Graduation Party!

[AmieN1]

Ready or not- it's that time of year! I'm in the deep throws of planning a graduation party. We've decided on a theme (mostly just pink & gold & rose gold- since we're recycling a lot of decor I saved from her 16th birthday party.) We've got a date & have printed & sent invites just last weekend! Now it's down to figuring out what we want to do for food & drinks (she's thinking lemonade bar type of thing with berries & a few syrup flavorings.) And... logistic- where we are going to have people sit, walk through house or around yard to backyard? We also need to figure out a photo backdrop she says. I've also told her we are not spending a ton of $$ on this, I'd rather help her outfit her dorm room so she's motivated to keep costs down. At least planning is keeping my mind busy from thinking about her graduating!

Have you planned or been to grad parties? Is there something someone did that super fun or cool?

 

[LynnZant]

My daughter did a tri-fold poster board with pictures of her and her friends that we put behind the cake on the gift table. We also had plastic containers with candy and little grad hats with tassels on the lids as centerpieces on all the tables. (We rented an outdoor pavilion with lots of tables as this was the tail end of Covid).
A little warning. We used high school colors in the decorations, but we wanted the cake to show where she was going to college. I printed out how I wanted this cake to look, and the grocery store clerk at the bakery took it and said no problem two weeks before the party. Less than two days before the party, the bakery called and said problem because of copyright or something. I told them the lettering was a free font (Collegiate), so...? I went to a different grocery store (because I was angry), and guess who was mixing buttercream and writing the letters OSU on her cake the day of her party? Yeah, me. Stressful!

 

[LeeAndra]

My oldest is graduating next year so I've started gathering ideas already. One that I'm going to use is setting out notecards on a table & asking people to fill them out as a quick hello or encouraging note. I will stick them in envelopes and then mail them to my kiddo throughout their freshman year of college.

 

[EvelynD2]

My oldest is graduating next year so I've started gathering ideas already. One that I'm going to use is setting out notecards on a table & asking people to fill them out as a quick hello or encouraging note. I will stick them in envelopes and then mail them to my kiddo throughout their freshman year of college.

That is a wonderful idea!

 

[AmieN1]

My daughter did a tri-fold poster board with pictures of her and her friends that we put behind the cake on the gift table. We also had plastic containers with candy and little grad hats with tassels on the lids as centerpieces on all the tables. (We rented an outdoor pavilion with lots of tables as this was the tail end of Covid).
A little warning. We used high school colors in the decorations, but we wanted the cake to show where she was going to college. I printed out how I wanted this cake to look, and the grocery store clerk at the bakery took it and said no problem two weeks before the party. Less than two days before the party, the bakery called and said problem because of copyright or something. I told them the lettering was a free font (Collegiate), so...? I went to a different grocery store (because I was angry), and guess who was mixing buttercream and writing the letters OSU on her cake the day of her party? Yeah, me. Stressful!

At least I already know I'm making cupcakes- but her favorite flavor is an easy one- Lemon with Raspberry buttercream, so I have that already planned into my to-do list! Using a trifold board is a great idea & I'm sure we have one around here somewhere!

 

[AmieN1]

My oldest is graduating next year so I've started gathering ideas already. One that I'm going to use is setting out notecards on a table & asking people to fill them out as a quick hello or encouraging note. I will stick them in envelopes and then mail them to my kiddo throughout their freshman year of college.

Awe I love this!!!

 

[nesser1981]

We're gearing up for our second one. Let me grab some photos from Keira's. But we did the food in our garage, I had the photo display on our front porch, and then food we did nachos/walking tacos, cake, and I baked some cookies.

Plus we did an Italian Soda Bar, we also had Tea, Lemonade and bottled water. Bonus, they can flavor their lemonade and tea if they wanted.

Our backdrop and the way we hid everything in the garage was just drop cloths. I did use clothes pins to hang them in the garage, but I found some clips with hooks to use this time.

The Soda Bar and Nacho Bar were HUGE hits.

We did have a lot of extra cake left, I went with a full sheet, I'll probably do a half this time.

