Graduation Party help needed!

[kellia]

Yikes, somehow I am old enough to have a kid graduating high school this year! Not sure how that happened!

DD doesn't graduate until June, but I am totally stressed already about the party! We've been doing lots of home improvements to get ready for it, now I think I'm ready to start thinking of the actual party.

Which day is better to have it? Saturday or Sunday? We had planned on one Saturday, but now that appears to be the only date any of her friends have chosen. Dh doesn't think people will want to come on a Sunday. But other Saturdays that month don't work well.

Are there any easy/budget foods? How the heck do you figure how much food you'll need or how many people will actually come? I'm a big OCD planner, so the idea of not having an exact head count freaks me out! Who do we invite besides family and dd's friends? Do students invite teachers? Do parents invite their friends if they don't really know the graduate?

Any good (inexpensive) places to order invitations from?

Thanks for any advice! Since we are the only person in our family/friends to have a graduate, I haven't been to a party in quite a while. I have no idea how they are now.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

I do not have a child graduating just yet but my family and extended family prefer family parties on Sunday. Hth

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[laurafergie]

When my older ones graduated from high school, they went out with their friends on grad night and we had a family/close friend afternoon lunch cook out thing on Saturday. And come to think of it...we did the same thing when they graduated from college.

Send out a save the date if you want, but be prepared to track people down and ask if they are coming. People don't RSVP like they used too.

Keep it simple. Have grilled chicken sands or hamburgers. Potato chips, baked beans and some veggie trays and some dip. You're done and can enjoy your DD's accomplishment and have fun!

 

[powellrj]

I have already had 2 graduate and this is what they did. Everyone pretty much had their parties on the first couple of weekends after graduation. We found out what time most kids were having their parties and tried to pick a time that wasn't already busy. We had a 2 hour open house at our church and we had over 200 people attend. Most people around here just go from one open house to the next one. I know DS left right after his party to attend other ones.

We had a buffet table set-up with food and then another table set-up with drinks. It was easier to just have big pails filled with ice and canned soda and bottles of water.

For food we did the usual relish trays, pulled pork, deli sandwiches, chips and dips. For dessert we did graduation cake and then had a candy buffet.

For decorations we had story boards set-up with what he had done in life and then we had his show choir shows playing on the TV.

We will be doing it again next year for DD!

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

There is no need to have special invitations printed when you can simply do it yourself.
I mean, you're probably forking over $$ already for graduation announcements (on top of grad cap and gown, pictures, etc.
We simply made our own and included them in the announcements.
We did something like this plus added graphics from clip art:

"Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved to learn and read…
(insert pic of son reading at age 8)


It seems like just a moment ago…



We blinked, and time flew…


(insert small senior picture here)


Johhny Q. Public

On Saturday, June 4, 2011 one journey ends and another begins…

Please come help us celebrate his graduation from Townville County High School

and his graduation from Metropolis Community College.

Graduation Party begins at 2 pm ~ until*

Please RSVP by emailing momofjohnq@home.com
More details can be found at (insert email address of facebook event page)



* Family members are invited to camp out under the stars on the farm in tents or campers if they would like.


(insert diploma and cap/tassel graphic) "



As for what is the best day- choose 2 dates that work for you and then query your close family and run with the consensus.

The truth is that not everyone will be able to come to the party- there will be tons of pre- grad events at school like senior awards night, all star awards night, senior picnic, senior trip, etc and your child should be having plenty of time with her friends then- and should make the most of it because once in college you make new friends.

In our experience with 2 grads, plenty of friends could make it to the party, but most of those were not necessarily senior classmates as they were busy having their own special day/party.

As much as we would wish to create a perfect event for our kids to have one final party with their classmates, (my simple opinion) I think this day is more about celebrating the family and personal milestone for a moment and looking forward to the challenges to come in the future.

Who to invite?
Family, neighbors, and friends you enjoy spending time with.
People you barely know? That has to be your decision but for me that is a no.

Grad parties are as different as the individuals they honor.
For myself, I am less concerned for how everyone else is doing it and put more energy into what works for my family and for my graduate.

In my mind the purpose of the grad party is to have fun, recognize an important achievement, enjoy the company and food of the day and relax and make memories.

There is another recent grad party thread that could be helpful to you:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3067382

 

[powellrj]

Forgot to add, the kids around here just posted party info on facebook and we sent out invitations to family. We didn't use RSVP because I figured with kids most of the time they don't know what they are doing until they are ready to leave! I just took a guess at how many kids we figured would show up and we did really well. We had some food left, but not overwhelming.

 

[Mkaz]

We had two other family members graduate the same year as dd. We chose to have her party a couple of weeks after graduation. We just invited family and friends. We had appetizers, a taco bar and some sides to go with it. Everyone loved it. The best part was that we were able to make everything in advance so we didn't have to do any cooking during the party.

My niece had a great idea for her invitations. She chose photo invitations from Walmart. She used her senior photo. My sister ordered them on line and picked them up in the store. They turned out beautiful. I want to say she paid $38.00, but I'm not positive.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

Feels like I was just where you are but it was a year ago. We did our son's on a Saturday starting at 4pm until ??? pretty openended. We did hot dogs and burgers on the grill with salads and veggie trays, chips, meatballs on the sides. We used a plastic kiddie pool filled with ice to keep the salads cold in and we had fans set up so they blew around the food and kept the flies off. That worked really well. We used coolers for the pop, water and juice boxes and labled each cooler with what was in it (Coke, Sprite, Water, Root Beer). We had cake, cookies and rice crispie treats for dessert.

I made my own invitations on snapfish and printed them at Walmart for cheap. No one RSVP'd. That was annoying. There were a lot of parties the same day as ours and the kids party-hopped as did adults. You can't help that. Our party was held mid-July.

We did go to a party on a Sunday and it was very nice.

For my other son who graduates next year we will do a Saturday in August instead of July and pretty much do the same stuff I did for my oldest - because it worked.

Enjoy and good luck! It's stressfull but fun!