<p>We plan to host a small grad party in Atlanta for my D and some friends and family-10 people. We will eat at a high-end steak house because the ambiance is calm and the service not rushed. Well, I would like to have the table look beautiful! Any suggestions? I am thinking of beautiful flowers in rich jewel tones maybe in a long and low silver container. I would like to put some kind of novelty item for each attendee on each plate or the table-- Maybe custom wrapped candy wrappers over chocolate bars. I always think the fun is in the small details. Alternatively, I could do something playful and tacky-fun such as decorated mason jars with candy and balloons. Any suggestions? Any suggestions on how to customize it for the University. Did any of you do this? Did your kids enjoy it? Thank you!</p>
<p>– I also would like to honor my D’s grandparents. I often feel that these joyous events are opportunities to honor the grandparents that have showered my children with unconditional love. Any ideas?</p>
<p>The party sounds lovely, and I think that honoring the grandparents is a wonderful idea. I’m not good at decorating, but I often get ideas from Pinterest. Here is a start:</p>
<p>We did balloons in the school colors tied to the chairs. I also bought cloth napkins in the school colors. I put graduation confetti on the table and several small glasses (old fashion) with narrow ribbon tied around the middles and daisys in the glasses.</p>
<p>You could buy and nicely package M&Ms in the school colors through the M&M stores. If the colors lend themselves to it, you could add on other candies (like red Twizzlers),</p>
<p>Also since you’re on Pinterest, search by school name. I saw personalized cookies for S’s school that were adorable. You might find cookies or cupcakes that a local bakery could replicate. </p>
<p>We did a restaurant party for DD. We got balloons also. We did ask the restaurant FIRST. Our kiddo told us that some places did not allow her classmates to bring in balloons or flowers. So do ask first.</p>
<p>For the grandparents, a gift of photo in a frame of them with the graduate seems appropriate. I’d go for a sophisticated look for college grads- flowers and napkins in school colors rather than balloons. With so few guests, it might be affordable to find mugs or wine glasses with the college logo for use at the dinner and to take home. The menus for the meal could also be printed with the school logo and placed on each plate. Good food and drink with special friends will be a very memorable evening. I don’t think you can go wrong. :-)</p>
<p>I love the idea of the mugs / wine glasses from the college as part of table decor and then guests take home. (Could be what the school color M&Ms are in.) Filing away …</p>
<p>Could you take a mini banner / flag and use that as part of decoration? </p>
<p>You could also take colored tissue paper and put it underneath any decorations - kind of creating an extra “placemat.”</p>
<p>Wow, I could do the frame thing for each of my guests. A sister, grandparents, dad, and four very special friends. I actually think I might have some small silver frames from another event I had many years ago. I love the m and m’s and I saw on the pinterest link some really pretty chocolates made in the shape of graduation hats. I am leaning towards elegant but I did like the balloon idea, but think it might be too out there for the restaurant. I will think about the wine glasses. At the least, I could have the restaurant tie ribbon to the base of each wine glass in the school colors or at least a champagne glass for a toast. I will ask the restaurant to print their menu without prices and put the school logo or something on it.</p>
<p>I am using snapfish to
Create customized mugs and gifts for the friends. I am going to use them as center pieces before I gift them
I don’t know if they have wine glasses but they have travel mugs. You can take pictures off your child’s Instagram and Facebook </p>
<p>I was going to suggest using Snapfish or Shutterfly to make a photobook of her college years (again, photos off of FB etc. - fun to pass around the table to reminesce and celebrate her journey. :)</p>
<p>A high-end steak house with a calm, unhurried ambience does not seem like the place for banners and balloons. I don’t think that that is what their other customers were be expecting, or, frankly, appreciate as part of their dining experience.</p>
<p>Special flowers would be nice.</p>
<p>If you are leaning towards elegant, I would suggest getting one or two really good truffles or chocolates from a local chocolatier, rather than M&Ms. You can package them in a favor-sized treasure box tied with nice ribbons in the school colors. Be aware that many molded chocolate novelties will be made from pseudo-chocolate like Merckens, and will not taste good. They are basically throwaways.</p>
<p>Here are the kind of boxes I mean (and they have others). You will see they come in many colors, and the site also sells nice ribbon in a wide array of colors for great prices.</p>
<p>If you go to your D’s college bookstore you will probably find something that you can put at each guest’s place–my younger D did this and she got keychains for everyone. She also bought a small stuffed mascot and put it in the center of the table. </p>
<p>I agree with Consolation–if you’re going to a high end place, it may not be appropriate to have banners and balloons. The restaurant where we celebrated younger D’s graduation was very accommodating, but I don’t think balloons and banners, even flowers, would have been appropriate given the ambience. Someone mentioned photo frames–I think small ones would be a nice gesture, especially if they included a photo of your D.</p>
<p>Are you having a private room at the restaurant, or is your party out in the open? That may also make a difference. In my mind, I was envisioning a private room. </p>
<p>“If you are leaning towards elegant, I would suggest getting one or two really good truffles or chocolates from a local chocolatier, rather than M&Ms. You can package them in a favor-sized treasure box tied with nice ribbons in the school colors. Be aware that many molded chocolate novelties will be made from pseudo-chocolate like Merckens, and will not taste good. They are basically throwaways.”</p>
<p>I agree nice truffles, beautifully packaged, are elegant, but I also think there’s a fun element that things like M&M’s in school colors or cookies / cupcakes with the school seal on them or things of that nature bring in. I like understated and classy but if the only “cue” is that the boxes are tied in ribbons with the school colors, that feels a little too recessive. On the other hand, I wouldn’t do much with the graduation mortarboard cap theme - that to me starts feeling trite. </p>
<p>I would not gift “school bookstore items” unless all the attendees are alumni or attendees of the school. I wouldn’t use a keychain for my son’s school since I attended a different school. </p>
<p>Why don’t you make your own wine/champagne label with your childs pix and/or school logo and then ask the restaurant to slap it on the bottle before serving? This way you could personalize the dinner without disrupting the other diners. I think you could do a very low arrangement of flowers and 2014 confetti from the party store.</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about this…won’t the restaurant have their own flowers or candles or other table decor? It might be difficult to bring in flowers. Same thing with bringing in cupcakes: one’ doesn’t usually bring dessert in to a restaurant. An edible favor should be okay, though. Even a cupcake can be packaged an an attractive box. </p>
<p>I don’t want to be Debby Downer, but I wouldn’t want stuff with the school name on it that I would never use. I’d rather something edible.</p>
<p>S’s graduation dinner was a Simon Pearce in VT. They have special prix fixe menus at Dartmouth graduation time. Near the end of the meal, the waitress presented him with a gift: a crystal block business card holder etched with the school name. (Simon Pearce is a high-end glassblowing concern. They also happen to have a great restaurant.) It came as a complete surprise to us. :)</p>
<p>Do you have a private room? I am in Atlanta – and can recommend a couple of really good florists. Most local restaurants won’t mind you bringing in/having delivered your own flowers. If you are not in a private room, logistically much of this won’t work very well.
Same thing for desserts – in our experience bringing in a cake for a special occasion isn’t that uncommon.</p>