What kind of party are you (did you) have for your high school senior?

[lucyanna girl]

My daughter is graduating high school this year. I'm not sure yet what we are going to do.

In April she (and I, as a chaperon) will go to Quebec with her French Club. There is a Senior trip to the beach and then we have a WDW trip planned.

I am still torn as I would like to have some sort of get-together for her class.

Any ideas or suggestions?


Penny

 

[golfgal]

Around here it is common to do an open house for graduations. Generally you serve food of some sort and people stop in, eat, chat for a while and then move on to the next party. Every once in a while you will find a family that will rent a bounce house or something but usually it isn't anything fancy.

DS17 doesn't really care what we do. We will probably have pulled pork sandwhiches, a few salads and beverages.

 

[Rora]

My parents threw me a big party. My uncle (a Southern chef) made pulled BBQ pork, BBQ beans, salad, hamburgers, corn, collard greens, etc and we had a big outdoor party complete with use of our pool, fire pit, etc. My mom had a cake specially made and we had a blast.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I don't have a high school senior yet (but I'll have a freshman next year ). When I graduated from high school, I had a joint party with my 5 best friends. We all went out to dinner with our respective families and then met at one friend's house around 8:00 p.m. Since everyone had already had dinner, we made a bunch of snacks like cheese and crackers, fruit, etc. We had a cake with all 6 of our names on it. It was really fun!

When I graduated from college, my parents threw me a party with all of my relatives and a few close friends. We had a big luncheon in a private room at a restaurant and then went back to our house for cake. My parents gave me my own TV and VCR for my graduation. That was a big thrill back then!!!

 

[AKL_Megs]

Around here it is common to do an open house for graduations. Generally you serve food of some sort and people stop in, eat, chat for a while and then move on to the next party.

I graduated HS 10 years ago, but this is how I remember it. Oh, those were some FUN Saturday's and Sunday's!

Most parents offered sodas, typical party snacks (chips and dip, veggie trays, etc.) along with meal-type food (some had pizza, others fried chicken, some subs, a few BBQ, and then there was DH's mom who had to go all out wedding-style with catered food that got goopy after sitting around all day long... )

Oh, and also many, many, many Costco cakes!

 

[lucyanna girl]

This is when I wish we still had a pool like we did at out last house.

Penny

 

[BillSears]

I took her out to dinner. No party.

For College graduation I took her and 20 family member out to dinner to celebrate.

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

Around here Graduation Parties are very common. Graduation is Friday night and there are parties starting the weekend before thru the weekend of Graduation.

When my DD graduated two years ago, we had a brunch complete with an omelet bar at our house. My DD is one of those kids that has a few good friends so we probably had more adults than kids but it was still lots of fun for everyone and the omelet bar was a huge hit.

Last year when my DS graduated we had a big party with 3 of his friends at one of his friend's houses. My DS has tons of friends so it made more sense to have his party with some of his friends. His friend's parents are some of my closest friends also so we had lots of fun planning the party as well. We had a roasted pig, lots of side dishes, chips, sodas, keg of beer for the adults and a live band. The band members are good friends of one of the families we hosted the party with. Kids and adults were coming and going all day.

Both parties were tons of fun for both my kids-just real different parties.

I spent the rest of each weekend party hopping myself. One idea I really liked was the ice cream sundae bar some of my friends did for their daughters. Very fun and very festive.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

gosh my party was so boring, i hated it, i would have rather just attended a friend's.

my parents only allowed me to invite 5 of my friends, everyone else was either family or my parent's friends. they had food and cake, but there was no music playing(either from a radio or cd player) and i wasn't allowed to leave the area unless i had to use the restroom.

i don't recommend that at all...

 

[Sparx]

my mom didn't do anything when i graduated, but we had just been to disney world in march, so i knew there wouldn't be anything big.

 

[PatsGirl]

I threw DS a backyard BBQ/Pool party in August as a graduation/see ya! get-together for many friends and family. He was leaving for USAF and will most likely never live here again so...

I know from my nieces/nephews that they would rather go house to house graduation weekend then be stuck at home with relatives. I did have a small "party" the day of graduation and DS brought three friends home for about one hours to open gifts and have cake.

 

[TimeforMe]

My kids are 20 and 21 so it's just been a couple of years since h.s. graduation. For DD, we had a huge bash--rented the pavillion at the beach here in town, had a dj, decorations, custom made cake -- I cooked all the food except for a few things and I think we had about 100 people. DS did not want that so we had a party here in the back yard but had it catered and served (thank God as it was soooo hot that day), the kids went in the pool, etc. and I had an italian ice truck come by (a friend of mine). We probably had about 70-80 people through the day. A lot less expensive, but still a lot of fun for him. At both parties, they invited their friends (however many they wanted) and we also had family and adults, etc.

 

[ashleybea]

For my graduation my family and I will be going to dinner. We rented a private room and will have 20+ family members there. Then a couple days after me and 3 friends will be going to disney. I didn't really want a party, I'd rather go on a trip.

But usually people around here just have pool parties and bbq. Nothing too big.

 

[Rose&Mike]

We don't have any family close by, so we let DS pick what he wanted to do. We went out to dinner after graduation with our closest friends and their kids and Ds best friend--I think there were 13 total. It was really nice. Ds seemed to really enjoy himself. We took decorations to the restaurant ahead of time along with an ice cream cake. Everyone beat us to the restaurant and when ds walked in wearing his cap and gown everyone clapped. Very low key, but really nice. We offered DS a big party with all his friends and he turned it down.
Oh--and I forgot the next morning we left at 5:00am to drive 500 miles for college orientation--an ending and a beginning in the same week!

Good luck with your decison

 

[lucyanna girl]

Lots of nice party ideas. Isn't it wonderful when our children pass such important milestones in their lives?

I talked to Sarah's best friends mom tonight and I think we may do a joint party of some kind. Still not sure what kind.

Thanks for sharing.

Penny

 

[luvflorida]

Three kids and three very different graduation parties here.

Our son (oldest child) did not want a party. He just wanted to get his diploma and get on with his life, thank you very much. We had a backyard cookout with immediate family, grandparents and a few close relatives. He was happy and everyone enjoyed a relaxed afternoon.

Our middle child was the complete opposite. She has always loved any occasion to have a party. The more guests, the merrier! We had two parties for her, both on the same day. She was in her glory, to be sure. The first party (early afternoon) was for family, relatives and friends of the family, and the second party (late afternoon) was for daughter's high school friends. For the afternoon party, one of our daughter's friends acted as DJ. It was a long day, but lots of fun!

The parties were held in our yard, which has tons of space and a swimming pool. We rented a bounce house, a snowcone machine, popcorn machine, and cotton candy machine. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, had other finger foods, and two cakes (one for each party). The bounce house was a huge hit with all ages. In fact, I think the high school kids had more fun jumping and bouncing around than the younger crowd. It worked out nicely, since our friends and relatives with younger kids had the bounce house to themselves before the older kids arrived for the afternoon party. No worries about little ones getting trampled by the bigger kids.

Our youngest chose to finish her last couple of years in high school by doing online courses/independent study. She was not at all interested in the traditional high school scene (her interest was in dance). She didn't want a party, but loves to eat out, so we celebrated by taking her to her favorite restaurant. We had a group of about twenty family members. Again, a different party, but also lots of fun.

Each celebration was different, but just right for each child.