How Much Did You Spend on Graduation Party?

[Fyrefly]

I don't know how much it cost but I don't remember having an elaborate graduation party. The kids who had them were kind of the weird spoiled kids who were rude or full of themselves and had something to prove?

We have an in-ground pool and I had friends over, we swam and hung out and my dad grilled a bunch of hot dogs and we had toppings out, some chili, cheese, relish, mustard/ketchup...I think that was about it. And my mom made a big thing of pasta salad, I think we got some chips and soda and she made a cake.

Decorations I'm not sure we did any, maybe a banner from Wal-mart? And then we bought a bit lot of rubber ducks in mortar boards from Oriental Trading and tossed them in the pool for the day and everyone took a few home as favors.

Oh I also had a white stuffed dog with a mortar board and a bunch of sharpies so my friends could sign it. I'd be surprised if we spent much more than $100. Knowing my mom she probably grabbed everything at BJs for pretty cheap.

 

[scheddj]

Thanks everyone. Glad to see I was in the right ballpark with my ~$500 guess. I just about choked on the $1500-3000 I saw when I googled it!

 

[pooh2001]

Graduation party - us and some good friends - use our pool ($0), cake from bakery ($60), food ($100), few decorations ($20)and some good music from our CD collection ($0).
Total cost under $200

Additional cost= HS graduation trip to WDW = $1500

 

[StephMK]

I think it was less than $300. We did a big chicken tender tray, fruit & veggie trays, dips/chips, homemade mac & cheese and cake pops. I also ordered a cake from Costco, which is where most of the food came from. We bought some decorations and rented tables/chairs for the backyard. It was a lot of fun and not much work once everything was set out.

It's customary around here to have parties & the weekends around graduation are spent party hopping. I never had a party and it wasn't popular when I graduated. We had a lot of fun planning & hosting it! DD made her own video slideshow of pics/music, it was very cute!

 

[clh2]

I'll be honest - I think we spent close to $1000. DH is from a large family - and all but one sibling was able to come with their families. All of his local cousins and their families came too! We easily had 100 people there, probably more.

We had a lot of fun. If I recall - and this is now about a year ago:

$100 - tent rental for a 20x30 foot tent. (THis was a bargain, and included set-up, and pick-up)

$300 for the food that we picked up ready to serve. This included a fruit salad and a pasta salad, as well as most of the hot foods (sliced ham, BBQ chicken, BBQ pork- which was stuff for sandwiches.

$100 for the other food - I did make a few things - including 20 pounds of german potato salad, the coleslaw, and the layered taco dips, and a pulled beef (I wanted something that wasn't a BBQ'd flavor).

$60 cheese/sausage trays
$120 - 2 cakes, and 120 rolls
$150 - beer, hard lemonades, soda and bottled water ( we had a lot of leftovers , but nothing went to waste)
$20 for veggie trays
$40 or 50 for ice.
$35 - rental for a volleyball set AND 15 chairs.

then there was cups, plates, napkins, plastic forks, knives, spoons too.

There is not one single thing that I would have changed. about the day. Really - with the exception of the beverages (which we had too much of) we did not have too much food. And - we probably could have survived with 1-veggie tray. (But we used the other tray up - we grilled the veggies throughout the next few days).

And - there is no way we could have prepared the food in advance, and kept it in the fridge, the fridge isn't that big. Plus the day was hot, hot, hot, so I'm glad I only needed to keep already-hot food hot, instead of needing to actually cook.

We did not want to grill out for guests, DH and I wanted to be free to mill around the party.

I also agree with a different poster who mentioned this was also like a going away party. Our DD is about 4.5 hours away. And - she will be working on campus this summer, so won't have a chance to visit with many friends or relatives this summer.

FWIW - DD is an only - so we don't have to do this for any others.

 

[DawnM]

I haven't had a graduate yet, but I am thinking that we would most likely be doing party trays from Costco/Sams like we did for my parents' 50th Anniversary party.

We decorated and had a great time and it was lovely.

70 people and about $500 in food and decor.

Dawn

 

[Pooh2]

We did not have high school grad parties, just went out to lunch after with grandparents.
For our twins college graduation, we spent about $250. We had some family members bring food, I made most of the hot dishes. Def was a ton of work for about 80 people!

 

[Kellydelly]

I haven't had a graduate yet, but I am thinking that we would most likely be doing party trays from Costco/Sams like we did for my parents' 50th Anniversary party.

We decorated and had a great time and it was lovely.

70 people and about $50 in food and decor.

Dawn

How on earth did you provide food and drinks (plus dinnerware and decorations) for 70 people for $50?

 

[DawnM]

I am sorry, that was a typo. It is $500 for everything.

How on earth did you provide food and drinks (plus dinnerware and decorations) for 70 people for $50?

 

[ManyMinnie]

How on earth did you provide food and drinks (plus dinnerware and decorations) for 70 people for $50?

You can't, unless other people are supplying the food.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[ManyMinnie]

I am sorry, that was a typo. It is $500 for everything.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Riverhill]

Our DD has chosen not to have a party. She wants a dinner out with her Grandparents. I even asked if she wanted me to send graduation announcements, her reponse was " if you want to". She is more preoccupied with planning for college which starts in July, than graduation.

 

[KDIPIAZZ]

I spent $2200, including having a t-shirt quilt made as a gift for my son which also served as a backdrop for the cake and memory table. We had more than 150 people for my son's graduation last year. My husband comes from a large Italian family and we live in an area where large graduation parties are the norm. As a few others have mentioned, we also treated this as a going-away party as DS is now attending school 1500 miles away. .

