High School Graduation: tips n tricks

[kristalund]

A couple mom friends and I were chatting about our kids' upcoming HS graduation and my head is swimming!!

Please share with me all your great tips n tricks.
Was there a gift that was fun to give to friends? I am looking at money holders from Etsy.
Decor ideas for Family Party? Did you host a Friends Open House?

I need all the help I can get! Thank you!

 

[nesser1981]

We hosted an open house at home, it was pretty low key.

I did a nacho bar, Italian soda bar (which was huge hit), and then cake, plus I made cookies and rice krispies treats for gluten free friends.

I also did two 12x12 scrapbook pages using template of Cindy's, the School Days ones, K-12 for first day of school pictures and yearbook photos K-2, I framed those.

Coop graduates in 2026, so we'll do pretty much the same format next year.

I thought I included this, but I made scrapbooks for Keira to keep, those were out, plus a guestbook for groans family to sign. She didn’t get her yearbook until 9 months after graduation.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

Guestbook

 

[LynnZant]

I also hosted an outdoor one in 2021 (tale end of Covid restrictions). We had a trifold photo board with pics of her friends, corn hole and other yard games, and little canister centerpieces with grad hats filled with candy.
I found out last minute that the bakery wouldn't put the letters of her college on her sheet cake (after ordering it two weeks in advance and using the free Collegiate font as a sample), so I was making and coloring buttercream to decorate her cake the day of. Stress! So, if you want something that might have a copyright, speak to a manager about your order and not just a clerk.

 

[marnel]

Vanessa I love your spread getting some ideas from your post ��

I honestly stopped giving gifts & just give cash in a $$ Tree card ��
Most kids have a wishlist but they don’t share it with adults or parents 95% of the time even when you ask & ask at least not the ones we know!
I do a buffet style spread for all my parties menu usually is the same tacos, pasta, arroz con gandules, pork shoulder, Mac & cheese & a party pizza
Chips, soda, water I don’t decorate cans or water bottles.
I decorate the color of the high school with a balloon arch with 202* balloons & I take out card games, loteria, uno, etc cornhole,football, ping pong table, above ground pool is ready as well just in case they want to get in.
I also setup my camera on a tripod and ask the kids to please please take photos with the props & Graduate so we can look back on this day.
Cake as well towards the end of party!
I will have two graduates one College & one high school so I’ve been planning & they have to be separate

 

[MamaBee]

Following as my son graduates in May, too!

For gifts to friends, I already told my son that he will have to give me a list of his friends (he doesn't have a lot who are graduating)... they will get a card with a twenty dollar bill and a quarter ($20.25).

For decor - I already bought up a bunch of 2025 new years stuff at Hobby Lobby and I'll add to that with the color of my graduation (we homeschool so the color is what my son decides - probably blue). He said he already wants a big board of photos - if we did homeschool group graduation, we would have had to have a table with stuff on it.

I'm in a made dash to finish his yearbook - but as I had 12 years to do it and just started a few months ago... uhm, haha yeah. I'm like on kindergarten... sigh.

We are still deciding on party - I think we will just do a park with qdoba as that is what my son loves.

 

[kristalund]

These are all great- thank you!

For the open house type parties I know the kids hop from one to the next if they are at the same time. Does your kid just leave his/her party?

 

[3BluEyedBabies]

For my daughter's graduation party in 2022, we rented a pavilion at a community park. There was a volleyball court, a playground, a baseball field, and lots of room for the younger kids to run around. My husband grilled burgers & dogs, and we had fruit, veggie, cheese, relish, & charcuterie trays. I made boards of pictures of all my daughter's accomplishments, pictures through the years with friends & family. I stapled the pictures very carefully onto a bulletin board just enough over the corners so that none of the pictures had holes in them. I made a separate board with pictures of my daughter with family who are no longer with us. I placed the bulletin boards on a table with a card holder that I made using pictures frames (I actually made it for my wedding!) and added graduation pictures that I took. For table centerpieces, I filled flower pots with sand and stuck some '2022' graduation signs & pictures that I stapled onto cardstock and glued to wooden sticks. We ordered a bunch of balloons and two banners from amazon, but it ended up being so windy, that the balloons got so tangled & were a giant fail, but I tried to take pictures of my daughter will all her guests as a moment with the banners & balloons tacked to the pavilion. I'll have to see if I can find some pictures. It was so hot that day, but we had a lot of fun. My daughter & her friends talked about when everyone was having their party & luckily none of them overlapped.

