. Riley has a smile that just lights up the room. I think this is a fabulous tradition that you hacve started.
That is so beautiful and I bet the kids loved it!! Also love the dresser redo in your previous post, what a great look, love the color! Janell
So pretty!!! This is the best day ever! I looooove kids!!!!
my son's birthday was yesterday. i ran out to grab the ingredients so i could make this cake for him, after seeing your post. he loved it!! thank you so much for the inspiration. looks like you little ones enjoyed their cake too.
What a darling, darling cake – a lovely tradition too. You are the always the clever one Courtney.
That's a great idea! Lovely cake!
Fun! I bake a giant cookie cake and decorate it with icing {happy 1st day} while the kiddos are at school. When they get home we enjoy a few slices as our after school snack – yum!
I just dropped by your site for the first time… followed you here from a blog comment you made elsewhere. This is adorable. I'm a grandmother and school has already started, BUT… I see a Christmas Cake going to each of my daughters with red white and green layers, and festive icing and decorating… Oooo, I could put stockings all around the outside of the cake for each member of their family. Thanks for the inspiration!