My oldest daughter graduated from high school two years ago and we had a pool/carnival party. Actually, we had two parties on the same day, one in the early afternoon for family members and then another one in the late afternoon for daughter's friends. We doubled up on the food and cooked-out twice.
Food included hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, chips, dip, veggie platters, and graduation cake. We filled a small plastic wading pool with ice and loaded it with a variety of canned soft drinks.
The highlight of both parties, however, was the big, inflatable castle we rented. The high school kids had a blast jumping around in it. In fact, one of my daughter's friends came up to me at the end of the party and said he had the best time he's had in a long time. What a nice young man! It worked out well, because younger family members got to use the castle before all the high school kids arrived. Once the older kids got there in the afternoon, most of the family members had left, so the high school kids had the castle all to themselves. To go along with a carnival atmosphere, we rented an old fashioned popcorn popper, (the kind that looks like a wagon with big wheels), and a cotton candy maker. They were both big hits. Kids liked making their own cotton candy!
Decorations were kept fairly simple, a lot of balloons in the high school colors, a few Happy Graduation banners, and another large balloon bouquet tied to the mailbox in front of the house.
One of my daughter's friends played DJ, (we paid him a small fee at the end of the party), and he kept the CD's and albums going.
We also ordered from Oriental Trading, (and they were very
inexpensive), four dozen, small, colorful beach balls, which we inflated and put in the pool before the party. We also ordered little pom-pom guys with the wiggly eyes and tags attached that said Happy Graduation. They were also very inexpensive. Anyone who wanted to, took home a beach ball and pom-pom critter.
The parties were a lot of fun, and thankfully, we had nice weather. I don't know what we would have done if it had rained!
Just a few thoughts- I found it interesting that most of the high school kids didn't use the pool. Some of them went swimming, but even they didn't remain in the pool for long. However, the younger kids loved the pool, even more than the castle, I think.
High schoolers eat a lot of food, so make sure you have plenty on hand!
Do as much preparing before the party as possible, so that you can relax and enjoy the party, also. Take lots of photos and have fun!
I will have to watch this thread to get some good ideas
