Planning a Graduation Party????

Who are the guests? Is it a family party to celebrate for your daughter alone? If you anticipate her friends coming, you might consider making it a graduation party for her AND her friends. Then you might even get a little help from a fellow parent who might have some ideas to help out and the kids will be sure to hang out for awhile...

Do as MUCH as you can in advace.......food, table decorations, setting up displays, etc. Make yourself a list and prioritize.
2. If there are any family members who'd like to help, like a grandparent, even witth things like picking up paper goods, etc. LET THEM!
3. Table displays are the best and easiest ways, I THINK, to showcase her school years, volleyball, of whatever....pictures, trophies, medals, etc. make sure to include something fromt he college she will be attending so that people know where she'll be going. i.e. if she's got an article of clothing, bumper sticker, etc from where she'll be attending, put in on the display, as well,
4. Make sure to include some pics, etc of her childhood because there will be people who've only known her for far less than 17 or 18 years.
5. you can go to Wal-Mart and get display boards that are bi-fold or tri-fold if you want things that are vertical as well as flat on the table. ...makes a nicer display and you have more versatility. Use colors of the school she's graduating from, but include the colors of the school she'll be attending...crepe paper, poster board, gems, confetti, etc.
6. No "rule" as far as the sides are concerned. Just keep in mind the time of day, ie.e if it's round lunch time, you'll want/need more than if it were going to be at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. How many other kids are hosting their parties at the same time? If several others are, don't go overboard, the kids drift from house to house and won't always eat or eat much at every house. Obviously, family and family friends will stay there, but preparing for the kids attending is something to consider, as well.
7. Don't go overboard w/ hot food. It's an extra effort to keep it hot, unless you're using warming trays, etc to keep them that way. Stick w/ more finger food, appetizer type foods, if you don't have that option. Crockpots can always be a HUGE help, here.
8. One of the FAVORITES I've prepared for all kinds of occasions is a Soutwestern Tortilla pinwheel. Take 2 blocks of light cream cheese, softenined, a package of taco seasoning, a jar of salsa ( I prefer the corn & black bean and try NOT to get a runny salsa) and a package of light Mexican cheddar. combine those and spread - not too much- on a LARGE tortilla. If you use the large ones, it goes faster. Don't use too much filling because when you roll them, the excess filling will ooze to the end and you'll have to take it off anyway.

Anyway, roll the tortilla up and then slice the roll into pinwheels 1 -1/2 to 2" think or to your liking. THESE GO FAST!!! Best of all, you can prepare them a day or two in advance and keep them ready to serve.

Veggie trays and dip are always a good option, as well. In season fruit (and dip, if you choose) is another excellent one......strawberries, grapes, kiwi, fresh pineapple. There's even a company called EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS that makes arrangements out of fruit, if you wanted to use something like this as a "centerpiece", as well.

Hope this helps. I've done a TON of this stuff!

My favorite decoration that my sister-in-law did for her kids were place mats that she made by scanning a bunch of pictures and making a collage. The mats would have pictures of the kid (who graduated) from baby to graduation. She said it was easy and a blast to do because she involved the grandparents who said, 'remember when.....'

She also did three or four different place mats so they weren't all the same.

Congratulations to you and your daughter!

When we graduated, we had a potluck block party, and literally ate on the street! Side dishes will depend on your guest list. Things that don't need a knife work best.

Also, I would talk to your daughter about her friend's plans. Maybe include their families too? My brother didn't have a party because all of his friends were, and they just included everyone in them. He partied with different friends for 2 weeks. We did eventually have a family dinner at a nice restaraunt around July!

M.

I helped my girlfriend with a party last year. It sounds like you have a good menu planned. I would also include a veggie platter and some type of fresh fruit. You may also want to include a pasta salad of some type, and maybe some baked beans (easy and inexpensive). For beverages, be sure to serve water, either bottled or you could have a pitcher.

For decorations you could go all out, or just keep it simple. She kept it very simple, some balloons a few fancy ones, and a dozen of the school colors. The plates and napkins were also the school colors. Check out orientaltrading.com for some more ideas.

I'm not very creative either so I can't help much in that area.

Congratulations and have a great party!

I'm not

We had 2 highschool graduations in 2 years so old pro's at this. We had aprox 150 people at each one. If you haven't done it yet you may want to call and rent a big tent with table and chairs. Next thing you need to do is go to hobby lobby or somewhere like that and get one of those big cardboard fold out things and make her a "board" we did one for each of my sons. they had photo's and ribbons / awards etc. one of my sons was state champion and in the junior olympics the year he graduated and he had a glass case with gold medals and state awards etc in it. also he had a letter from the company he had been hired to work for over the summer. we had a table set up with all of that stuff along with a big box we bought at the party city. we taped said box to the table. it was for gift cards. (he did not open cards till next day) we rented a big party tent. this is something you will want to do. they are usually a couple hundred bucks but so nice to have a tent w/ table and chairs outside. we had a couple of tables with food and the drinks we had over to the side of the shed. away from the food so you don't have the messy watery mess from the ice. plan some sort of lighting also as people will stay for as long as you will let them lol. we had the party listed as 4pm to ? we were still outside visiting until close to midnight. they were lovely days. decorations were just the grad party stuff. we stayed away from the " 00? year" stuff and just went with graduation celebration type stuff as we knew we had another one graduating the next year. that stuff is actually been passed on to yet another friends kids grad party.

food: we did Italian beef and rolls (had this part catered) , potato salad, pasta salad, veggie trays fruit trays and chips and dip and baked beans I made all of those. and a big cake. a lot of different kinds of pop and we also had beer and wine for the adults. we are lucky in that our kids never gave us any hassle or tried to drink before the 21 birthday.

another suggestion I would make is to have her address the thank you cards before the party for everyone who is coming. that way when she opens the gifts / cards the next day the thank you's can go right in the mail. when we made the address labels on the computer for the invitations we made a second set for the thank you notes. saved some time later.

have fun. and take loads of photos.

we bought a small blow up baby pool... filled it with ice and put in the 2 liter bottles to keep the drinks cold

I had been to a shower where there is a photo book on each table... the only thing about that was that I didn't want to go table to table and bother those sitting there to see all the little albums

maybe you can have a cake decorated like a volleyball court

I bought a new large address book and put everyone's addresses in there and told my graduate that that would be for her so she had all the addresses to send "thank yous" to

Hi,
I own a paint your potttery studio and this would be a great keepsake type party! You could have a large plate, platter or a mug and have all the guests put their handprints on the item and write a message or just have each guest write a message on the item. Then the studio fires your piece in the kiln and it will be something to take to college to eat off of or put pencils in. I'm sure you have a studio in your area. If you like the idea and can't find a studio in your area I can help you locate one.

Have fun,
L.

Photobooks, don't know where you go them from, or if you have a program on your computer that you made them with. If you do have a program, you might try looking at pixels2pages.net There are templates you could use to make a page print that could showcase her volleyball skills, like a magazine cover. It could 'announce' her colleges newest recruit==Your daughter.
Good luck, have fun! A center piece I made used towels to make a cake. I used a washcloth for the top layer, hand towel for the next layer, and 2 bath towels for the bottom. Roll these up and secure. Then 'decorate' the cake with things she will need for her dorm/bath at school. I can send a pic if you'd like. It's a take-off on a babyshower 'cake' I've seen done.