We also did college colors, I'm doing high school for the Cooper and then for Harper, because Keira did one year at Central and hated it.

I did mason jars with paper shreds on the tables with some photos of Keira as the center pieces, those were simple and cheap.

Then hopefully I can reuse some of the the stuff again in 5 years.

I made menus/recipes up for the soda bar/nacho bar, I probably need to make those posters bigger, but I kept them from Keira's party. Just depends if I want to spend the money again.

I also made her a guest book, using her senior pictures, I doubt I'll do this for Cooper, one he we just didn't take as many Senior pics of him and 2, I don't think he cares, but they don't get their yearbooks here until like August, so this way she could have friends and teachers sign it at school, then everyone at the party.

 

[nesser1981]

@AmieN1 here are some pictures. If you have any questions, let me know. We're doing the exact same format for Cooper's that we did for Keira's.

 

[aussiegirl]

We had a couple family friends offer to bring a dish or 2 (think side dishes-salads, pasta, fruit tray etc). That saved on the costs for us. Cupcakes are better than cake if you want to do something like that. A cake, you will spend way too much time just cutting pieces. Cupcakes they just grab and go. Having 4 graduate parties, we have done- a s'mores bar, hotdogs, walking tacos (individual bags of chips, hamburger in the crockpot, all the fixings), fruit and veggie pizzas, and chicken (we got chicken from Canes, but bought a few chicken strips from Costco to fill in when they were gone (just using the canes sauce and other dipping sauces). We used fake flowers from Dollar Tree so we didn't have to worry about bees as much. We borrowed tables, chairs and tents from our Church.

 

[nesser1981]

We had a couple family friends offer to bring a dish or 2 (think side dishes-salads, pasta, fruit tray etc). That saved on the costs for us. Cupcakes are better than cake if you want to do something like that. A cake, you will spend way too much time just cutting pieces. Cupcakes they just grab and go. Having 4 graduate parties, we have done- a s'mores bar, hotdogs, walking tacos (individual bags of chips, hamburger in the crockpot, all the fixings), fruit and veggie pizzas, and chicken (we got chicken from Canes, but bought a few chicken strips from Costco to fill in when they were gone (just using the canes sauce and other dipping sauces). We used fake flowers from Dollar Tree so we didn't have to worry about bees as much. We borrowed tables, chairs and tents from our Church.

I totally agree cupcakes are easier, but after I got my photos of the cake, I just cute the whole thing and this is probably just a me thing, but I think cake taste better. LOL! So I personally prefer to eat cake. And I liked the look of the cake as another piece of decor.

We had no leftover cookies at all, they were so easy to grab and go. I made notes on exactly how to scale down this time, so I didn't end up with so many leftovers, and all in all, we did pretty good. I don't feel like we wasted a ton of food.

 

[nesser1981]

Another thing we did and I'm sure I saw it somewhere else, was you may be able to see in one of those photos, I had a little box that was divided and Keira picked her 3 favorite senior pictures, I had some wallets printed of each one and just had them out for guests to take, and any that were leftover, she sent out with her thank you notes.

I also made Keira her own personal scrapbooks, which I know a lot of you all do that, but I'm a chronological scrapper/printer, so all of our memories just go in family albums, by month/year, unless it's a huge trip like Disney.

Anyway, I started doing one page a month of my fav pics of the kids in a pocket layout style starting at birth through graduation and printed those for Keira. She ended up with 4 volumes, some months may end up being rolled into one page, like now with Cooper, he's only going to have 3 books, but I had those all set out too for people to look at.

Instead of our family albums, that way she is the main focus. And those were something for her to keep after.

 

[KristinCB]

I don't think these are as big of a thing here in Canada (or maybe in other cities they are?)

For grad here we have the ceremony and then in the evening there is a banquet for the grads and their families. The grad class fundraises throughout the year to be able to decorate for it etc. Our town is small and so the grad class isn't huge, everyone is able to gather together. This is also when the grads will be dressed up for "prom" (we don't have the separate proms like in the usa)

 

[nesser1981]

I don't think these are as big of a thing here in Canada (or maybe in other cities they are?)

