<p>High school graduation. Back in the dark ages (1982) I didn’t get a graduation party. Nor did I care. </p>
<p>But these days it seems everybody has one. I’m going to my niece’s this weekend. It’s a combo party with 2 of her friends at a VFW hall. DJ, caterer, dunking booth, etc. Sounds elaborate but I think it’s rather tame compared to some I’ve heard about.</p>
<p>My kids are 2010 and 2012, so I’ve got some time to find out how big we’re gonna go.</p>
<p>It’s a year away here, but I’m thinking about it. I am imagining a casual affair at home. Pool party, BBQ, bonfire maybe…we’ll see.</p>
<p>We found a group of people whoi wanted to do a joint party. One family had a great party spot so it was held there. We got together and planned food and split the costs. We barbequed and had lots of side dishes and a big cake and ice cream sundaes. It was about 8 families. The kids all stayed there overnight in tents and did the clean-up the next morning. Lots of teachers showed up and I think the fact that they could go to so many parties simultaneously made it nice for them. It was great sharing the work and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Very low-cost and low-key. I think the invitations specified “No gifts please”.</p>
<p>This is my own, since I’m only a year out of college, but…no “party”. We went out to dinner, as a family, at the restaurant of my choice.</p>
<p>I never expected an actual party, and there were only a couple of people that I would have invited to one.</p>
<p>For D '02 and now for S '06 we do a backyard (hoping for a nice day) late afternooon/early evening party the Saturday before the actual Tuesday evening commencement. Lots of other kids are having parties beginning two weeks before the graduation and throughout the following weeks. </p>
<p>We have some games in the backyard (badminton, etc.) There will be a buffet set up in the dining room - spiral honey ham, smoked turkey, meatballs in a crock pot, some vegetarian options, salads, rolls, side dishes, etc. Guests will be directed there to fill their plates and there will be a beverage table set up on the back patio. We will have several outdoor tables and lots of chairs set up on the back lawn, as well as a small tent.</p>
<p>We are deliberately staying away from grilling so we can relax during the party - I believe in making it as simple as possible, but hopefully good. We are also thinking of doing a selection of finger food desserts rather than a sheet cake. That way people who have to leave early can still have a dessert.</p>
<p>Son is to prepare a mix tape including songs from the musicals done at his school during his years there. I love adding background music to any party. </p>
<p>I will have a bulletin board display of pictures of him throughout the years. The invite had a pic of him boarding the bus the first day of kindergarten and a pic of him mimicking the pose (backpack on back) taken recently.</p>
<p>My son isn’t planning for or expecting a party when he graduates next month, unless maybe you count getting together with some friends to hang out. Sort of like he does almost every weekend!</p>
<p>Maybe my son, me, and my ex will go out to dinner or something. Which the three of us haven’t actually done since the evening of his 6th grade graduation in 2002. That experience (in the middle of our divorce) was remarkably unpleasant for all, and has not been repeated to date!</p>
<p>He did ask us to sit together at the graduation ceremony, though.</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>Mine had an “open house” party. Family, friends and neighbors. Probably 100 - 150 people invited. Simple things: chicken wings, meatballs, sub sandwiches, fruit and vegi trays. We had the cake from Costco with their picture on it. Most people had a tent set up in the back yard, but our yard slopes so we had it inside and on the deck. I’m not a neat freak so it worked out fine. Especially since it rained at one of them. During the years they were graduating, we went to a couple of parties almost every weekend for the duration of the summer. Nice memories.</p>
<p>HS Graduation last year (pretty typical of our area in CT):
We waited until August and then held a “going away/18th b’day party” on a Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>Rented a town park/recreation area with pavillion, picnic tables, refrigeration, grills, indoor restrooms and various sports facilities (primarily because we could not accommodate more than 4 parked cars at our home). Had a local caterer grill burgers & dogs and supply salads, papergoods and watermelon. Ordered a lovely sheet cake, personalized. Simple table decorations. Boom box speakers tied into the ipod custom mix. Rented an inflatable slip-and-slide. Invited about 30 relatives and about 40 kids. Lucked out with the weather and a good time was had by all.</p>
<p>Because D hadn’t had a Bat Mitzvah (not being Jewish) or a Sweet 16 (because she didn’t turn 16 until Junior Year, by which time the idea was kind of over and done), but had attended so many of her friends’ celebrations, we all decided together that we’d like to be the ones to host a big graduation party.</p>
<p>We held it at the sailing/pool club we belong to - it’s not a bit grand, but it’s a pretty place, with enough space for dinner & dancing, and clean bathrooms. (Also, there was a mandatory system in place involving hired security guards to keep the kids from going out to the boat docks, and from doing anything else illegal. Because enough kids knew about the system from other gatherings at that venue, we didn’t have to seem overly paranoid or untrusting. We’d have had some kind of security anyway but it was nice not to have that be a sticky point with anyone.)</p>