While we held the party at our house, we did need to rent a tent, tables and chairs. I also rented a porta-potty (actually a trailer w/2 separate johns and running water). I probably could have rented a hall for what I spent, but the party started at 2 and the last guests left well after midnight, so I wanted to avoid time constraints. Plus, we have a pool and wanted to offer volleyball and horseshoes


I made most of the food myself. MIL made the meatballs and sauce. I bought the cake ( a local baker made a truly gourgeous AND tasty 3 layer cake that I couldn't have been happier with) and my mother made at least 40 dozen cookies.

I probably went a bit overboard with decorations, but Pinterest was fairly new at the time and I spent all winter being crafty! Painted mason jars played a big role I thought the graduation cap banners made with paint chips were going to be the death of me! but everything was really really cute. Surprisingly, I received a ton of compliments from the high school girls who attended


For food, we had

Italian (Hot sausage with peppers and onions, rigatoni, meatballs, salad
rolls)

All-American (Fried chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, veggie trays, fruit trays)

Tex-Mex (tortillas/taco shells w/ shredded chicken, carnitas or ground beef plus taco fixings, a nacho cheese fountain + chips, snack bags of Fritos and Doritos for "walking tacos", tortilla bowls for taco salads)


For dessert there was the aforementioned cake. I also made fruit salsa and served it with cinnamon tortilla chips and churros. Plus a cookie table featuring Italian and old family favorites. There were at least 75 dozen cookies


Plus the biggest hit of all - a candy buffet.

Beverages were also many and varied. It was June and it was HOT. I made 20 gallons of lemonade, sweet tea and unsweetened ice tea, but also offered various sodas and bottled water. There was also a (manned) bar with beer, wine and malt beverages for adults.

I'd spend it again. YMMV, but I don't think I could do it any cheaper.

 

[disney1990]

No private party - her graduating class reserved a pavilion at the State park and everybody brought something to share. It worked great!!

 

[PattiPB]

Did our first of three HS grad parties last June. Daughter went across the country for college, so this was her "see you not real soon..." send off.

1. Her godmother bought all paper goods and decorations ($200)
2. We had it at our house. Pool in the backyard, set up 3 easy-ups for shade (this is Vegas in June). ($0)
3. She is majoring in Elem SpEd, and tutored and babysat all through HS. So her only request was a bounce house for all the kids. Got one with a water slide/pool and put it in front of the house ($300). HUGE hit with little kids, neighbor kids, HS kids, and the adults hit it late that night!!!!!
4. We cooked chicken wings, baked ziti, made sub-style sandwiches. Had cans of soda, bottles of water, pitchers of iced tea/lemonade.($250)

Here's the "controversial" one. We themed the party "Her Favorite Things" and in about 10 of the invites, I put notes inviting people (mostly her aunts) to please consider bringing ______________ (her favorite thing they make) to share at the party. I generally don't agree with asking people to bring something to a gift-giving event, but she LOVED it. Everyone who was asked brought their dishes, so we ended up with a ca-razy amount and wealth of dishes at the table. People were tasting and comparing and swapping recipes.

We hosted over 100 invitees that day, not including all the HS kids who came and went. Never ran out of anything, and it was extremely low-stress. In the family room we ran videos of her when she was young, and we had a 20-minute slide show projecting on the living room wall with low background music on a loop.

We had offered her a family trip of her choosing or this party. She picked the party. Kid #2 graduates next year, and already requested the same bounce house/water slide!!!

 

[Lucky4me]

We're going in with our friends. Our daughters have been best friends since they were toddlers.
We rented a park with a large building that will seat 200, having it catered with bbq chicken and hots, salads, etc. Hiring a local kid for dj music. Trying to make it as cheap as we can, but probably will end up around $1,500 each. We're only inviting about 60-70 each, the rest will be friends moving from one party to another that day.

Hoping for decent weather for volleyball and other lawn games.

I would have rather given dd the money and skipped the party, but she is a social butterfly and wouldnt dream of not having one.

 

[angierae]

We rented the pavillion at the park across the street from us for DD's graduation party. That cost us $60 for the day. There are bathrooms there, and ten picnic tables under the pavillion plus others scattered throughout the park with lots of things for kids to run around and do.

I don't intend to spend more than $500. Having a dj at a graduation party is NOT the norm around here, I think people would think it was really strange if we did it.

 

[Marionnette]

We hosted all three high school grad parties at our home. I had the food catered because I wanted to be able to enjoy my time with my guests instead of being in the kitchen all day. We rented a tent, tables and chairs and the company we rented from set everything up and took them down the Monday after the party. I ordered a cake from a local bakery and bought the plates and party napkins in the school colors for serving it. I also baked several batches of cookies for the sweets table. The guest lists were in the range of 100-150 people, depending on how many of my kids' friends stopped by.

In all, I think we spent somewhere between $2,500-$3,000 for each party.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

My son graduated this past June and we spent about $1200-$1500 on his party. It was in my backyard. I rented a tent, chairs and tables and a porta-potty. I did the majority of the cooking myself except for the chicken and cake. I bought a little bit at a time - trips to Sams club to get the paper products, Party City for the decorations (very minimal). The costs add up though when you consider the invitations, the thank you's, ice, table cloths, stamps and so on. We had invited over 100 people to his party and about 80 showed up. I cooked for 100 though and we ate leftovers that week and I gave some food away.

The parties in our area are more for the graduates family and the parents friends. He had some of his own friends there but they come and go - it isn't really for the kids.

My 2nd son graduates in 2014 - I am really hoping he takes the cash instead of the party!!!!!

 

[AZMermaid]

My mom told me when I graduated (15 years ago now- eek) that I was not getting a party or announcements. I was not done with school and she would not signal to the world that I was. Reading about these parties makes me envious!!