Lets talk graduation parties

[mi*vida*loca]

When we got to my sister-in-law, she does the chic-fil-a nuggets and the fruit salad - huge hits! I'd make the fruit salad myself to save money, but having those nuggets as the star with a fruit salad, cole slaw, and biscuits also makes for a great )...she finishes with a homemade cookie cake - those are also an awesome change of pace for parties (and groupons tend to be around for the store ones)...

My son isn't a cake person. Every year he gets a cookie cake from our local bakery for his bday. I think they only make one size. I'll have to see if they can make a bigger one for a bigger party.

 

[lovesmurfs]

My youngest DD's graduation and party is Saturday -- the 5 schools in the area all share a large sports arena, and they rotate times annually. So her graduation is at 8:00 a.m. and she has to be there at 7:15.

We're having a come and go party Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Probably not more than 25-30 people or so overall - I can't imagine trying to do this for 100 or more! Our house is small, so I did rent a 15 X 15 canopy, as well as tables, chairs, and 2 "fill and chill" tables. Went to Party City for decorations -- more the convenience than trying to save money.

Menu is BBQ pork and buns (guess that's the norm, but DD requested it), potato salad, cole slaw, deviled eggs, potato chips/dip, tortilla chips/salsa, fruit salad, sodas. We do have cake (again, DD's request), and I've made batches of oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookie dough -- rolled cookies and frozen it. Will bake them on Friday. I also have candies in her HS colors.

My parents are arriving on Thursday afternoon, staying with us until Wednesday. I work Thursday, then off until Wednesday. DH's mom, sister and brother-in-law are coming Thursday afternoon, staying until Saturday afternoon (we got a hotel room for them). So on top of everything for Saturday I'm feeding people Thursday and Friday, then my parents through Tuesday. No, no stress....

I wish I'd put more thought into it. We're putting a slide show together of pictures and having it run on a loop on our dining room table, along with her awards and diploma (assuming she actually graduates -- whole 'nuther story).

We went to a graduation party on Saturday where they had a bible and highlighters -- guests were to highlight their favorite bible verse and sign their name by it. I love the idea of having the Dr. Seuss book as a guest book!

 

[runwad]

Sams cupcakes in my area are box of 30 for $15.

 

[tink1970]

These are great ideas but I'm not going to lie...the concept of having a big party for DD's graduation in 2 years freaks me out completely (total introvert here). Glad I have time to think about it

 

[jen73]

We had 2 parties for DD's hs graduation 4 years ago and both days, had cookie cakes. Yum! At The Great American cookie company, they hv a big rectangle cookie and it was perfect. We had Italian food catered (it was a gift from the owner of the restaurant) and I set up a candy table .

The best part of the parties was our bounce houses we set up. It was great seeing all these college bound young adults being kids for one more afternoon!

Congrats to all of y'all with grads. Enjoy them, be proud of them !

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

DD has been hot and cold about a grad party. Now she wants one again! We are thinking about 40 people on a Friday afternoon/evening. We're trying to decide between:
a) fried chicken, potato salad, fruit salad
b) foot long subs from Jersey Mikes, chips, fruit
c) taco bar from Qdoba, with sides

Cake from Costco for dessert!

 

[dreamin_disney]

These are great ideas but I'm not going to lie...the concept of having a big party for DD's graduation in 2 years freaks me out completely (total introvert here). Glad I have time to think about it

I consider myself an introvert so only having family, one family friend, DD's babysitter when she was age 3months-5yrs old(we still keep intouch). DD invited some school friends too. I get still get stress even if its family. The margaritas will calm me down though-lol!

DD has been hot and cold about a grad party. Now she wants one again! We are thinking about 40 people on a Friday afternoon/evening. We're trying to decide between:
a) fried chicken, potato salad, fruit salad
b) foot long subs from Jersey Mikes, chips, fruit
c) taco bar from Qdoba, with sides

Cake from Costco for dessert!

Yum on A or B I've never tried Jersey Mikes subs. I usually get mine from Walmart $30 for 6ft. Now I want some fried chicken or subs for dinner-lol!



I wish our parties were smaller but Dh has a big family and DD's parties are the only party where everyone in the family actually shows up. If theres any issues between family members they will put their differences aside and show up to celebrate DD-lol! One year We were going to stop the bday parties because she was getting older and thought people were probably tired of coming. Well I had people calling because they thought their invite got lost in the mail-lol! people calling to see when her party was etc, so we threw a last minute party for her. Now she her next one will be 19 so dunno, we were thinking just grandparents and aunts and uncles, We shall see-lol!