<p>D opted not to have a DJ; she made playlists on her ipod, and we ran it through the sound system. It worked out wonderfully.</p>
<p>Good friends and I made/bought the food and served it buffet style. At D’s request, we had a taco bar, caesar salad, a pasta dish, and then an ice cream sundae bar. Pretty simple and not terribly expensive. </p>
<p>D had a nice idea to prevent people showering her with gifts, and to make it a forward-looking event: She asked everybody to show up with a board game or DVD (used or new) that they thought would be fun to have at college, and to go home with a different one. Everybody seemed to like the idea and I know D got lots of notes, during the year after, about people playing “her” games at school. (And they played some of them during the party. We have some excellent photos of a group of her guy friends playing Pretty Pretty Princess. :D)</p>
<p>We held it a couple of weeks before graduation, so there wouldn’t be too many conflicts with all the other end-of-high-school events. The seniors were done with their work anyway.</p>
<p>I’m not a big party-thrower but everything came together for this one - it was really fun. We all felt it was well worth everything that went into it.</p>
<p>S. didn’t have a party - didn’t want one. Said he doesn’t like being the center of attention and doesn’t like big family gatherings. I was the same way so could definitely relate (H. could not-- loves parties).</p>
<p>Grandmothers are both elderly, so had them over for lunch right after the graduation ceremony. Not very exciting, but that’s what S. wanted, and he had fun kid-only parties to attend later.
I say try to follow your S. or D’s wishes while also trying to cover family commitments.</p>
<p>For S1, we joined with five other kids from same high school going to the same college and had it at our country club. There was a live band, finger food, two sheet cakes, balloons, flowers, etc. with about 125 kids plus maybe 75 adults. No alcohol. The town provided police at no cost in the parking lot to make sure kids weren’t “pregaming” in their cars and the club checked invitations at the door to prevent crashers. Really reduced the stress of not having to do anything except show up and have fun. </p>
<p>Because of the size of this party, kids blocked that time out and stayed for several hours. Otherwise the risk is that the kids, your own included, spend about 15 minutes at your party and then spend the rest of the day dropping in on the 10 other parties being held that day. For every kid invited to his party, 90% had a party he needed to attend for at least a brief period over the course of graduation week (that is a lot of parties). It really helps to combine these things unless you want to go very low key and just have something simple with family. </p>
<p>We will do the same for S2 next year. I have already had parents of his friends confirm that they would love to go this route too and want in on the group. It is much easier than renting a tent or worrying about rain, trying to police the alcohol thing yourself, and deal with caterers.</p>
<p>We just did a kid party–20 or so graduates the weekend before graduation for a spaghetti dinner (we had these occasionally during HS). For placemats, I took a photo of their “Class of 2007” tee-shirt, printed it on photo paper and placed it in plastic sheet protectors. During dessert (make-your-own-sundaes) I gave the kids sharpies and they spent an hour autographing the photos to each other. That part was more or less spontaneous…I thought they might be too cool for it, but damned if they didn’t make sure every single person had signed their photo. Very nice group of kids.</p>
<p>We had a barbecue at a hotel for my daughter’s 15 closest friends and their parents (no friends or relatives from our family). They set the whole place up with school colors. We showed a montage of kids and there were many tears. We booked the place for 3 hours, but everyone stayed much longer (could be because of the open bar). We thought about doing it at home, but we wanted to enjoy the party with everyone. We also asked people not to bring presents for our daughter because it was a graduation party for all of them. Many of those parents have hosted pre/post prom parties, graduation trip, many weekend get togethers for those kids. The graduation party was our way of thanking everyone. We had the party a week before the gradudation - before friends and relatives showed up - so everyone was very relaxed. It was a year ago, I still remember it was a very nice, intimate evening for all of us.</p>
<p>All the kids have them around grad time and mine were pretty sick of them before they were over.</p>
<p>We waited until August to have the parties. Pool party and barbecue at our house. Probably the highlight was the music. Kid made CD, multiple speakers in trees, blaring great music during the whole party. Kids in pool singing along with the choruses late into the night.</p>
<p>We had a lot of left over food. Eating didn’t seem to be high on the list.</p>
<p>We still have the music, and replaying the CD is more fun than looking at the photos.</p>
