If you went to a German school you will fondly remember the Schultüte. Today the tradition has been adopted by many other schools too. If you ever wondered what it is all about, keep reading. 

 A Schultüte (“school cone”), also known as a Zuckertüte (“sugar cone”) is a large cone-shaped container made of paper, cardboard, or plastic filled with sweets, treats and toys given to children when they enter their academic life, the first day of school. 

This gift is presented when your child starts Primary school with grade one, not kindergarten, so there’s a clean break between daycare and the 12 or 13 years of education that follow. That is enough reason to celebrate big time. This gift is considered a rite of passage for a child, the start of their academic life, and it’s celebrated by the presentation of gifts, the snapping of photos, and then the exploration of what the school cone holds.

The history of the Schultüte dates back to the year 1810 in the Germanic regions of Saxonia and Thuringia. Today Schultüten are mostly produced by machine, and more than 700,000 of them are sold every year in Germany. These days the Schultüte is given to students of all ages by family, friends or partners as encouragement for the long academic road ahead.

I vividly remember my first day of primary school. I too got a Schultüte from my parents. I was immensely excited to open mine as my cousins got their own the year before I did. Hence, I was curious to see what mine had in it. Once I had been placed into my class, I opened my Schultüte and it was a child’s heaven. Sweets, small toys, crayons, coloring books and some more stationery. This definitely made my grade one day memorable. 

So if you have a bundle of joy that’s going to grade one next year make sure to get them a Schultüte. Be creative and decorate it. The moment when your child(children) receive and open it, they will remember it forever. 

Johnathan