Budget Graduation party tips?

[mrsbornkuntry]

My DD is a senior and I'm starting to think about her graduation party. She's not very social so it will mostly be some extended family and family friends, I think about 20-25 people. My DH will be traveling for work then and most likely won't be much help (he should be home that weekend just for the ceremony and party) so I don't think I want to grill. I'm debating between afternoon and evening, we're in NC so afternoon is hot, if I do evening we could be outside on the deck more, but the food would have to be indoors because of bugs. So here's some questions I'm thinking about...

What time of day has worked best for you?
Where can I get the best deal on paper products (we have the usual shopping options plus a Sam's club membership)?
What are popular budget food options?
Should I plan to spend on decorations or did you feel that was a waste of money?
What should I start doing now, if anything, that will help me save?

Thank-you! The thread on how to save money on senior costs was awesome so I'm hoping I can get some more great advice

 

[Sydnoahmom]

My DD wants a Disney themed graduation party so I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas. This will be our first graduation so I am no help with planning.

I loke doing shredded pork in my roaster for a crowd. If you have freezer space you can watch for sales and keep in freezer.

I plan on using Oriental Trading for decor. Interested to hear other ideas.

My one cost saving tip: make punch and stay away from soda.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

That's a great idea to make punch.

I'm starting to think looking at pinterest isn't very budget friendly, lol, so many fun ideas!

 

[Suz D]

I'm in the same boat with our oldest daughter's graduation coming up. My best budget tip right away is that we always serve bottled water at every party and no other beverages. No cups, no mess, cheap, and we put a magic marker (sharpie) beside the container so people can label theirs. There are cute labels you can make and then cover them with wide packing tape so they are waterproof. Look for the bottles with a wide, flat "belt" area.

We put the drinks in a large cooler or container (I saw some great large containers at our local tractor supply store today in the animal feeding section and they were very reasonably priced). We throw a Halloween party every year for my husband's graduate students. The party is always inside but we put the drinks on the deck this year. If you do the party at night you could to what I did....

I bought a dozen of those really fat glow sticks (got them cheap on amazon). Put them in the container, added a bit of ice, then the bottled water, then more ice and drinks and then put a bit of water in with the ice. The water glowed and it looked super cool!

 

[Suz D]

I think we're going to serve sloppy joes and hot dogs both in crock pots. I have a great recipe for sloppy joes that are homemade, delicious, and cheap. I use 80% lean ground beef and rinse it after frying. The recipe calls for ketchup, mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.

I'm also going to have a topping bar for the hot dogs with chili, cheese, pickles, onions, and relish. Probably chips, veggies and dip, pasta salad, fruit of some sort (probably strawberries as that's about the time that they are good, and cupcakes from Sam's Club.

Our graduation is early in the day but we will probably have our party in the evening hours and serve dinner instead of lunch. Haven't decided if it's going to be themed or just color themed. Probably just the latter.

 

[burnurcomputer]

My oldest is only a freshman, but any type of pasta; pasta bar, lasagna, baked ziti, ect. served with a huge salad and some bread is filling and cheap.

I like the water idea, but maybe some Mio, or some drink packets from the $ store for those guests who do not care for plain water (me!)

 

[disfanforlife]

We had two in a row ßo we got a little practice. I made a huge pot of Michigan sauce which we had with hot dogs. I asked a few family members to bring salads and i bought lots of chips. I also bought soda and water bottles. Kept it simple. The only decorations we had were balloons. My MIL made the cake and cupcakes and they were beautiful.

 

[plummer925]

My husband graduated (grad school) last year. I bought all paper products and decorations at the Dollar Tree - it was MUCH less expensive that way.

I had a friend make the cake (she does it for a job and gave me an incredible price) - Sam's Club makes nice cakes that are reasonably priced.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

If you have a Costco membership, get a sheet cake from there. The designs are fairly simple, but it's a huge two-layer cake with a really good filling. Both the chocolate and vanilla cakes are very good. People always rave about the cake when I bring one.