I told hubby about cupcakes but he wants to stick to tradition and do cake. Figure 2 cakes one chocolate and one vanilla.

Hoping to hit dollar tree tomorrow to see if they have anything for the party. I'm trying to come up with some centerpieces. I want something with candles since the party will be in the evening

 

[kymom99]

I consider myself an introvert so only having family, one family friend, DD's babysitter when she was age 3months-5yrs old(we still keep intouch). DD invited some school friends too. I get still get stress even if its family. The margaritas will calm me down though-lol!

Yum on A or B I've never tried Jersey Mikes subs. I usually get mine from Walmart $30 for 6ft. Now I want some fried chicken or subs for dinner-lol!



I wish our parties were smaller but Dh has a big family and DD's parties are the only party where everyone in the family actually shows up. If theres any issues between family members they will put their differences aside and show up to celebrate DD-lol! One year We were going to stop the bday parties because she was getting older and thought people were probably tired of coming. Well I had people calling because they thought their invite got lost in the mail-lol! people calling to see when her party was etc, so we threw a last minute party for her. Now she her next one will be 19 so dunno, we were thinking just grandparents and aunts and uncles, We shall see-lol!

I told hubby about cupcakes but he wants to stick to tradition and do cake. Figure 2 cakes one chocolate and one vanilla.

Hoping to hit dollar tree tomorrow to see if they have anything for the party. I'm trying to come up with some centerpieces. I want something with candles since the party will be in the evening

You sound like my husband. Introverted and planning parties sendshim into a panic. We will have WAY too much food because he's always afraid we will run out. Lol

 

[dreamin_disney]

In the beginning I would stress out getting everything ready but its easier but I have to have everything bought a few days before , certain things prepped the night before and house must be cleaned a few days early. Now if its a party with people I really don't know or co-workers Id freakout-lol!

 

[LilTinkFan]

Our dd did not want a party. She wants to go see her friends. So hubs and I are having a family and friends backyard BBQ "schools out party" that she will appear at for 1 hour.
I did pick up dollar store graduation decorations because darn it I'm proud of her! But she does not want the photo memories up anywhere.
Menu burgers and hotdogs, chips, fruit bowl, brownies, soda, tea, water.
I also got bubbles for the kids.

 

[mommy2mrb]

My DD graduates next year and we are also moving cross country for her to go to college and new journey in my life. Already figured we will be having a big graduation/good bye party.
Going to start looking for places as we could have over 100 people. Thinking of just doing desserts and drinks to keep cost down and make it easy in me.

Congratulations to all the graduates!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My DD graduates next year and we are also moving cross country for her to go to college and new journey in my life. Already figured we will be having a big graduation/good bye party.
Going to start looking for places as we could have over 100 people. Thinking of just doing desserts and drinks to keep cost down and make it easy in me.

Congratulations to all the graduates!!

I just called a few halls in the area and was told June is their busiest month and fills up quickly. They told me it's wise to book that now.

 

[lovesdumbo]

When we first started talking about a party my oldest DD didn't think she wanted one but we said we would just do family. I think now that it gets closer she's actually looking forward to it. We are going the party week after graduation. I'm so lucky that my SIL (my DH's sister) offered to host at her house (bigger, bigger yard and closer to my family). We'll probably only have 25-30. We are using a "tail gate caterer" for the BBQ food. We're doing cupcakes for dessert-I got wooden 2017 numbers I'm going to put them on. DD didn't want to do school colors because she's done with High School and thought it would be "weird" to use college colors so we're just going BBQ/red/white/blue themed. We got some props for a photo booth and I got a few flavored syrups to do an "Italian Soda Bar".

 

[J'aime Paris]

Oldest graduated HS last year. She wanted her future college colors, not HS. We ordered two cakes from Costco--one chocolate, one vanilla. We had leftover cake, but it freezes well. I lined a Rubbermaid container with plastic wrap, put a big piece of cake (several actual servings) to fill the container and wrapped it in the plastic, then sealed the container and froze it.

We had buns (from Costco), deli trays (ham, turkey, and cheese), pasta salad, chips, fresh fruit, veggie trays (Costco), and--the hit of the party--Chick-fil-A nuggets. I bought the chilled tray and cooked about 3 dozen at a time, as they taste better fresh from the oven. As soon as I put them out, they were gone!

We didn't serve alcohol, but had two liters of soda, lemonade, and iced tea.

Next DD graduates next year and I plan to have a similar menu, but I will buy more Chick-fil-A nuggets!

We planned to have our party outside, but it was VERY warm and humid, so brought it in our home instead. We bought two 6-ft folding tables from Target for maybe $20 each that held the food and then one was available for eating. People came and went over about 4 hours.

