The Sparrow's Home

: Life is hard. God is good. We need each other.

  • Homeschool
    • Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
    • Homeschooling High School
      • Earning College Credits in High School
    • Elementary, Middle School, & Littles
    • Homeschool Experiences (Tutoring/Study Groups)
    • Homeschool Consulting
  • Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Vegetables & Sides
    • Breads
    • Desserts
    • Beverages
    • Freezer Recipes
    • Preserving
  • Faith
    • Resources for Living a Biblical Faith
  • Family
    • Parenting
    • Marriage
      • How to Break Porn Addiction: There is Hope!
    • Everything Disney
    • All the Board Games
    • Themed Entertaining
    • Home & Garden
      • Herbal Remedies
  • Contact
  • Home

Graduation Party Ideas: Hits & Misses

June 12, 2017 by Susan 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links.  See my disclosure for more information.

Like it? Share it!

Graduation party ideas, mistakes and wins. Some ideas you may not have thought of, tips for success, and how to avoid my biggest mistake.

I made a huge mistake with my son’s graduation party.  I forgot to take pictures!  This shames me, not only as a mother, but as a blogger.  Before the party started, I took a few.  The weirdest thing is, that at one point during the party, I looked out the back window and thought, “I love seeing all of these people enjoying each other’s company.”  And I actually went out and took a few pictures.

But did it cross my mind at that point to take other pics?  Noooooo.  No standard picture of my son with his cake (doughnuts, in this case).  No pictures of my son at all.

Here’s what I attribute it to:  I lost my mind temporarily due to outlets.

But the party was great!  Let me tell you about it.

Graduation Party

My son had asked months ago if we could serve jambalaya at his grad party.  It turns out that we would’ve been just fine using only the oven (baking it in large foil pans).  But not knowing that, I had decided to borrow the electric roasters from our church.  And they are -we’re pretty sure- what caused all of the outlets in my kitchen to stop working…with the exception (thankfully) of my oven and refrigerator.

Several extension cords later, we were back in business.

This easy jambalaya with chicken and sausage will become one of your family's favorites.

 

Food Prep

But let’s back up a bit.

When my son requested the jambalaya, I realized that although super easy, there would be a lot of prep work involved.  Because of that, I decided to plan a super simple menu around the jambalaya.  Here’s what we had:

  • Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
  • Rolls
  • Baby Carrots and Cucumbers with Dip
  • Watermelon
  • Doughnuts
  • Sodas and water

I did as much prep for the jambalaya as I could, packaging everything in Ziploc bags portioned for each batch:

  • Shredded rotisserie chicken (I got these at Costco…such a great deal!)
  • Chopped the sausage
  • Chopped all of the veg–onions, peppers, celery– cooked them in butter, then added the seasoning sauces to the mix
  • Pureed tomatoes
  • Measured rice

So when I was ready to mix a batch, all I had to do was dump each ingredient (already pre-measured) into the pan and add the chicken broth.

My parents offered to cut all of the watermelon (and my dad even carved a super cool 2017 in one of the watermelons for serving…but of course I didn’t take a picture of it).

I love baking bread, but decided to go easy and pick up bags of dinner rolls at Costco.  Also from Costco, I got huge bags of baby carrots and packages of English cucumbers.  These are nice, because they have a thinner peel.  So all we had to do was slice them up.  Add some dip and we were all set there.

I served all of the food from our kitchen.  I used our island and an additional table.  The doughnuts were in the dining room.

A few food tips:

  • If you’re serving hot food (like jambalaya) get the thicker plates, not the cheap, flimsy ones.
  • Get lunch-size plates instead of dinner plates.
  • Also, don’t get the Dollar Store forks… they are just not sturdy enough.
  • Where the Dollar Store was GREAT was for napkins, serving plates/bowls, and table cloths.

The doughuts we ordered from a local bakery.  We got lots of glazed doughnuts, a variety of doughnut holes, and a specialty of this bakery, Texas-sized doughnuts which they will personalize for you.

You'll never guess what these donuts are stacked up on. A donut bar is perfect for a graduation party!

These doughnuts are stacked up on paper towel holders from the Dollar Store.  That’s also where we got all of the red, plastic plates.

I wasn’t allowed to do anything too ‘cute’ but was allowed to slip in a couple of “donut” puns. (The kid loves a good pun).

A donut bar is perfect for a graduation party!

A donut bar is perfect for a graduation party!

A donut bar is perfect for a graduation party!


