My sister in law did Chipotle for her kid’s grad party and it was perfect. They have a catering service where it’s basically a buffet of “make your own.” People made burritos, or tacos, or burrito bowls, etc., with exactly the ingredients they wanted. She got special labels from the college for the water bottles. It was nice touch. It came exactly like this: http://www.cateringmenuprices.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Chipotle-Catoring-1-300x136.jpg I think the price came to about $4 per person on this, surprisingly cheap, and it was good!
@redpoodles 4.00? Wow! I read online that the cost was more like 12/pp. sounds like a phone call is in order. One thing I liked about the burritos in a box is the quick-serve (and no need for warming trays). But if it really is less than the 8.75 per burrito…thanks for posting and giving me more food for thought!
I REALLY like the water bottle label idea! Adding it to the list!
Old news here, but when our kids graduated, we had a cookout. Lots of choices of sides, and lots of choices of “burgers”. And LOTS of choices of appetizers and desserts. There was something for everyone.
Quarter-barrel of root beer: popular at grad parties here (add vanilla ice cream for make your own floats).
@Madison85 Where do you get the rootbeer? That sounds fabulous!
It is a regional brand of rootbeer (Sprecher’s), but you can just try calling your liquor store to see if they carry it or any brand of root beer in a quarter barrel or pony keg.
https://www.sprecherbrewery.com/distributors.php
Here is a list of distributors in various states for Sprecher’s.
Not party related but I would love to have a personal half barrel of Sprecher’s rootbeer for myself!
The food ideas all sound good. I made graduationy dessert/decorations. The Reese’s peanut butter cups with a square of chocolate on top and fruit roll up tassel for graduation caps. Pirouette cookies with a tie for diplomas. That kind of thing. I’ve made labels for small Hershey’s bars and those are pretty quick and easy.
I actually did a dessert buffet for D1. Chocolate fountain with things to dip, fruit trays, cheese/cracker platters, cookies, mini-eclairs, cake, water bottles. D1 is a vegetarian and wanted no meat or even a meal. Easy for me, though 200 showed up and S1 had to make an emergency run to the store for more strawberries and eclairs. Sheet cake that fed 100 was gone.
D2 says she wants the same thing in 2016, but she doesn’t have near as many friends. Thank goodness.
I completely get your worry about running out of food. I found that stocking up on some packaged items (cookies, pretzels, chips, bottled water, etc.) helped me feel more secure about hosting a bunch of teenagers. And if there were leftovers, at least the packaged items could be eaten over time. (Returning unopened items would be good, too, but I am paper challenged and not always able to put my hands on the receipts.)
I vote you stick with the box burritos if you can afford that splurge. It will make it much quicker for everyone to get through the serving line. And I would make the green salad all combined into one big bowl. That way the line goes quickly and you don’t have the hassle of replenishing each individual salad item.
I hosted a birthday party for my 9 year old 4 days after I had surgery, so I understand your need for simplicity. Find a mantra you can repeat when you hear about intricately detailed, handmade desserts, decorations, invitations, etc. If your son won’t notice or care, don’t make the extra effort.
A simple party might also allow you to focus more on interactions with family and friends.
@powercropper Yes! I need to delete Pinterest until after the party! I love the idea of really doing a lot of unique decorations, etc, but I just can’t. I tire out very easily, and the party is only 5 weeks away. Thankfully, we can afford the splurge (no tuition…he’s headed to USAFA 
and the burritos will make things easier. We are having USAFA cupcakes made, and the candy buffet shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve hired a friends 13 year old daughter to be my gopher/re-stocker/cleaner-upper. I figure that will keep me from flitting about too much. I will have a detailed checklist for her to monitor during the party so I can enjoy our guests.
The funny thing is, I keep asking him about what he’d like, and he’s really quite happy to concede to whatever I want to do. I guess that makes it easy for me.
@dentmom4 A dessert buffet sounds so delicious. I would never have thought of that…and I’ll bet if I had presented the idea to my son he might have really liked that plan. 200 guests…WOW! I’m nervous about 75. Not to mention the thank you cards. Son will be leaving for Colorado a few weeks after, so getting them all written will be a challenge.
Thank you all for the great advice here. You have helped me stay away from Pinterest and my inevitable over-achieving tendencies!
For our grad parties we hired a “taco guy”. They bring a grill and set up in your backyard. I am not sure if that is just a Southern California thing. We just added cold veggies, dip, chips, salsa, guac, cupcakes, cookies, etc…
That was our first thought, but since we are holding the party in a rented venue, the insurance required to be held by the vendor is prohibitive. I doubt many have it. I love the taco carts!
There is a Pancake Man you can hire for grad parties in the midwest. He entertains by flipping your pancake to you, from his pan to your plate up to 40 feet away.
In HI, we have hired a sushi man. He comes to your venue with all his equipment, sets up his sushi bar and makes sushi for your guests for the number of hours you’ve contracted. We hired them for D & nephew’s party & it was a big hit! (We had other food as well, of course.)
Are the guests going to be mostly kids? Rather than going all out on decorations or special food items (beyond your Chipotle menu), you might think about spending the money on things to do instead. If there is room, you could rent/ borrow ping pong tables, or a foosball or air hockey table, and other stuff like that. Maybe a few Nerf basketball hoops around the space. Or a karaoke set up. Put some packs of those question cards around (like “would you rather …”). Kids like having things to do at parties. It cuts down on the awkward factor, especially when there are kids and adults.
These are fun cards to have laying around at a teen party:
http://www.amazon.com/HYPERtheticals-50-Questions-Insane-Conversations/dp/0307587924
(I can’t remember if there is anything inappropriate in them, but my daughter and her friends loved these when they were in high school).
Great idea to hire the helper. Will you be able to hire someone to clean the house before the party? And pay someone to get the lawn spruced up? All that’s left is booking your spa day for after the party!
@powercropper We are having the party at a local clubouse, so no heavy cleaning for me. Yay! Spa day…possibly the best suggestion yet!
@nottelling It will be a mixed group. Many young teen boys, so I like the ping pong idea…thank you!
Lurker here, but thanks for all the ideas – we’ll use several on our end! just ordered that book; i think i’ll look at setting up a volleyball or badminton net, have soccer balls out (we have a goalie net set up already in backyard) – LOVE the dessert table idea as S doesnt do veggies much. 
still trying to figure “snack foods” that he wants and “that video” that he wants.