<p>Oh, great, my parents say that the SIL is now a Vegan! But will eat seafood? What does this mean? Must give them dinner Thursday and Friday night before the Sat. Graduation.
The 4 of them are not house guests, but are staying near by! GRRR…Something else to think about? D is a vegetarian, not a vegan…</p>
<p>LOL SLUMOM – the food thing will drive you crazy! My mother can’t eat fish, but can eat shellfish; my FIL can eat fish but not shellfish & is diabetic; D is (temporarily) lactose intolerant; S is sort of a vegetarian since he’ll eat fish/shellfish, but not meat. I ended up w/ food to fit everyone, but it made for some interesting graduation party planning!</p>
<p>SLUMOM: Ask her to help plan and prepare the meal? Or buy some frozen vegan entrees at Trader Joes or health food store? Tell her you will have a hearty salad with some beans in it and ask her to make the dressing and bring anything else she’d like to add to make her meal. Unless she is personality disordered she ought to be used to managing her own dietary demands. Vegans I know don’t expect/demand you meet their specifications and are good sports about living among carnnivores or less rigourous vegitarians.</p>
<p>DS had a life threatening food allergy which he thankfully outgrew but I always brought is own meals to b-day parties. Agree w/ mmaah’s POV. A nice salad with beans, maybe a store bought hummus w/ pita chips and a veggie tray will be sufficient to satisfy everyone but the most irritatingly self-centered vegan.</p>
<p>Well, I always have vegi-burgers & those Quorn company type chick patties, plenty of salad stuff, & 3 kinds of Humus, so that ought to satisfy her… And seeing as she does eat seafood, we could slap those Salmon Burgers on the grill as well… She used to just be a vegetarian & was always improvising by making a cheese sandwich or something, but I guess there is really no difference except the dairy part! Oh well, you know my mother (82) had to make a big deal out of it! We all know how they can be! You kids have good ideas! The cat is the diabetic & he is 15 years old! LOL</p>
<p>Whew! Grad party is done! I am exhausted and have no voice left. The weather was chilly and overcast but no rain during the party. We set up in the house and just a few tables outside for the hardy group. I had it partially catered and we have lots of her food still left and my food is all gone. She wasn’t very good at estimating but her food was delicious. I choked up when I looked in the family room and saw 30 kids sitting and watching D2’s video at one sitting. I put lots of friend pictures in it and they loved remembering all the good times. Different groups filtered through and watched throughout the party. Served over 250. My back and legs are killing me but it was good to see so many friends. Today is the last academic day for seniors, graduation on Friday with senior party/lock in following. WHere has the time gone!</p>
<p>Thinking of all of you as events and activities wind down. Thanks again for all of the support!</p>
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<p>I am amazed and impressed - both with your entertaining skills and in the social skills of those responsible for making 250 friends. To have 250 at a party, we’d have to pay about 225 of them to attend!</p>
<p>Missypie…Heavens, not all her school friends!!! Open houses here are also for family,teachers, parents’ friends, coaches, etc. Anyone who has been a part of the kids’ lives. There were four parties just on our block yesterday so the kids traveled from one to the other. Sorry if I wasn’t clear!</p>
<p>It still must be a close-knit community. I can’t imagine seeing a coach or a teacher at any of the grad parties around here.</p>
<p>S had his graduation yesterday. I took the pocket sized klenex and used a few as soon as the graduates started marching down the row. I did stop quick-like. I felt so proud holding the poster that I made for S. It had a copy of the baby pic he used in his baby ad for the year book blown up to 11x17 with all sorts of congradulations, good job, way to go etc!
Then when the graduates got to flip their tassles to the other side, I flipped my sign that said WSU or Bust! He got a big kick out of that. Also, the evening before while he was at work, me and two of the other S’s decorated his car for all to see. He had perfect strangers congradulating him. His smile could have stretched a mile. The senior all niter was last night. He had a fun time and even bought some great stuff with his “Tiger bucks” that he earned from playing games all night!</p>
<p>Northernwoods and familyoutdoors - I found I used a lot fewer kleenex than I’d expected at D’s graduation. But since she left last week for her summer job (she’ll return a brief 3 weeks before she heads off to school), I’ve been a puddle :(</p>
<p>Kudos to all hosting grad parties, and sympathy to SLUMOM on the challenging menu requirements! I co-hosted with a dear friend who should be a professional party planner - she added LOTS Of decorating ideas but was willing to take most of them on herself. But when her D insisted that the M&M’s be sorted by color because “it would look nicer on the buffet”, my D respectfully declined to assist in the sorting!</p>
<p>OVER!!! The bac. and grad went fine–School forgot to put the * for honor society by S’s name and I figured he did not turn in his CC hours and so was no longer a member :rolleyes: but S assures me it was just a mistake :rolleyes:.
Dinner party food fabulous with brought in vegie lasagna and a beautiful to behold strawberry rhubarb tart with a huge chocolate banner “congrats grad” and we made grilled vegies and more.
Senior party great and S enjoyed all–18 were hypmotized successfully. However, S had a fake tatoo on his arm and everyone complimented him…get the pic? In answer to his question :rolleyes: “if we are paying tuition the answer is no”.
