Need graduation party help!

[JodiR]

My dd graduates in May. Time is flying by! The party will be at lunch time. Need to think of ideas for lunch. I may have it catered. I have the cake accounted for.

She is having a pink and black zebra theme.

I want to be unique and different. Some people have ice cream machines. I am not sure about the candy buffet. I think alot of people are doing this now.

Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks

 

[hkclem8328]

My dd graduates in May. Time is flying by! The party will be at lunch time. Need to think of ideas for lunch. I may have it catered. I have the cake accounted for.

She is having a pink and black zebra theme.

I want to be unique and different. Some people have ice cream machines. I am not sure about the candy buffet. I think alot of people are doing this now.

Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks

Not sure what kind of budget you are working with, but what about a photo booth? I have been to many events, weddings, graduation parties that have had them in the last couple of years. This way family and friends can take pictures and have a souvinier from the party.

 

[kimber79]

I did a taco bar for my son's graduation party last year!! It was so easy ~ and VERY YUMMY!! I did beef and chicken ~ and also had chips and cheese. This was a HUGE success ~ it was ALL gone, I was hoping for some leftovers!! A pasta bar would also be very easy and yummy! I did do a candy bar too ~ and that was also a huge success....I made sure to get little bags so the kids could fill up to their hearts content!! I started buying soda when I saw it on sale a couple months in advance so I could get it cheaper and just to get it out of the way! I would keep decorations to a minimum...I think they go VERY unnoticed and is just an expense you don't need.

Best wishes ~ HAVE FUN!!!!

 

[JodiR]

The taco bar sounds good and easy. Can you explain how you did this or do you have pictures? Doesn't sound too expensive either.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

My nephew graduated last year and my sister rented a bounce house Yep, just like the one that ds had at his 3rd birthday party. I thought maybe they were too big but the man who rented it to her said that teenagers were fine and they wouldn't hurt the house. They somehow managed not to hurt each other either. They had a blast !

 

[Rora]

For my High School graduation I had my Uncle (a Southern Chef extraordinair!) fix a giant Southern BBQ. We lived in Florida so we had a pool party (not sure of your location but this would be fun!), made "mocktails", some girls spent the night, etc.

By this age there isn't too much you need to plan- just have plenty of yummy food and take a lot of pictures!!

Enjoy this special year!

 

[JodiR]

I love to plan and have everything look nice...from the decorations to the food. I love to decorate...just need inspiration to get started.

 

[kimber79]

I will see if I took pictures of the setup...I don't remember!! I used crock pots for the meats and nacho cheese, then just had big bowls for the lettuce, onion, tomato and taco cheese, and put the shells out on a cheap platter. Had squeeze bottle for taco sauce. It was VERY easy and quite inexpensive! I cooked the burger the night before ~ and my sister ever so graciously grilled the chicken and cut it all up that morning for me!! The ABSOLUTE BEST taco seasoning EVER is Chi Chi's ~ it is hard to find in my area....but I used that to season the chicken too! YUMMO!!

I will look tonight thru my pictures and let you know by tomorrow!!

 

[golfgal]

We are trying to come up with ideas for DS17 too. Graduation parties here aren't so much "parties" as they are open houses. People generally come to talk and eat a little food. Last year some friends just had root beer floats for their DD's party. There are so many parties each weekend and SOOOO much food at all of them that something out of the ordinary is nice. DD keeps suggesting pulled pork so we might just go with that. There is a meat market in my in-laws town that does wonderful pulled pork too.

 

[PollyannaMom]

....She is having a pink and black zebra theme.....Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks

Ice cream sandwiches for dessert - made with strawberry ice cream between chocolate cookies!


I like the taco bar idea for lunch, or a buffet of different pizzas.

 

[ToddyLu]

I gave my neice a Grad party at the Hard Rock Hotel in Biloxi.(there were 10 of us) Yeah the location was some of the decor...but I bought black and silver grad sprays for the table from Oriental Trading, grad confetti, silver sequin cap and mortar boards (12") for the table as well. Each girl got a cute luggage tag in grad paper and I had a killer coursage made for DN with a hot pink rose, black and white grad ribbon and small diamond accents. The invitations were done by me in a Hard Rock font. I used some cute star photo holders for their names as place cards. Each girl got a virgin drink and got the glass as a souvenir. The wait staff thought it looked great and it cost about 45$ for the decorations. Just some ideas...Oriental trading is great and cheap. I bought the stuff early and it was on sale.