Decorations and Set Up

I picked up some small, graduation themed, bubble blowers at the Dollar Store that I put on some of the tables.  (I thought the littles that would be coming would enjoy them.)  Also from the Dollar Store were a number of small, black & gold picture frames that I put snapshots of the graduate in and placed on guest tables, food tables, and just around.

I knew not many people would sit in the garage, but we set up the tables just in case we needed the space.  We were right, pretty much everyone hung out in the house or in the back yard.

Ideas for planning your graduation party.

We also had the beverages and trash collection in the garage.  It was a good decision to spread things out to avoid traffic jams for food, beverages, or dessert.

To spread out traffic at our graduation party, we had drinks and trash in the garage.

Besides the small, framed photographs, I had put together a board that we hung in the garage near the entrance to our house.  It had a quote on it, one of several I had printed out and hung around the house.

Ideas for your graduation party.

 

Here were the quotes we used:

  • Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different … C.S. Lewis
  • Whatever you do, do it well … Walt Disney
  • You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take -Wayne Gretsky … Michael Scott
  • You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step … Martin Luther King Jr. 
  • Look to the LORD and His strength, seek His face always … Psalm 105:4
  • Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men … Colossians 3:23

 

Ideas for planning your graduation party.One thing I really, really wanted to do…and didn’t, because of my son’s wishes… was to hang up a bunch of these super large photo prints.  You can get them done at your local office store, and they are really inexpensive (like $5-6).  They are called “engineer prints” or “architectural prints”.  The quality of the print is not great, and can look kind of pixelated, but they still look SO COOL.  This one is 24″ x 36″.

I did several of these for my parents’ 50th Annniversary party and they were a big hit.  My son agreed to let me do one print of a shot of him in a cap and gown when he was 5.  (I was teaching GED classes at that time, and used the cap and gown we had on hand for students).

 

What Matters

It really was a lovely day of watching friends and family enjoy themselves together.  We had several games set up in our back yard:  spike ball, ladder ball, and bocce ball.  There were also chairs set up for visiting.

Ideas for planning your graduation party.

Ideas for planning your graduation party.



My husband and son did a LOT of landscaping around the front of our house in preparation for the party.  And they also tore down an overgrown, icky garden set up and put in this lovely little garden.  I’m an awful gardener, but I would like to try to grow some of my own medicinal herbs (since most of them are classified as ‘weeds’, I might have a chance!).  And, since my son works at a greenhouse, he frequently brings home free plants–including veggie and herb plants in the summer.

 

==>Read about son #2’s graduation party here <==

 

So even though I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I’d have liked…we have some lovely memories.  My final advice to moms out there planning grad parties:

  • Don’t stress.  I know that sounds trite, but seriously…make an effort to relax about the party.
  • Plan easy foods to just put out, so you don’t have to spend the day cooking.
  • Enlist help.
  • Planning the party early in the summer was great for a couple of reasons–it’s less likely to be super hot, and you get it over sooner (I don’t mean that in a negative way, what I mean is that it’s nice to have it done instead of worrying about it the whole summer).  The only negative about this was a shorter time to get landscaping done once the weather warmed up enough to begin it.
  • Be sure to visit with guests.
  • Remember to take pictures. (Or assign someone else this task)

What are your best graduation party ideas?

Graduation party ideas, mistakes and wins. Some ideas you may not have thought of, tips for success, and how to avoid my biggest mistake.

Like it? Share it!

You Might Also Like

  • Lots of ideas for a Star Wars themed party. Tons of food and decorating ideas!!
    Star Wars Party
  • Lots of ideas for planning a pirate party for your child's birthday.
    Kids Pirate Party
  • Ideas for planning a kids farm party!
    Kids Farm Party

Filed Under: Family, Homeschool, Themed Entertaining Tagged With: high school, homeschool, themed entertaining

Comments

  1. Susan says

    June 12, 2017 at 11:35 am

    Enjoyed this! I have VERY few photos from my daughter’s recent graduation, either — I liken a grad party to a wedding reception. It happens so fast that it’s just hard to remember everything. I love the doughnuts — will remember that for “flute breakfasts” this fall. I love the towel holder you used. Dollar General? Dollar Tree? I don’t remember seeing those before, but they’re clever. My daughter, like your son, did not want lots of big photos or anything like that. I’m reminded many times that it is *her* party and not mine! Thanks for inviting me over through your post! I really enjoyed it.