Of course, my oldest son is graduating this year, and doesn't even want to go to the graduation ceremony or have a party. Sigh.

 

[angiekey]

Here in the DFW area, there's a lot of high school graduations happening at the same time - like, they'll do 3 or 4 back-to-back in a single day at an arena, and repeat that for 3 Saturdays in a row.

So oftentimes, you're competing for time for your graduation party against not only people at the same high school, but at neighboring high schools. Most times, your guest list includes folks who have multiple parties they need to pop into throughout the day.

For my stepdaughter, we asked her what she wanted, and she decided she wanted a come-and-go reception-style party that focused on dessert. She figured most people would get their fill of food at other parties, so she wanted a Candy Bar with cute little bags people could fill with the treats they liked, either to eat there or take home with them. I was thrilled; the food could double as a party favor!

We put together a slideshow video and ran it on our TV on a loop, with photographs from the whole span of her childhood.

And I had a table set up with cards people could fill out for her that would go into a pocket-style album. We prompted them to either give her their best advice for life after high school or to write something she could read at college when she was feeling lonely and homesick. Then we had a little photo backdrop, and took pics of everyone who left her a card so they would be paired up in her album.

Of course, that's all after weeks of disagreements and negotiations she had with her mother over the idea of us doing a graduation party for her. Even though we did them on different days, her mom felt that she - as the mom, not the dad and stepmom - had the right to host the ONLY party, and we were taking away from her somehow by hosting a second one. If we wanted to give her money for her party, she said, that was fine. But it would be at her house, she'd host it, and she got to make all the decisions about it. Which is why my stepdaughter decided she wanted two parties on two different days.

God help us when it's time to plan her wedding.

 

[LynnZant]

These are all great- thank you!

For the open house type parties I know the kids hop from one to the next if they are at the same time. Does your kid just leave his/her party?

My daughter didn't leave her party at any time. I'm not sure that I would have let her. I would have considered it rude.

 

[marnel]

These are all great- thank you!

For the open house type parties I know the kids hop from one to the next if they are at the same time. Does your kid just leave his/her party?

No mine don’t we usually have anywhere between 30-50 kids show up and we host until 10- 11pm with a start around 4-5pm so they stay put and usually make it clear that they will be at the ones that follow.

 

[nesser1981]

Keira didn’t leave her party, here in Michigan they started having open house parties the weekend before graduation all the way through the summer.

There were actually 2 others in our neighborhood that day. We did hers about 3 weeks after graduation.

I think a lot of kids to spend an allotted time at home then jump from party to party, but Keira had a small group of close friends she invited and didn’t play sports, so it was mostly family at hers.

 

[SeattleSheri]

I haven't read through all of the other responses, but I had big banners printed at Walgreens for both of my older boys. It's good that you're giving yourself a lot of lead time, since local stores run out of those type of supplies.

We had a similar set up to what Vanessa did with an area where we staged food, cake, balloons, color-themed decorations, etc ... we also had games (ping pong, corn hole, etc).
I only have experience with sons, but we ordered a ton of catered chipotle, knowing it's a huge hit with teens. People were party hopping, so we did a drop in format, though we intentionally chose the weekend before graduation so there were less competing events.

As for gifts, we just stick to cash, though for really close friends, something more personalized could definitely be appreciated. We went to lots of parties that were co-hosted for grads. It's all a matter of personal preference and resources!

Good luck, I'm sure whatever you do will be fabulous!