I wouldn't personally go overboard with decorations...I think by that age, kids are "over" having a ton of decorations. I'd probably do some helium balloons from the dollar store and a banner somewhere in the house and call it a day.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We did a similar size collage graduation party here in NC in mid-may. We have a nice shady back yard so we did it early afternoon shortly following the ceremony. I needed everything to be ready when we returned. We did deli sandwiches. I purchased good quality, assorted breads and assorted deli meats and cheese, made pasta and potato salad, and added a few bags of chips and some pickles. I bought a 1/2 sheet cake from our local bakery done in the collage logo and had fresh strawberries and cream. I purchased plastic serving platters and bowls in the school colors from the $ store, and used disposable table clothes. I bought a huge packages of all paper products in nice quality from Sams (also where most of the food came from) and we used them for everything we needed them for for quite a while. We had corn hole, horse shoes etc for entertainment. Ages ranged for our little guy who was 5 to grandparent and there were several teen/collage age kids. It was a fun time and people hung around most of the day.

 

[Kellydelly]

I would go light on the decorations if you have a tight budget. I personally don't like open punch bowls but 2 liter bottles of soda are pretty darn cheap. I live in a different region but for my kids' future grad parties I would probably serve mostaciolli, fried chicken (from the deli), veggie tray, large fresh fruit salad, cheesy potatoes, maybe cole slaw, and lots of chips and dips, and a cake. For only 25 people your paper products are not going to be a big expense.

 

[Maddie2]

What time of day has worked best for you?
Where can I get the best deal on paper products (we have the usual shopping options plus a Sam's club membership)?
What are popular budget food options?
Should I plan to spend on decorations or did you feel that was a waste of money?
What should I start doing now, if anything, that will help me save?

Our DS graduated last year. The ceremony was on a Sunday afternoon, so we had his Open House on Saturday, 1-4pm. Around here, most people have their parties on either Saturday or on Sunday just after the graduation. We wanted to avoid the craziness on Sunday and just enjoy the day. It worked out great.

Purchases:
* Paper products - purchased ahead of time to insure right colors.

* Brats & hot dogs, buns, cheese sauce, ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut and sweet and dill relishes. We grilled them a couple of weeks in advance and then froze them. Out of freezer and into fridge on Friday. They were ready to go in a big roaster Saturday morning. They tasted great and this really helped with prep time on Saturday. This was on the advice of a caterer friend.

* Veggie/relish trays
* Two kind of chips
* Cake, made by the local grocery store bakery.
* Drinks: Bottled water, for many of the same reasons others have stated. We had two big tubs of ice, which kept the water chilled, a welcome thing on this very hot day. We live in a small town and people come and go to multiple parties in the same afternoon. The cold water was easy for them to take along and some mentioned it was a welcome drink after having sweet drinks elsewhere.

* Candy bar/buffet using glass containers (some we had, some borrowed, some found at thrift shops) : Skittles, M&M's, Smarties, Red Vines, Tootsie Rolls, Sour Patch Kids, Frootie Tooties, Jolly Ranchers and Goldfish crackers. We had Dixie cups, snack-sized zip-lock bags and scoops for people to help themselves. It was hit with all ages. I bought these items in advance.

* Root beer and orange floats. Here, most people have their parties in their garages. We have a freezer in the garage and so we had cups of ice cream in the freezer (ready before the party). We had a friend at a station near the freezer with root beer and orange soda and she just filled up the cup with whichever soda the guest preferred. Simple and fun!

* Decorations - I wouldn't spend a lot. A few things, yes, so that you know it's a graduation party, but no need to spend a lot. I mostly used things we already had - photos of DS at all different ages, etc. I did buy school color plastic tablecloths and had a couple of signs. With everything else, it was plenty. Dollar Tree had some cute things. I'm thinking that was sometime in March.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[clh2]

20-25 people sounds like a breeze, we had well over 100 people for our DD's party.