I got through the dinner with SIL OK but knew she would be a little better as the other guests like me and are so nice…
8 trips to the airport and back in about 6 weeks and I am not even going anywhere 
I love reading about everyone’s celebrations! and am waiting for the last of you to start the next :eek: subject–S has to choose his 3 classes and begin signing up on line in just a few weeks. The school info site is LONG and has MANY WORDS. sigh…here we go again…</p>
<p>PRJ I definitely haven’t put the kleenex away! I find the emotional mood swings hitting me intermittently. I figure the whole summer will be full of those moments. </p>
<p>The large numbers of invitees to grad parties definitely seems to be a common MN occurrence. I’m trying to keep my numbers down but between her friends, our friends, neighbors, and teachers I think we are looking at 75-100 people attending. We were at a party tonight that I’m sure had 150+ people stop by. Many of the students’ visits were brief but the food was mostly gone after 2 hours. I’m just hoping for nice weather so we can move people and food outside.</p>
<p>Not yet <em>really</em> done here
S is still trying to get his Spanish out of the way and complete his English final, (all by this Thursday) but he did “walk” on Saturday night and we are all happy about that. No tissues here, just a few moments when I thought I might need them during the slide show.
The night ended with a literal bang with a fabulous professional fireworks display - worth attending for that alone.
I am thinking, unless I nag, though, I will have an unwashed teenager around the house (no need to impresshis P’s!) for several (too many) weeks.</p>
<p>We just spent a few hours today between us looking at all the course offerings and making out a spread sheet to see which ones he could take that did not actually conflict - seems like most of the ones he was interested in have conflicts with each other grrr</p>
<p>North Minn…we are planning a “birthday/farewell” party for D2 who will be going away for college. I love the idea of including some of her teachers, especially her Band director whom she has had for 4 years. I don’t think I could do 250 in the house, but I hope some folks do come to say goodbye. I’ll keep you posted.</p>
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Either she’s a somewhat confused individual, or (to quote vegetarians I’ve known) she thinks fish is a vegetable. I second those who suggested the salad with beans, and all the options you have already are great too. With so many choices at your home, she’ll probably gain a few pounds! We’ve had many food restrictions in my family over the years; at parties and such, we always just eat what we can and politely decline the rest. I think that’s a pretty common attitude among people with special diets.</p>
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Woohoohahaha!! I think I’ll use this as an example every time my son tells me I’m too picky or compulsive! Wonderful!</p>
<p>We’re done here. Graduation ceremony was beautiful. We could have done without the keynote speaker (a politician who spent most of her 13-seemed-like-43 minutes talking about herself :rolleyes:), but the rest of the ceremony was worth it. The Strings played procession and recession, and the Choir (including grads) sang midway through. But the “presentation of gifts” is what we all look forward to every year. The gift is something many students anticipate for years; mine has been looking forward to his since 8th grade and will use it every chance he gets.</p>
<p>That’s not what makes the event so special, though. It’s a pretty small school, which means they have the time to be very personal. All of the teachers know all of the kids very well, usually in multiple capacities. And on Graduation Day, the teachers roast the graduating seniors.</p>
<p>Each grad has a teacher who stands up and gives a brief prepared speech about him or her… many of the teachers choke up, and there are usually hugs all around. Then that teacher presents the grad with a book and a gift. A teacher has told me that they often fight over who will speak about which students. geek<em>son and I had fun before the ceremony, wondering who would speak about him – the winner was a surprise but, as geek</em>son put it later, “made a lot of sense.” He was very pleased.</p>
<p>This year’s ceremony was especially touching; in the front row where the grads were sitting, there was an empty chair with a cap and gown and some flowers. The Director explained that this chair belonged to the grads’ classmate who had passed away on campus last year. I’d been doing pretty well until that moment, but then I lost it.</p>
<p>And now all the parties are done, and I’ve even caught up on cleaning the kitchen! This week, my son’s assignment from me is to spend every day relaxing – sleeping in, playing video games, eating the party leftovers, whatever. He’s earned the break. :)</p>
<p>Congrats to those who are done, and best wishes to those who are in the home stretch!</p>
<h1>theorymom, good luck to your son. So glad to hear he was able to walk with his class. As to the unwashed mass, I would make the kitchen (and hence the food) off limits to the unclean. You want to eat, you shower first. With soap. And shampoo.</h1>
<p>Northernwoods, we’ll send some desert sunshine your way!</p>
<p>missypie, our teachers and coaches attend grad parties when they’re expressly invited, but it’s a pretty personal school!</p>
<p>I think I’m caught up now? Wishing everyone a great week with the margaritas flowing!</p>
<p>^^^
good plan</p>
<p>OMG - Last night was D’s final chamber orchestra performance. The last song was “Lullaby” by Hofeldt. They have played this every year since 6th grade. It is a beautifully melancholic piece, one that I always ask her to play at home.
Well, last night under the bright lights of a meeting room of the local library, I start crying - silent tears rolling, cascading down my cheeks. As they played on, I caught my D’s eye and she smiled sweetly with a tear in her eye. By the the end of the piece, I am heaving, snorting, and turning purple - a complete waterworks, burying my head in my hands. Mother are comforting me, fathers are tearing up, the kids think I’m having a heart attack. The teacher starts crying - hugs all around. I mean they played this at benefits for 9-11, Hurricane Katrina - it’s a very emotional piece as it is. Last night though, I thought I would die.</p>
<p>oh woody! I’m so sorry and I completely understand. That sounds like me after I dropped my D off last week, but at least I was alone in my car. This heaving, gasping, sobbing grief has caught me completely by surprise.</p>
<p>geek_mom - I forgot to mention that I did actually tear up a couple of times at graduation, when a senior read a letter from the family of a classmate who had been killed in a car accident last year, and again when they read his name as diplomas were being handed out. so sad.</p>