Ideas to Celebrate Graduation

Tis’ the Season! I am so happy to see all the hoopla surrounding this year’s graduates, they certainly have not had a normal experience in order to reach this point. Today I thought I’d share how both Christy and I have celebrated this fun milestone with our kids for those of you planning to celebrate a graduate this summer.

A few details to start with, while many schools still offer the traditional graduation announcement, we typically opt for something more personalized from Minted. They are always our go-to for announcements, holiday cards and invitations. We printed both an announcement and a party invitation (and then, consequently, a date change card) for our son last year. They make a nice keepsake too.

Last year (before Covid) I had a huge graduation celebration planned for my son at the clubhouse in our neighborhood, it would have been Memorial Day weekend. I had visions of using the F*R*I*E*N*D*S TV show theme of “The One Where They Graduated” including a retro style couch for photo opportunities and so many more fun ideas. All those plans were quickly dashed when the pandemic hit and while I still feel sad when I think about that, we still managed to celebrate him (just a little later in the summer) in our own backyard with close family and friends.

Last year’s celebrations definitely looked a little different but many of the ideas carry over to really, any event. With our son missing so much last year, we tried to find ways to celebrate him including these large banners we hung outside for his actual graduation day. You can order these large printed banners HERE, which are a special way to celebrate a graduate. I frequently order from this small business for all our entertaining-be it a holiday or for graduation, we used the cups and napkins for his party last year. I think all the party accessories Natalie creates are so fun!

We have tons of ideas for food you can serve at a graduation party, Christy’s taco salad party is a fun and easy idea for a large group. We also always mix up a large amount of “Dad’s Tea” when we entertain which is great on a hot day for all ages. This Southern Living Punch would also be great if you are serving a crowd, or you can display a cold collection of bottled sodas like Christy did when her son graduated, always fun.

I took this idea from Christy years ago and it’s a great way to serve a crowd, you can find a convenience store style chip rack and fill it with individual bags of chips. Much more sanitary and self-serve!

It’s fun to send guests home with a sweet favor (though our cookies were demolished by the younger guests and didn’t make it home with anyone!) but you can find talented local bakers to create these mini works of art for your event. Ours came a local friend (more info here) and they were so fun in his high school colors.

Christy took it a step farther and packed up their sweets, I love the striped bags and the fun sticker.

A cute lettered chalkboard is another fun touch, this one above was professionally done (so cute!) but you can find pre-printed graphics on ETSY. You can also have a large print made at Staples (called an engineering print for about $3) and print and put in an inexpensive frame for a chalkboard look like I did for a friend’s 40th birthday party.

It is so fun to be able to celebrate things again, even if it’s still a little different. Our best goes out to all the graduates (especially Christy’s daughter celebrating today!), here’s to all the bright futures ahead!

See more of Christy’s son’s party HERE or our party last year HERE.

Don’t miss our post on the best graduation gifts (with advice from our past graduates on what they treasured the most) in this post here.