 

[Cheryl Ashcraft]

Recommendations:

If you want to show off memorabilia, be sure to gather all kinds of certificates, awards, school photos, etc. as soon as you can. I kept boxes for both Olivia and Daniel that had hanging file folders with a folder per year, so it was easy to grab what I needed and easy to put back in the right folder again. Also remember that if your child had school during the pandemic, you can search for a photo for that year and will never find it. Ask me how I know. :cursing:

Olivia was very involved in what she wanted out for her party. I erred on the side of putting everything, but I think she would have been happy with less stuff out. Daniel didn't care one way or the other, so he let me have free reign. I guess I'm recommending that you let your graduate call the most important shots.

Olivia graduated on the 23rd of May and we had her party on the 30th of May. Right after graduation, close family and friends joined us at a local restaurant for a meal. Her party was at our house and it was a drop-in. We ordered chicken strips from our fave restaurant and we also had baked beans and fresh fruit and veggies, along with chips and yummy cupcakes. I just decorated our bar and then the china cabinet. Here are a couple of pics:

Daniel graduated on 5/27 and we didn't go out to eat, so we had his party on the same day. It was mostly just family as he did stuff with his friends at other times. We had basically the same menu and decorations. I did go more with the red, white and blue theme as that was his school colors. Here's a few of his party:

As far as memory keeping, I'd start gathering all the layouts you've made for your graduate and begin placing them in a slideshow. You can move the layouts around as you need to, and can put them in at the last minute. That's if you want to have a slideshow playing.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy your graduate and your family and friends.

 

[kristalund]

Recommendations:

If you want to show off memorabilia, be sure to gather all kinds of certificates, awards, school photos, etc. as soon as you can.



As far as memory keeping, I'd start gathering all the layouts you've made for your graduate and begin placing them in a slideshow. You can move the layouts around as you need to, and can put them in at the last minute. That's if you want to have a slideshow playing.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy your graduate and your family and friends.

Thank you for sharing!
Love these 2 ideas! I am trying to do as much upfront as possible.

 

[kristalund]

I haven't read through all of the other responses, but I had big banners printed at Walgreens for both of my older boys.

Good luck, I'm sure whatever you do will be fabulous!

Photo banners or "Congrats" banners?
TY for chiming in

 

[kristalund]

Following as my son graduates in May, too!

For gifts to friends, I already told my son that he will have to give me a list of his friends (he doesn't have a lot who are graduating)... they will get a card with a twenty dollar bill and a quarter ($20.25).

For decor - I already bought up a bunch of 2025 new years stuff at Hobby Lobby and I'll add to that with the color of my graduation (we homeschool so the color is what my son decides - probably blue). He said he already wants a big board of photos - if we did homeschool group graduation, we would have had to have a table with stuff on it.

I'm in a made dash to finish his yearbook - but as I had 12 years to do it and just started a few months ago... uhm, haha yeah. I'm like on kindergarten... sigh.

We are still deciding on party - I think we will just do a park with qdoba as that is what my son loves.

I am mad dashing right now to finish too!
I like the $20.25- very clever!
I am going to pick up 2025 party supplies here and there too. Senior year is expensive though!

 

[kristalund]

My daughter & her friends talked about when everyone was having their party & luckily none of them overlapped.

really good idea!

 

[PictureMom]

I don't know about relevant, but great advice I got for my daughter's hs graduation was to ask when you are walking in and getting diploma what side do you walk on/sit on. So ask them about it when they had rehearsal. It helped me b/c I was able to get seats on the best side to get photos.
It depends on how tickets are given out, ours was first come first serve.

 

[laurabobaura]

following. aidan graduates this year, too. i don't know that we'll have a party, like someone else said- senior year is expensive on top of everything else. fun ideas and pics, everyone!

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Of course, my oldest son is graduating this year, and doesn't even want to go to the graduation ceremony or have a party. Sigh.

When my youngest live-in grandson graduated (2023), he didn't want a party. After all the effort *I'd* put into getting him over the finish line *I* wanted to celebrate.