    Reply
    • Susan says

      June 12, 2017 at 1:15 pm

      You are right, Susan, I had to keep reminding myself of that too! I got the paper towel holders at Dollar Tree. I had seen ideas of putting wooden dowels into a board, and planned on doing that. Then I thought, that’s kind of what paper towel holders already are! If I could find those at the dollar store, that would be awesome. The ones they had were made of white metal, but they worked great!

      Reply
  2. Lisa @ NatureImmerse says

    June 12, 2017 at 7:53 pm

    I would suggest Mini Reese’s, chocolate squares, and sour belts make perfect bite-size mortarboards. They look awesome.

    Reply
    • Susan says

      June 12, 2017 at 9:46 pm

      I have seen those…adorable! The son that just graduated despises peanut butter, even the smell…so I thought it not the best fit for this party. 🙂 hahaha –But I have that idea packed away for my next son!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop 331 ~ LeCultivateur says:
    June 4, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    […] Graduation Party Ideas – The Sparrows Home […]

    Reply
  2. Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop 331 - Engineer Mommy: says:
    June 4, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    […] Graduation Party Ideas – The Sparrows Home […]

    Reply
  3. Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop #331 - Ducks 'n a Row says:
    June 4, 2019 at 7:07 pm

    […] Graduation Party Ideas – The Sparrows Home […]

    Reply
  4. Wonderful Wednesday | SimpleStepsForLivingLife says:
    June 5, 2019 at 7:57 pm

    […] Graduation Party Ideas – The Sparrows Home […]

    Reply
  5. Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop 331 | Bakes and Blunders says:
    January 13, 2020 at 10:25 am

    […] Graduation Party Ideas – The Sparrows Home […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More than 100 Bible verses to ponder, inspire and encourage you this Christmas and New Year season.

Connect with Me:

About me…

Welcome! I'm Susan, and I'm so glad you're here. I am a former teacher turned homeschooler, married to my favorite person, blessed far more than I deserve, and certain that we don't have to do it all alone. Find Out More…

Get The Sparrow’s Home delivered right to your inbox. –Never miss a thing (including special news for subscribers only!)

Let's be friends! Send me new posts and updates. I'm good with one (sometimes two) emails per week.

What I’m Reading Now…

Recent Posts

  • When your child struggles with reading…finding a reading curriculum and resources that are easy to use is everything.
  • The Absolute Best Cinnamon Rolls
  • Make a porch snack basket to brighten the day of your delivery drivers this holiday season (7 free printable signs to choose from!)
  • Raise your hand if you’re thankful to be governed by lots of flawed individuals.
  • The new trend of simpler weddings is not only frugal, it’s so much more personal!

What’s Popular

  • Recipes That Use Up A Lot of Eggs (Bonus Pudding Recipe!)
    Recipes That Use Up A Lot of Eggs (Bonus Pudding Recipe!)
  • One Hour Bread: Fast & Easy Italian Bread Recipe
    One Hour Bread: Fast & Easy Italian Bread Recipe
  • Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup
    Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup
  • Easy Sausage Egg Bake
    Easy Sausage Egg Bake
  • Healthy Chocolate Mousse
    Healthy Chocolate Mousse
  • M&Ms Ice Breaker and Guided Prayer Activities
    M&Ms Ice Breaker and Guided Prayer Activities
  • A Quiche to Build a Dream On
    A Quiche to Build a Dream On
  • Need to make hot dogs for a crowd?  Use the crock pot!
    Need to make hot dogs for a crowd? Use the crock pot!
  • Take a Meal to a Friend in Need
    Take a Meal to a Friend in Need
  • Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake
    Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

All of our recipes are shared at:

Meal Plan Monday is just one of the Link Ups where I contribute.

Follow The Sparrow’s Home:

Contact

Privacy Policy

Disclosure Statement

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Susan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2021 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Homeschool
    • Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
    • Homeschooling High School
      • Earning College Credits in High School
    • Elementary, Middle School, & Littles
    • Homeschool Experiences (Tutoring/Study Groups)
    • Homeschool Consulting
  • Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Vegetables & Sides
    • Breads
    • Desserts
    • Beverages
    • Freezer Recipes
    • Preserving
  • Faith
    • Resources for Living a Biblical Faith
  • Family
    • Parenting
    • Marriage
      • How to Break Porn Addiction: There is Hope!
    • Everything Disney
    • All the Board Games
    • Themed Entertaining
    • Home & Garden
      • Herbal Remedies
  • Contact
  • Home