<p>My graduation party was small and casual. It was in our backyard on graduation day. We invited some family members, some of my parents’ coworkers (other lawyers in the office and their families, parents’ secretaries and paralegals), a few random people (e.g., old babysitter), and some of my friends. My mom cooked Mexican food, which was served buffet-style on paper plates. There was probably some beer and wine around, but nothing extreme. I don’t remember the music, but I’m assuming there was just some rock and roll played over speakers outside. I liked that it was casual; there was nothing at all for me to worry about after graduation. I put on jeans, played with little kids, hung out with my friends, and talked to my parents’ friends (people I know well). We didn’t specify gifts or no gifts. My parents’ coworkers came with checks, usually $50, but some people just brought cards. The money just went in one of my bank accounts. The only gift I really remember was from my mom’s secretary; it’s a really nice, framed picture of my mom and dad that she took at work one day. It sits on my desk at school. Anyway, I’ve never had a big party for myself, and it’s not something that interests me very much. It was nice seeing everyone, and it was even nicer that there was zero pressure. It was also very inexpensive. My sister had an identical party two years prior (and will be having a college graduation party in a few weeks!).</p>
<p>My graduation party last year took place the day after graduation, so it was one of the first ones. We made a batch of homemade invitations. The party was held in our house/out on the deck. The weather was a little wet, but everyone fit inside anyway. My parents cooked everything and served it buffet-style. They invited their co-workers, our neighbors, and some personal friends, while I just invited my friends.</p>
<p>A family friend got a fancy cake from a bakery, but that was the fanciest part of the party. Otherwise, it was very low-key. Since my party was one of the earliest ones, a lot of people hadn’t had their yearbooks signed yet, so my party randomly turned into a spontaneous yearbook-signing fest. We honestly hadn’t planned any activities (except for maybe putting up a badminton net outside), but it all worked out in the end.</p>
<p>Even more amazingly, some acquaintances I had invited stayed later than most, and I got to know them better than I had in my four years of high school (it was morning by the time we finished talking). Probably one of the most memorable nights of my life.</p>
<p>Mine was an open house from like, 4-8. We decked everything out in college colors (easy because my parents went there too) and just entertained all day. It was a lot of fun and we invited a ton of different people: family friends, family, friends, neighbors, grade school friends, high school friends, etc etc. A lot of people only stayed for a few minutes, but as long as I got to see them I didn’t really care.</p>
<p>We had a bunch of finger foods and lots of drinks–I’m thinking soda, beer, stocked bar, wine, etc. I’m pretty sure we also had sandwiches and dips and sides and stuff.</p>
<p>For the most part, family stuck around for awhile, my high school friends came and went, our neighborhood pals stuck around for awhile, and our family friends stayed well past 8:00. It was so much fun for my entire family and since I’m a pretty lowkey person it wasn’t stressful for me. </p>
<p>Costs came from invitations, decorations, food, and drinks. I’d say it was probably moderately expensive because there were probably…150-200 people that came throughout the day. Some brought gifts, some didn’t, and actually I don’t even know who didn’t give me a gift because they were all left on a table until the next morning. </p>
<p>I’d say as long as you have a good group of people, you’ll be juuuuust fine.</p>
<p>I found a cute invitation online and am creating the open house around it:
[AnnouncingIt.com</a> Product Detail & Order Page](<a href=“Invitations, Party Invitations for All Occasions”>Invitations, Party Invitations for All Occasions)
Toledo Son’s Graduation Fiesta</p>
<pre><code> Senores and Senoritas,
You are invited to join us for
Fajitas and Mock-Margaritas
June 2nd from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Toledo's Hacienda
123 Main Street
Si or No?
by May 30th
555-555-5555
</code></pre>
<p>We’re renting a slushee machine to make non-alcoholic margaritas and strawberry dacquiris (sp?). I’m still negotiating with a small mariachi band. We invited around 120 people.</p>
<p>D’s party is in three weeks. I used snapfish to make invitations with her baby picture on it, and we invited about 75 friends, family and coworkers. It’s going to be one of those laid-back, tents-in-the-backyard kind of open houses, lots of food (taco and faijita bar, nachos, cold salads, fruit/veggie trays, and I’m thinking cupcakes instead of a cake because they’re cooler.)</p>
<p>My D, the music nut, is in charge of the music, so I’m a little worried about what we’ll be listening to. For decorations, I’ve made a bunch of those picture collages (also via snapfish) of D with her friends and family, on vacation, etc. - and one poster of pictures from every “first day of school” for the past 13 years. Oh, and I had two life-sized cradboard cut outs made of her (one from this year, and one from a picture of her at 18 months.) For soem reason, this particular idea has become a real hit with her friends.</p>
<p>This will be the first time that my family and the in-laws have gotten together in over 20 years (opposite sides of the country), so we had to do “something.”</p>
<p>I think instead I will have a bon voyage party when D and a couple of her friends head to Ghana in mid August
we will probably have a bar-b -que at the beach.</p>