As far as decorations, we had none. DD and I scrap booked her high school years, so those were out. And we had a table of the favorite projects all the way back to kindergarten. And her first pair of baby shoes. We also put out a number of her medals/trophies from some of her activities. Her diploma and graduation cap/tassels were out too. If the cake is out, it will add to look of your party!

As far as paper products and plastic tableware, we picked those up from costco. But, with only having 25 people, that may not be your best value, unless you want a lot left over. If you buy these items at Sam's club or Costco, you will get "mega quantities", which is great if you need them. We do not buy colored products for these products, ever. I am too cheap.

Costco does have the nicest vegetable trays for $10. That is a great value, and for 25 people, you would only need 1.

We had a cooler of just water with lemon slices. This is very cheap! If you do a punch, I would recommend doing this too, as not everyone wants to drink sugary beverages like most punches are.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Thank-you all, you've given me great ideas, please keep them coming!!

Dollar Tree for paper products is a great idea, I know people usually do school colors but since this is such a small party she is having a Snoopy grad theme so I think we're getting red paper products and that should be easy to find.

I think bottled water and 2 liters would be good since there are some family members doing a weight loss challenge that will stick to water.

I saw a great idea on pinterest if I can get a code for cheap photo prints, they made the graduation year on the wall with photos in black and white, it was really cute. Or a "clothesline" with pictures clipped to it. I think that would make a cute budget friendly decoration.

 

[barkley]

My DD is a senior and I'm starting to think about her graduation party. She's not very social so it will mostly be some extended family and family friends, I think about 20-25 people. My DH will be traveling for work then and most likely won't be much help (he should be home that weekend just for the ceremony and party) so I don't think I want to grill. I'm debating between afternoon and evening, we're in NC so afternoon is hot, if I do evening we could be outside on the deck more, but the food would have to be indoors because of bugs. So here's some questions I'm thinking about...

What time of day has worked best for you?
Where can I get the best deal on paper products (we have the usual shopping options plus a Sam's club membership)?
What are popular budget food options?
Should I plan to spend on decorations or did you feel that was a waste of money?
What should I start doing now, if anything, that will help me save?

Thank-you! The thread on how to save money on senior costs was awesome so I'm hoping I can get some more great advice

dd graduated last year-here's what we did:

time of day-she opted to have it the day AFTER graduation (didn't want her friends/neighbors to have to choose between attending hers vs. someone elses, also there were grad night events the school held that while she didn't go, several of her friends did. we had it at 1 in the afternoon (gave people who went to church the time to arrive).

paper products-we got the large pile of plates from Costco, plastic utensils as well (I still have lots left but I send the utensils with younger ds's school lunch/dd's college lunch). napkins were less expensive on sale at the grocery store.

food-I didn't want to spend my time cooking (or dh grilling). I made a pasta salad the day before (tastes better sitting overnight anyway), potato salad (there's a popular brand here but I saved by getting it at a 'cash and carry' store-they sell restaurant size containers at near the cost of small grocery store sizes). from Costco we did a pin-wheel sandwich tray, and precooked ribs (sold cold/wrapped in sauce/similar to tony roma style packages but much better) that i froze upon purchase, then the day before thawed which I precut into single ribs and wrapped into batches of foil so I could just heat in the oven (put onto a serving tray which we periodically refilled. NOW-I know that may not sound budget friendly but the way I did it was for us. instead of putting out a pile of money on the ribs right before graduation I would buy a couple of racks each month for several months when I did my regular Costco shopping, and then freeze them (so less than $20 each month from my regular food budget)-this made buying the pinwheel tray and the cake (sheet from a local grocery store b/c they could do a photo on it) the only 'big' food expenses at grad time (less than $75). for drinks I borrowed a couple of those drink dispensers from a neighbor (type you see at bed/bath/beyond)-did one with lemonade (crystal light), one with iced-tea. we had bottled water (bought on sale a few months before) as well. we had some chips and salsa, bread chunks and spinach dip as well.