For grad here we have the ceremony and then in the evening there is a banquet for the grads and their families. The grad class fundraises throughout the year to be able to decorate for it etc. Our town is small and so the grad class isn't huge, everyone is able to gather together. This is also when the grads will be dressed up for "prom" (we don't have the separate proms like in the usa)

We did a small family bbq when I graduated in Florida & it was the day after graduation, so if they were a big thing, I was totally unaware. I remember thinking the "Open House" thing was very odd when I moved to Michigan.

They're a big deal in the midwest, maybe other places, but I know people that rent halls, food trucks, etc.

Ours is very DIY.

 

[AmieN1]

I don't think these are as big of a thing here in Canada (or maybe in other cities they are?)

For grad here we have the ceremony and then in the evening there is a banquet for the grads and their families. The grad class fundraises throughout the year to be able to decorate for it etc. Our town is small and so the grad class isn't huge, everyone is able to gather together. This is also when the grads will be dressed up for "prom" (we don't have the separate proms like in the usa)

I think here it's a little bit of everything- some people go ALL out & then others are more relaxed. Here (or at least at my kids' high school) they do a senior all-night party (this year it's on Thursday 6/4- few days before graduation) where they hang out, play games & win prizes/cash. Of course I ended up on the planning committee & so it's been fun to do the behind the scenes stuff. Prom is May 9th this year. Friday June 5th they do a thing where they go back to their Elementary schools & "walk the halls" where all the elementary students line up to celebrate the graduates. Graduation itself is on Saturday 6/6th at McCarthy Center (Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball arena- because the graduating class is huge!) We're hosting my daughter's Graduation party on Sunday while my family is all in town. Then I'll need to recover... lol

 

[AmieN1]

Another thing we did and I'm sure I saw it somewhere else, was you may be able to see in one of those photos, I had a little box that was divided and Keira picked her 3 favorite senior pictures, I had some wallets printed of each one and just had them out for guests to take, and any that were leftover, she sent out with her thank you notes.

I also made Keira her own personal scrapbooks, which I know a lot of you all do that, but I'm a chronological scrapper/printer, so all of our memories just go in family albums, by month/year, unless it's a huge trip like Disney.

Anyway, I started doing one page a month of my fav pics of the kids in a pocket layout style starting at birth through graduation and printed those for Keira. She ended up with 4 volumes, some months may end up being rolled into one page, like now with Cooper, he's only going to have 3 books, but I had those all set out too for people to look at.

Instead of our family albums, that way she is the main focus. And those were something for her to keep after.

I love all your photos & ideas! Thanks for sharing. I'm doing cupcakes just because it's my thing & I've made her cupcakes for every celebration- so she's picked out her favorite for her party. I also just realized I had ordered some of the super detailed pretty sugar cookies (reviews say the actually taste good too!) so we'll have those in addition to the popcorn crack that I make too. I also got some bags of her favorite candy & will have those in dishes on the tables & such. I think the hardest thing at this point is figuring out how many people we need to plan for...

 

[AmieN1]

We had a couple family friends offer to bring a dish or 2 (think side dishes-salads, pasta, fruit tray etc). That saved on the costs for us. Cupcakes are better than cake if you want to do something like that. A cake, you will spend way too much time just cutting pieces. Cupcakes they just grab and go. Having 4 graduate parties, we have done- a s'mores bar, hotdogs, walking tacos (individual bags of chips, hamburger in the crockpot, all the fixings), fruit and veggie pizzas, and chicken (we got chicken from Canes, but bought a few chicken strips from Costco to fill in when they were gone (just using the canes sauce and other dipping sauces). We used fake flowers from Dollar Tree so we didn't have to worry about bees as much. We borrowed tables, chairs and tents from our Church.

Lol wow you've definitely been through these! 'm doing cupcakes just because it's my thing & I've made her cupcakes for every celebration- so she's picked out her favorite for her party. I'll also probably borrow some tables/chairs from my in-laws and from the lake house- mostly informal gathering is the plan!