For my son's graduation party I went to AC Moore and bought the largest plexiglass poster frame they had. Then I took out all our photo albums and arranged all my favorite pictures of him in the frame. They go chronologically from top left to bottom right in loose rows. We displayed that near the cake and everyone enjoyed it--almost everyone at the party was in at least one of the pictures of him growing up.

Inside the invitation I had the lyrics to Joni Mitchell's The Circle Game printed, because it reminded me so much of how the years flew by.

Each table had a plastic cup (readily available from party stores in June) that had Class of '97 printed on it. I filled each cup with pretzel rods with chocolate graduates on top as treats--they sell the molds in the Wilton area with the melting chocolates.

The colors of the party were his high school's colors--blue and white--so I picked up a bunch of those rectangular plastic baskets, lined them in the opposite color napkin and used them to hold the pretzels and chips for each table.

His best friend was already finishing his first year at the Culinary Institute. He did all the desserts, including the cake with a parchment diploma made of marzipan.

Add lots of loud music and you got yourself a PARTY!

I'm interested in seeing how this thread progresses b/c my daughter graduates in June. My son graduated 2 years ago. We just bought all the paper tablecloths, plates, napkins, cups, plasticware, etc. at the party store (which stocked all the area high school's colors printed with "Class of 2003". Bought shrimp, cold cut and cheese trays, cakes at Costco plus other misc. foods. Schools here have an all-night substance-free party for the grads, so they usually stay home and mingle with the relatives and friends until they go off to that party at 11.

My sister has done posterboard displays for her kids. I've just put out some albums and scrapbook-type memorabilia. I got one of those frames where you can insert class pictures from 1st to 11th grades, with grad pic in center. My daughter's walls are covered with candid photos of her and friends that she's been putting up since middle school. I think I'll just direct people into her room to look at them.

Time flies!! We "just" did our grandsons graduation from high school 4 years ago and he is now graduating from UF this month. Now on to law school. We did all his school colors with lots of balloons, very effective.... and we used a "college" trash can for cards to be placed in on one of the tables. We did the table in itty bitty vases with tied raffia ( it is festive) and with daises on the tables. It looked pretty cool. Lots of school color napkins, growing up pictures,

For my nephew's law school graduation, my SIL rented a cutout of the 3 Stooges dressed in caps and gowns and put it in the front yard. The nephew posed for pictures next to it. Cute.

When my oldest graduated from high school, instead of a party later in the day(as most of her friends were having), we had a brunch on the Sunday before! I made egg casseroles and a french toast one, and had rolls and fruit boats......with juices and mimosas. It was a beautiful day and it went over very well. There weren't alot of conflicts during that time, so most that were invited came. I, also had a meat tray with rolls for the later attendees and of course, a cake!!!!

Don't worry so much.....whatever you choose, make is easy so you can enjoy all the company!!!!
Julie

I graduated a couple years ago. Most everyone in my graduating class had just a visitation type party the weekend of (usually that sunday afternoon after commencement), so everyone would run to a party, eat, talk to your friends, and leave to go to another one. I waited until the next weekend, so a lot of people were available to come since they had already had theirs previously.

We started mid-afternoon with a huge buffet (three or four cakes, yummy candies, a fruit bowl - fruit chopped up and put into a carved out watermelon YUM - sherbert punch, bbq, etc.) The first room in our house where everyone walked in was decorated in bright colours and all my photos from growing up/scrapbooks/awards/etc.. were there, as well as a guestbook for the guests to sign and a small basket for cards.

My mom also had put together a video of me growing up and played it over and over in the living room... all my friends/family enjoyed it.. although it was kind of embarrassing!!! :P

Then, when it got darker, we made a HUGE bonfire and made smores and chatted, listened to music.. my friends brought over four-wheelers and we ended up turning it into a four-wheeling party for a while! Oh, and I had a pinata :) My mom took a video camera around to get everyone, and I also set out five or ten disposable cameras on the picnic tables for anyone to take pictures with!!

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a lot, and a lot of my friends even said it was the best grad party they had been too, which is great because none of the kids were drinking, we only had some beer for the adults :)

Hope maybe some of my ideas spark better ones for you!!

My son graduated last year. Like the above poster, I did it the weekend after graduation. I used disposable plates, napkins, cups in the school colors and balloons to decorate. We had a crowd; well over 100 people.

I did the picture collages and a video that played on a laptop going through his birth to graduation pictures and videos all set to music. It was wonderful. I also had some of his school work and artwork from the elementary grades, some of it was so funny! Lots of sports memorobilia too as he is an athlete.

I made a lot of food! My son's requests were his favorite chicken pasta salad and a chocolate fountain; both were big hits. Since it was his party I wanted to include him in the menu too.

We did not serve any alcohol but we did order a Root Beer keg from the liquor store. We put some prefilled cups with ice cream in a cooler so people could make floats but I think most just drank the Root Beer. We went through a 16 gallon keg in a little over 3 hours. It was outside on the deck because it gets sticky. Guest really loved it and I got a lot of good comments.

I set up a volleyball net in the back yard. After the official hours of the party, the teenage guests stayed and played some very competitive volleyball for a couple hours and I served them leftover sandwiches, salads, fruit and punch.

I suggest you designate someone with your camera to get pictures of your DD with guests, grandparents, aunts, uncles, special friends, etc... you'll be much too busy and you'll appreciate having the pictures later.

Have fun and find someone to help you so you can take some time out of hostessing to enjoy your guests.

Maryp

We have a great table idea...we used our school colors for table cloths and put a clear one over it...in between we put some of our daughters favorite snapshots with friends through the years and also some of her other paper memories like prom stuff and concert ticket stubs, awards, and what ever else you want people to see. The clear table cloth keeps everything from getting messy!

I'm hosting with another mom, on a Sunday between 4-6pm. There are other parties also, I know of one right after. Do you think we should plan for real(somewhat substantial) food during this time or just go the dessert-y route? Would not want to look like we skimped.... any comments welcome

We did one in that time frame a couple of years ago, and had chips, dips, finger sandwiches, fruit tray and cupcakes for dessert. It went over quite well. HTH

hey im graduating this year and i wanted my party to be really fun and young! i wanted to get opinions on whether it would be to kiddie or childish to have a moon bounce, blow up obstacle course, ect. please let me know. The party guest list consists mostly of family friends that have pretty large families so i feel like i need entertainment for all of the people! Please help me!!

We had a high school graduation party for our granddaughter on Sunday after she graduated on Saturday eve, from 1-6. I was so surprised by the number who came, her friends, parents and graduates. We had it outdoors in our carport and screen room and deck. A good flow also helps. Lots of seating is a must, plus plenty of food. We served most of the food indoors. We had bbq sliders, cole slaw, homemade potato salad, chips of various types and several dips. Also had nuts and small candy for those who just wanted to nibble. A store bought cake and one of her favorite desserts banana pudding made by her mom. The barbecue was made in a slow cooker the day before, along with the cole slaw, and deviled eggs. We served the drinks outdoors on the counter and in a cooler. Everyone seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and people. Graduation plates and napkins in school colors. We also had a table with pictures of her growing up until she goes off to college. Everyone had a wonderful time including the grand daughter and her family. Not one bit of stress by anyone.
Mary