decorations-since we were using the kitchen counter as a buffet area we took my dining room table (chairs moved to other areas of the room so people could sit/eat/visit) and decorated that. dollar store balloons (a couple mylar with 'class of 2013', one regular in each of her school colors-total $5). I got a graduation card holder that looked like a grad hat at the dollar store (the table doubled holding the cake and gifts). the only 'big' expenditure was buying 3 inexpensive square tablecloths-one in each of her school colors. I covered the table so all 3 showed (found them for $12 each through an internet store which was less expensive than renting). I can re-use them anytime so I figured it was a better than paying about 1/2 for plastic or paper that would just get tossed. finishing touch was dd's graduation picture, in the frame.

now this sounds silly-but it was what dd wanted-we had people eating inside and out. at the outside tables (borrowed from neighbors), instead of using table cloths dd wanted something 'retro' that reminded her of her childhood so I went to my linen closet and pulled out the top sheets I still had from when she was younger (rugrats, 101 Dalmatians, Barbie....) and we used those (people got a kick out of seeing those).

all toll decorations ran me about $56 but I still have 3 new tablecloths for re-use as well as the grad hat card hold (ds can reuse it in a few years).


what can you do now? start buying non perishables a little at a time-for me that was the ribs, salsa (bogo deals for super bowl sunday or memorial day), drink mix ('get ready for summer sale'), pasta salad stuff (dry pasta on sale, dressing on bogo sale, marinated artichokes/mushrooms one each on a regular Costco trip), chips a few weeks before (memorial day sales). grad themed decorations close to graduation (when dollar store has in stock). perishables I purchased the week of.

spreading out costs over 5-6 months was a lot less painful (and we still didn't spend a fortune despite having at least 35 or so people).

 

[Jenny-momof3]

Oldest DD just graduated last year. She was class president, head drum major and Valedictorian so she had a TON of friends come. We ended up with close to 250 people!

Food:
We did hot dogs with all sorts of toppings....chili, cheese, relishes,etc. Chips, dips, several salads, pasta salad, baked macaroni. Relish trays and fruit trays.

Dessert:
I set up a 8 foot table as a candy bar! Tons of candy...kit kats, reeses cups, m&m's, gummi bears,etc. Also did cake pops instead of cake, cookies and rice krispie treats. This was a HUGE hit!

Decorations:
DD loves polka dots so we did a polka dot theme. I found the best deal on paper stuff at Walmart. Dollar tree had plenty..but you get more per dollar at Walmart. I also had pictures of her and her awards throughout.

Drinks:
2 liters, bottled water and capri suns. I was surprised how many of the high school kids drank the juice!

Activities:
We had multiple corn hole sets out...and they were played nonstop! Volleyball was also going for most the night. And we have a large swingset and sandbox...I think the high school kids loved reliving their youth and played on that thing for hours.


The whole party ran me about $500. I was shocked at how little we did it for considering the amount of people! And they must've loved it. Party started at 4pm and the last guests left at 1am....only because she had to leave early the next morning because she was singing at graduation and needed to get there early to do a soundcheck.

 

[Princess Nancy]

My two graduated the last 2 years back to back.

I did a walking taco bar and it was such a hit everyone requested I repeat it for #2.

I had crock pots of taco meat. A basket of Fritos in the individual bags and all the toppings for tacos. It was super easy!!! And fun.

If you have never had them, you put everything in the taco bag and eat with a fork!

I still had plates but used much less of them. Some people made salads and I had tortilla chips. You can buy everything at GFS.

I decided I would only use bowls that matched their school colors for serving. The plates also matched.

I also served fruit, only in school colors!! Fortunately both had red so we did strawberries and watermelon. Keep it simple!!!!