So I planned a small family party. I'd bought a few party supplies, printed a photo of him in his cap and gown that morning at CVS, and served cake and ice cream.

He enjoyed his mini-celebration AND the PTA sponsored All-Nite Grad Party that I insisted he attend ... told him he could leave if he wasn't having fun ... as I expected he stayed the entire time.

 

[kristalund]

following. aidan graduates this year, too. i don't know that we'll have a party, like someone else said- senior year is expensive on top of everything else. fun ideas and pics, everyone!

SOOOOOO expensive! I am dealing with Prom season right now too.

 

[SeattleSheri]

Photo banners or "Congrats" banners?
TY for chiming in

I did custom photo banners. They have templates you can use or you design your own. The vinyl is good quality and they run sales pretty often.

I can't find any pictures, but here is what they look like:
https://photo.walgreens.com/store/v...101994&app=BANNERS&productCategory=Home Decor

 

[Tracie Stroud]

Following because I have a graduating senior this year and I have no clue!

 

[aussiegirl]

We have a grad party at our house, inviting friends and family. We keep an open time, so it's a drop in throughout the day based on their schedules. We keep food slightly simple, letting each of the girls decide on some items they want. I recommend cupcakes as opposed to cake, or you will have to be cutting it all day. Find a friend or 2 who are willing to help out, with setting up, serving food and take down. It really helps so you can focus on the graduate!

As far as a gift for other grads, money is always good (so they can buy school stuff). Otherwise, you could buy some College/dorm type things- storage, laundry bag, money for laundry, towels, bathroom organizers, desk lamp. Those type of items.

 

[nesser1981]

Thank you!

Vanessa I love your spread getting some ideas from your post ��

I honestly stopped giving gifts & just give cash in a $$ Tree card ��
Most kids have a wishlist but they don’t share it with adults or parents 95% of the time even when you ask & ask at least not the ones we know!
I do a buffet style spread for all my parties menu usually is the same tacos, pasta, arroz con gandules, pork shoulder, Mac & cheese & a party pizza
Chips, soda, water I don’t decorate cans or water bottles.
I decorate the color of the high school with a balloon arch with 202* balloons & I take out card games, loteria, uno, etc cornhole,football, ping pong table, above ground pool is ready as well just in case they want to get in.
I also setup my camera on a tripod and ask the kids to please please take photos with the props & Graduate so we can look back on this day.
Cake as well towards the end of party!
I will have two graduates one College & one high school so I’ve been planning & they have to be separate

 

[nesser1981]

following. aidan graduates this year, too. i don't know that we'll have a party, like someone else said- senior year is expensive on top of everything else. fun ideas and pics, everyone!

It is so expensive, that’s why I made all the food, Amazon decor, we did rent tables and chairs. That was the only thing we outsourced.

 

[AmieN1]

My oldest will graduate in 2026- so just stealing ideas here too- but for gifts- she had a lot of friends/teammates graduate last year- for most I made cute cards & gave them each a twenty cash. For her best friend that graduated- I gifted a "spa day" certificate I created digitally & then organized massages & facials for both her & my daughter later in the Summer. They loved it!

 

[marnel]

I did custom photo banners. They have templates you can use or you design your own. The vinyl is good quality and they run sales pretty often.

I can't find any pictures, but here is what they look like:
https://photo.walgreens.com/store/v...101994&app=BANNERS&productCategory=Home Decor

I missed a deal last time to get a banner made & my son this year told me he doesn’t want a banner ;( teens! They have good deals at Walgreens for photo stuff.

 

[stephc777]

Years ago, I gave checks to some of my older sons' graduating friends that never got cashed - it stressed me out. Now I just give the cash in a dollar tree card and if they lose it, it's on them and I don't get stressed.

For my first 3 kids, we had a drop in afternoon party for family & friends - very lowkey with snack food. I made a video of pictures babyhood through senior year and displayed their senior pictures. My last one wanted to do a joint party with a friend, and the friend's mom offered her house to do it. It was lovely. I just brought food and did the video for them both. He was very happy with it, and I didn't have to clean and stress out about my house.