 

[cntrygal]

We had my sons graduation party this past june

Menu:
Pork Loin
Scalloped Corn
Leabonese Potato Salad
Sci-Fi's Cucumber Melon Salad
Ziti
Sauce
Meatballs
Tossed Salad
Rolls
Cake
Cookies
Chocolate Fondue
Individual Little Pasteries

Drinks were bottled water, ice tea, sweet tea, leamonade and Kool-aid.

My best friends husband does large scale bbqs as a side business, so we used his grill, we had 2 tents, a bounce house and a portapotty in my backyard. We had volleyball and horse shoes set up.

Cooked everything from scratch except the rolls and the salad dressing for the tossed salad.

Guests 350

 

[Rora]

I found this link: http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/2009/11/black-pink-and-white-zebra-party.html

Now, it's for a 4 year old's birthday party but I think it looks really great! Maybe it will give you some decorating ideas? Certain things won't apply obviously but just for a little inspiration!

 

[golfgal]

How do you know how much food to plan? You could have 50 people or 350 people, you just never know. DS is a pretty shy kid and has a small circle of friends that he does stuff with so I am not anticipating too many people but you never know. DD knows everyone in school, or seams that way, when she graduates we could end up with 1000 kids here . When she was still in middle school and DS17 was in high school, we would go for conferences and all the kids we would talk to knew DD and none of them knew DS .

 

[monkeybug]

I agree with the suggestion of a mocktail! Maybe something pink and you can dip the rim of the glass in dark chocolate?
This site has great ideas!
http://www.hostessblog.com

 

[golfgal]

I found this link: http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/2009/11/black-pink-and-white-zebra-party.html

Now, it's for a 4 year old's birthday party but I think it looks really great! Maybe it will give you some decorating ideas? Certain things won't apply obviously but just for a little inspiration!

Those are cute-they would work well for the OP's theme but I can't imagine wanting to encourage my 4 year old to be a Diva

 

[mamacatnv]

For my DS's grad party we had Qdoba do the catering - not as spendy as a full blown caterer (we picked up all the food)
We did a combination of their taco and nacho bars - it was a huge hit and so easy.

 

[kimber79]

I looked into Q-Doba catering (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Q-Doba!!) BUT it was SO expensive....I did this myself for about 1/5 the cost of Q-Doba catering!!

I did not take any pictures of the food table ~ as a person that takes bookoo-bunches of pictures, I don't know how that slipped by me!! I do have a couple pictures that I think you can get an idea of how I set it up!

I had the plates/silverware, followed by the taco shells and nacho chips, then 2 roasters for the meats, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cheese, then sour cream, salsa & taco sauce....then I had the nacho cheese in a crock pot and some other munchies on the end!

I had the candy bar set up to the right ~ and had the guest book/card box on this table. You will notice a helmet next to the card box ~ my son is crew chief on my sister's race car ~ and he himself does some racing and LOVES it!! Instead of a guestbook that will get put away and probably never seen again, I opted to get a helmet for people to sign this way he can display it on a shelf or something and always have it to remember his graduation!!

I had the candy bar/card table to the right ~ then the food table in the middle ~ and coolers for drinks to the left!!

I also rented a tent with tables and chairs for shade seating, and the unfortunate possibility of inclement weather ~ thank goodness we were blessed with a perfect day!! We also had horseshoes and corn hole (otherwise known as bean bag toss!) to play. I also rented 2 port-a-potties to cut down some on the in & out of the house.

I know you said you were set on the cake ~ I just thought I would show you the one I did for my Zack!! I was going to use Kindergarten/Senior pictures, but decided to go with baby/Senior pictures instead!! Everybody commented on how cool the cake was!!

If you have ANY kind of questions ~ feel free to ask!!!

 

[asta]

Another idea for Mexican food, for my daughter's graduation party we bought the food from Moe's. I dont remember the cost but it wasn't bad and they brought tons of food.

For dessert we had a chocolate fountain with a lot of salty and sweet things to dip in it. Another nice touch is to buy the personalized M&M's.

 

[disneyhand]

My friend is planning a "milk and cookie" bar set up for the dessert at a graduation party. She is thinking about buying personalized shot glasses for the milk, if she finds a good deal. I think it sounds like a fun idea.