Congratulations!

Can you buy those nuggets from a local retailer/grocer, or only from the Chick fil A restaurant?

 

[DisneyHardin]

$600 for your budget sounds good to me. My nephew graduates Thursday and my brother is having a party Saturday at my parents house. He is just doing deli sandwiches and BBQ with basic sides like potato salad, baked beans and chips. I think he said they are expecting about 5 guests. I would think they are probably spending less than $250 for the whole thing.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Not doing graduation yet, but having a joint religious ceremony celebration for my kids...I figure I'll repeat it come high school graduation since it's so easy.

We have 27 guests coming for a 3 course Italian restaurant lunch (app/salad/entree) with included soft drinks/coffee/tea and with cookie cake brought in (Groupon) for dessert. Then, we're going to my swim club for a pool party (optional based on weather). Total OOP (thanks to 25% off the restaurant's gift cards, the Groupon for the cookie cake, and my pool's cheap guest passing) is projected to be $610. I am not decorating at all, but may do the framed pic for a graduation type ceremony if this goes well now...

With my lack of home parking, practically all out of town guests, and guests who have all their own needs (vegetarians, diabetics, artificial coloring allergies, and gluten-free)...this was world's easiest for me to do, since the restaurant will be dealing with all that (they have 3 app options, 9 entree options, and 2 salad options that should work for everyone with minor adjustments - no way I'd make that much stuff or if I did, make it any cheaper!)...

 

[mousefanmichelle]

Sounds like a good budget to me. My 3rd child graduated on Sunday and her party is in the middle of June. For her brother's parties I spent about 1200 each and I will be spending about the same on her party.

We have it in our backyard so I have to rent table/chairs and tent for the yard. Our menu will be - hot dogs, hamburgers, italian sausage with peppers and onions, broasted chicken and red skinned potatoes along with potatoe salad, taco salad, pasta salad and fruit salad. We are doing a sheet cake - cherry chip - as well as a candy bar and cookie bar. I will have water, pop, lemonade and beer for drinks. Later in the evening we will have nacho's and s'mores by the fire. I do most of all the cooking myself with the exception of the red skinned potatoes and broasted chicken and cake. We should have about 100 people throughout the day. It starts at 3:30 until midnight. Decorations will be white table cloths with burlap and wild flowers - she wants a country theme. Most grad parties will be done this way in our area. I actually get really excited about all the planning and prep-work.

I hope everyone has fantastic weather and wonderful parties!!!!!

 

[bjscheel]

OP, are you on the Parents of the Class of 2017 thread on the Community Board? If not, you should check it out. Lots of sharing of info on scholarships, college, graduation, etc.

We just had DD's grad party on Mother's Day. We had it at our church for DD and her BFF as they both live about 11 miles from the main town in our school district so by having it there people didn't have to drive so far. Plus I didn't have to clean and had access to big ovens, tables, and chairs! We had a baked potato bar and planned on 200 people. I don't know how many we had but they didn't eat 200 potatoes. They were cheap though so I figured better to have too many than not enough. I think we definitely had over 100 people. We had the potatoes and toppings, fruit cups, mints, mini muffins (from Sam's), and the friend brought cupcakes. It went over really well. Once the potatoes were baked, we just made sure toppings weren't empty. It was a pretty economical meal.

We had 8 round tables out for guests, 4 of which had tablecloths in DD's colors of choice, and 4 with BFF's colors. The centerpieces were mason jars filled with iridescent shred, then a flower card pick holding pictures of the two girls together. They each had two long tables out for their photo boards, medals, clippings, DD's art, etc. DD had also made a slideshow in Multimedia class of photographs, so she played that on the church's tv on a rolling cart near her table. At the entrance, they each had a small table with their guest book, card basket, and wallet portraits for people to take. This is basically where they stayed and greeted people.

 

[lovesmurfs]

So I found a wonderful book that I'm going to have guests sign -- found it as I was looking at "Oh, the Places You'll Go."

I Wish You More - Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1452126992/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's perfect because I'm putting out a project DD did in elementary school: Three Wishes.

 

[agavegirl1]

I live in "Bumflip" Wisconsin. Our graduation parties are "open house" affairs with the graduate in attendance...usually 3-6 PM with Grilled meats in a roaster, sides and in my case, cheesecake. My kids friends and their families get tired of "cake". It's more about personalizing the celebration to the graduate. I had videos in the background, art and photos everywhere etc. Really, I didn't get the attendance expected but remember, your graduate will likely never make more money per hour than they do during the party. After the open house, I showed my graduates all the video. It was so fun.