Suggestions for school's grad night?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I find myself the point (wo)man for the Class of '06 Grad Night at my son’s h.s. Sounds eons away, but some venues are booked a year in advance!</p>

<p>What’s been a hit w/ kids at your h.s.? </p>

<p>Years ago, parents here did a big event @ the school w/ music, movies, video games, fortune tellers, etc. but it’s a ton of work for parents who deserve to celebrate themselves! More recently events have been at sports clubs, on dinner cruises, at a nightclub. (Regardless of site, the tradition has been to swoop up kids right after Thursday late afternoon grad’n, and shuttle them off to celebrate w/ peers, hoping to avoid substance abuse.) This is the last of my three kids, and my last chance to do something special for him and his class.</p>

<p>CC is always so full of thoughtful commentary – I’d love to hear your ideas on this before I’m consumed by the ambient stress of Sr. Yr. applications! Thanks for any suggestions!</p>

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<p>Dinner cruise is popular around here, if only because there’s no way for kids to sneak out and acquire substances.</p>

<p>So are the Indian casinos (when everyone is over 18) (not always true).</p>

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<p>We have been doing Project Graduations in Maine for quite a while now… and at our HS, the junior class parents were supposed to run it so the senior class parents could enjoy graduation… then one year, some senior class parents took it over to ensure their kids got a great event, and the whole junior class ownership fell to the wayside… this year we are trying to have Co-Chairs for each committee, 1 junior and 1 senior, the senior parent helps set up the choices and ensures it is all good, and the junior parent does final implementation…and then they are the senior parent co-chair the following year…this way, there is more skill passing and less burden for senior parents…</p>

<p>anyway, graduation tends to be at 1pm… kids have to be at the site at 6pm… and the events are somewhat of a surprise. Depending on the year and the committee’s choices and funding. Some years, it is held at a country club, with a hypnotist (definitely the #1 item year after year) dinner, DJ, casino, road trip to an amusement park, and back for breakfast. </p>

<p>This past year, 150 kids +/-, we started at the HS, had a Goodwill type entity there with a truck and each child brought a graduation present for donation to the charity, then they walked a red carpet and maroon ropes for their final entry into hs school…all the parents cheering on the side of the red carpet… next, their Life on Film, each student/parent had made a collage in an 8X 10 plastic sleeve, which were hung as though they were a roll of film, this is your life display down the hall…in birth order…(also on display for Class Day (Fri noon, Candlelight Fri nite) which led into the auditorium for the hypnotist…about 1 hr of that…tremendous laughs…then onto buses to Boston…to a King Henry VIII dinner theater…wenches etc … lots of bawdy fun (1 or 2 parents upset kids left state) and then they continued on to a cruise in Boston Harbor on a ship with casino stuff…the captain announced smoking on the decks only… it was absolutely verbotten to have cigarettes, we even offered patches for the smokers… a few kids had them anyway and took advantage of the captain’s offer… and then back to Maine to the school, gifts of beach towels with HS and Year embroidered on them, along with their collage in a nice envelope and their name, with yellow buses to take them all home for the last ride in a yellow bus. This way, no kids were driving after being up all nite etc…all home by 6 or 7am…worked out just great…</p>

<p>hope that is helpful…</p>

<p>We asked for $65 per kid, sponsor more than 1 if willing, fund raise too, and bottle collect…overall, budget appears to be at around $12K… the kids love it…all have a great time, very few do not attend…</p>

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<p>I am not sure what is done at my Ds school, she is just a sophmore, but what I do know:</p>

<p>Kidsa are told to dress casual and comfortable, bring swimsuits, only clear plastic bags are allowed, no cell phones, no pagers and the kids have NO IDEA where they are going until they are on the bus. The bus gets them from school and brings them back the next morning- all safe and sound…the kids have a blast wherever they go and are sworn to secrecy so the next class will be surprised!!</p>

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<p>Our S’s HS has done that (but only 50 or so kids in the graduating class last year). Dropped off at 8:30 PM after graduation, bused to a secret location that turned out to be the local bowling alley; took over the whole place till 3 AM - bowling, pizza, snacks, games, whatever else the parents and a couple of teachers had arranged, back at the HS for snoozing or talking till 8 Am when they got picked up. What they wanted to do most was to hang out with their classmates one last time.</p>

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<p>maineparent:</p>

<p>"with yellow buses to take them all home for the last ride in a yellow bus. "</p>

<p>Loooove that part! The entire event sounds like fun.</p>

7

<p>My Grad Nite last year was a lot of fun. The parents decorated the entire school (even bathrooms!) in a Hollywood theme. They brought in performers and impersonators, kept music going, all kinds of food, face painting, people to do the girl’s hair, carnival rides, fortune tellers, poker tables, etc. It was from about 10 at night (after an afternoon graduation) until 4 the next morning. My friends and I had a blast. Upon entering, they gave everyone a disposable camera and a glow bracelet too. It was expensive (about $90 after donations) but well worth it in my opinion. it would be about the same cost as Disneyland or something because of admission, food, transportation, etc.</p>

<p>I thought it was a safe alternative to other things I heard of going on that night. The parents were required to pick up and drop off kids, belongings were searched, and parents were on duty to watch and make sure everything was taken care of. This was in southern california so it was held outside and in the gym for about 500/750 graduating seniors.</p>

<p>The parents at my school worked all year on this, so something on a boat or outside site may be easier to pull off on short notice.</p>