 

[norton94]

It caught me off guard when we moved to Iowa 23 yrs ago, but the graduation open house is for everyone you know. The parents invite work friends and neighbors, church friends and the parents of the kid's friends etc. This was more of a family and close friend only thing in California - at least back then where we lived. Someone often hosted a bunch of grads, but it was for the kids.

When my kids graduated here - the parties start in mid April and stretched until the weekend after graduation end of May/first of June. A few people host breakfasts/brunch times to avoid conflicts since most are midday on. Many grad pair up to host since their friend groups overlap. I've seen everything from fancy catered in rental rooms to pizza in a garage/yard. Food trucks are popular too. Most people have prepared the kid's awards and honors and baby pictures to current - kind of like a funeral - a trip down memory lane. There are often quilts made with t-shirt swag from sports or school events. It's a hoopla!

I too do the year theme gift - with cash for parties I'm invited to, but the kids didn't exchange since they were all graduating.

 

[lovely1m]

My son graduates this year, too. His only requests were for a food truck and yard games. So that's what we are doing. I also rented a backdrop & lighted numbers (25) and have someone making a balloon arch so I can take pictures of everyone there with him. I am also making a slideshow video of pictures of him growing up. I will also have cupcakes, cookies, and M&Ms and drinks (soda, tea, water). It will be the evening before graduation so friends and family can just spend the evening hanging out and being chill especially those coming from out of town. No rush for anyone.

 

[aussiegirl]

At the celebration of Life reception this past weekend, they had a vase on each table, and directions to a single Lego flower to put together and place in the vase for the family to keep. It was a sweet idea and a bonding experience. This would be fun to have for grad party center pieces for each table. The lady who bought them said she got them from Target.

 

[Sara Gleason]

My oldest graduated last May and here's what we did.

Like many of you guys, our area has this custom of open house style parties because so many kids are having them in overlapping times and days. A few people would throw huge shin-digs at a venue, but mostly folks would hold these parties at their homes or parks.

We held ours at our home. A coordinated with their closest friends when planning a day and time to be sure that they didn't have direct overlap/conflict with the times of their nearest and dearest. This way, they all were able to go to each other's parties. On other party days (not our own day) my oldest would be stopping by/attending 3-5 parties. That's how congested this time of year is with graduation hullabaloo. LOL.

SO. Our party. We live geographically separated from our families, so the party we planned was just for A's friends and contacts. We parents did not invite anyone. But I know a lot of folks opt for that, which is cool too. My mom had been in town for the graduation itself, but was not there for the party. We opted to have A's party a couple weeks after the graduation itself. There were clusters of parties planned on graduation weekend, but we wanted a little space between The day and the grad party.

Decorations. We kept it pretty simple. We had a couple balloons, fresh flowers in mason jars here and there, hung a couple decorations (we did not lean into the traditional graduation style decor but more into A's color preferences and vibe). We put photos of A around the tables and set up a table that had a vintage instax camera and blank guest book for the kids to snap photos and leave messages in. There was a little note that said "take a photo. write a note". I set a jar of pens and some washi tape there for writing their notes and adhering their photos into the book. I think this photo book is A's favorite memento from the party. And the kids had fun capturing photos that day. I know it will be a treasure in the future to see snapshots of their friends in that time and space.

For food we ordered pizzas from a local favorite place, but also had charcuterie and cute little bowls and containers full of just snacks and candies, things the teens love. There was one little area that had a lot of treats in the colors of the college A chose (which is primarily red - so boo on that healthwise but it was fun).

We also did get a cake from a local bakery and some cupcakes. I used "class of 2024" cupcake toppers for those, but for the cake I didn't lean in to the HS or college colors, I just got a pretty cake in A's favorite colors (it was a pretty sunset-y ombre) and put "2" and "4" candles on top.

We had corn-hole out back but the kids mostly stayed inside and played jackbox games via their phones on our tv. It was lowkey and just was A wanted and everyone seemed to have a fabulous time.