I did bite size cupcakes for desserts. And cookies.

The best decision I made? We all wore tshirts from their new college! Kept with the theme, no worries about a new dress or matching shoes etc... DD wanted to e cute... She bought a mini skirt, red sandals and her tshirt. DH got a golf shirt.

Have fun!! Enjoy!!!!!

 

[StephMK]

DD#1 graduated 2 years ago and their ceremony is Sat. morning of Memorial Day weekend. We held her party/open house on Sunday night from 6-8. All the food was in the kitchen and we had tables/chairs outside. People could also sit inside in the dining room or family room.

DD made a video of pictures and set it to music. We also made collages of photos that people could glance through on a table near the food. She had several kinds of scrapbook paper and markers for people to sign and write any sentiments to her.

We rented a few tables/chairs and it was much cheaper than I'd expected.

Decorations and paper goods were ordered from Oriental Trading Co. I did a few table decorations, plastic tablecloths for outside and just a few items with her school colors on it. We did more black/white cups/plates and just added touches of the main school color. The quality of the paper goods wasn't top quality but fine for the event.

I had a dispenser of lemonade and bottled water. We had a selection of the individual flavor packets in a cute bowl for those who wanted some flavor.

DD has always been a chicken tender freak and we ordered a platter of them from Walmart. We made homemade mac & cheese in a big tray and kept it in the crockpot on warm. When we needed to refill, I just put more in from the tray. We had some dips/chips, etc. We got fruit & veggie trays and the cake from Costco. DD also made cake pops and they were a big hit!

Around here, most kids do open house style parties so people were coming and going the whole time. I think that was the most fun event we have hosted. It was not too stressful because we could get most ready ahead of time and some stuff was purchased so I didn't have to cook everything.

Enjoy it!!!

 

[dpswift]

For DDs graduation last year we had a taco bar. It went over great. Everyone around here does pasta and pulled pork so I wanted to avoid those.

We had chicken and beef taco meat, rice, beans, and all the cold toppings. We had corn chips and salsa for snacks. Fruit and vegetable trays from Target. Both DDs made the cupcakes.

For decorations DD put out pictures of herself over the years.

We borrowed tables and chairs from my fathers church as DD is dating the Rectors son.

 

[powellrj]

DD is graduating this year. She is #3 so we have been to this rodeo before! I am surprised at the small parties people are having. DDs school sends out a list of when and where all the parties are so all the kids go to all the parties. She does have a small class of between 60 and 70 compared to the boys that had almost 400 each.

I agree with starting to buy things early. I already have the plastic silverware, napkins, tablecloths and balloons in her school colors. I am starting her boards with her pictures and awards posted to have sitting in different places.

Start a pintress account, they have lots of cute ideas I have been pinning for awhile.

We will have to have our party someplace other than our house because we lack parking.

For my middle DS, we had his party at our church which was perfect because it was across the street from his HS. DD goes to a different HS, so its not as close and she wants to have her party close to her school. Our church is only 3 miles from her school so its not that far. I understand that she wants it really close, but the problem is me. I am now disabled and need a place I can prepare the food that is close to where we are serving it and is wheelchair friendly. That isn't easy to do! Once we decide on a location, I will start to plan the menu. We did sandwiches at both of the boys. I would like to do that with hers because most can be made ahead and then served in crock-pots. We served hot roast beef, pulled pork, hot ham and then had a deli tray of cold sandwich items like ham, turkey and roast beef. We did chips and dips/salsa, veggie trays and then also had things like chicken and ham salad.

I don't think I am going to offer as many choices as I did before. I think I may just offer a couple of meat items this time and maybe add hot dogs.

We found soda in cans and water to work the best for us because once they were iced down, we didn't have to worry about making sure they were full and then having to buy cups and having ice for drinks.

Loved the idea about all of us wearing shirts from her college to the party.

My best advice is to do everything you can in advance so you can enjoy the party too!