Graduation is near, please come help me out with ideas.

For my youngest daughter's graduation we had a bbq. It was a lot of fun. One of my friends brought her daughter's who were just starting to play the violin. They swooned when Ryan's orchestra director showed up for our celebration. They had a whole new respect for her. He doesn't show up for just anyone!

Kinda hard to read it is all run together. Does joining the Army Reserve help her with college. Congraduations on the graduate.

Yes, joining the Army Reserve will help her with college. We have decided against a bbq, but we are serving food.

my neighbor had a open house last yr and she made the invatations on her pc with pics of her son on them. And sent them out to everyone. This way Everyone got a senior pic. lol They had a hog roast and had family members help out iwth other foods and whatever else they needed. Had 2 tents set up for everyone to sit under. Had volleyball and horse shoes for guests to play if they wanted. Didnt go all out on the decorations. mainly just decorated the table that the cake was on and got table clothes that were the class colors. i dont know how much she spent total but i i know they didnt have a lot to spend and they done it for 2 kids at the same time.
Mine was nice and cheap. my aunt done mine. She bought some roasts and made them in crock pots and put BBQ sauce on them and we had some finger foods. decorations was mainly around the cake. I was happy with it. For it all being sprung on them to have to do it they done the best they could with what they had.
I dont think u should go and spend thousands of dollars on something that will b over with in a matter of a few hours. Nomatter what u do she will remember it and will like it. I dont see her coming back to you later in life and saying "you could have done a better job on my open house" lol she seems like a really sweet girl and will like whatever her parents can do for her. Just have fun and include her in the decisions of the whole thing.

Postcards aren't tacky at all and RSVP's are a great idea. That way you can know how much food you will or won't need.

Have you tried evite.com. You can send out invites over the internet and I believe you can RSVP on there too which would save you even more money. Plus a lot of people respond to emails more than snail mail. I know I do anyways. LOL.

Good luck on this all and tell your daughter I said congrats!

Thank you Lisa... We have a lot of just family to invite. There are step families and such that need an invite so that others do not feel hurt.

I will do the email thing more as a reminder to those that I do have emails for, but most people I do not have connections with online so the old fashioned way of sending invites will be needed here.. but great idea Angelica.

Thanks Karen... and yes she is really a sweet girl and good hearted... and I am sure it will turn out great as I do have help organizing this party, I just want it to be the best that I can do and have a great time while doing it.

open houses are great and no it is not tacky of the post cards

Postcards are a great idea, I just had a girlfriend who sent all her wedding invites via e mail with a rsvp and plans to send reminders out a month before - so no I don't think they are tacky. As for keeping costs down have a potluck and let everyone contribute to the party, they are a lot of fun.

I am going to link to this article, I have one graduating in may as well and I really need to keep costs down.

My daugher is graduating this year also, we are having a party. I just ordered some favors from Oriental Trading. There will be no alcohol at my house either, but if they want to dance they can...to my stereo. No DJ's can't afford it. I will order a couple of hero's and will make some ziti, salads hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken. It will be a big bbq- only thing we dont have as many people as you do! we have about 30.

lol, I mispelled hero's!!!!

congrats on the graduation!

I gave both my boys an option: party or $$$ towards a laptop for college. They both opted for the laptop. We ended up just doing a coffee cake reception.

Jeannie.. you did save a ton of money... for this child.. the option of choosing is not an option at this point... she has like 5-6 sets of grandparents and families to invite and I would never hear the end of it if I did not do this traditional party for her...

Since we are not having the party in the town we live in.. due to most of our families living in another area, we are going to that area to host it.. I may let her have a small party for her freinds or a get together for her freinds here at the house and let them all just hang out together..

First- start picking stuff up now cheaply (nothing perishable) so that the cost isn't such a shock when the time comes. You can do this with plates, plasti-wear, table cloths, decorations (crepe paper, balloons, confetti, etc), as well as some bulk sized canned things you might use (fruit, veggies, etc).

That helps defray the cost since you are only adding maybe $10 a week onto your weekly budget. As it gets closer, then start picking up the perishables and freezing them if you have room. If not, get gift certificates for where you plan to buy the perishables at, so again, it's not a huge cost right at once. Just go in once a week and grab a $10 card or a $15 card.

Price the food you want now, though, and add a balloon for added costs incase of increases, and plan to get that much saved in gift cards for the food.

For the party, invite people who are close to your daughter- her friends, their immediate family if they are also close to her, your immediate relatives, secondary relatives, friends of the family who are close, etc.

For a theme, luau's are popular, and easy to decorate. Any sort of bright colors for the plates, cups, etc, plus flower lei's and poly lei's (those plastic ones) laid out all over for people to use. My sister did that for her party last year, and it was a big hit, very brightly colored, very fun.

She picked up cheap plastic serving dishes at the dollar stores in tropical patterns- some looked like flip flops, some looked like fish, etc. The table cloths were plastic from the dollar store, all in pinks, lime greens, and turquoise.

She had poly lei's hanging from the tables, from the canopy over the tables, in the gazebo where the food was, etc.

Those are great ideas.. thanks Heather.. I did sit down with those that are helping me plan and we made a list of all the stuff that is needed.. so I am looking out for pricing and when things are onsale..

She loves to scrapbook, so we are picking up special graduation stuff for her to make an empty srcapbook ready for pictures to be laid .. we will take pics of the families who come to the party and then have them say some words of wisdom to her in the scrapbook.

Nothing wrong with the way you're going about it. Keep it simple to cut corners. Since there will be no alcohol or dancing, concentrate on coffee, tea, water and soda. A big spread isn't needed...finger foods and munchies. Most won't stay all day and will move on to other parties. The main focus is the graduate. Just make sure she's accessable for all to congratulate; whether by a handshake, a card or gift.

I agree with the others, scan a senior picture, or other favorite picture, and use that as the front of the postcard for the invitation. Have your daughter design it.
For decorations, I suggest school colors or red/white/blue in tribute to patriotism. I found some inexpensive candy molds that have the Army seal. I got candy melts from the craft store and poured Army Seal candy molds, one for each person when I married. I made these weekly and froze them leading up to the big day. The biggest help I have in any large party -- paper table cloths in the theme color. Easy to clean up, cost about $1.50 each, and they drape over the table with a bit of a skirt instead of the short plastic ones. Small kids can draw on them, and actually so do the adults.
With any large family gathering, have something for kids of all ages, whether it is a coloring table with washable crayons/markers, music for the background (make a mix CD on the computer), or games. Food -- make it finger foods in buffet style. This way you have many choices for the many tastes, looks great, and people take left-overs with them after the party.
Facility -- try the different city parks where you live. I've lived in TX, TN, and now KY and in all three locations I found indoor buildings or covered picnic benches at under $100 for rental (some as low as $50).
Decorations -- keep it simple. Use them colors of choice, don't do give-aways, this is a party for your daughter's graduation. Make memories about the event. The invitation is the biggest gift for each person in attendance.
Memorial -- if you are missing a person of special significance to your daughter, memorialize that person with pictures.
To wish her well -- cut pieces of paper, put in a stack next to a basket, and ask people to leave her a message (this works especially well if someone likes to scrapbook), or ask people to bring a favorite picture of the guest with the graduate to remember the good old days.
Most of all, start stashing away funds now for the event. My entire wedding was only $5000 and that included the photographer, DJ, facility, luncheon (wedding was at 12:00 PM), brides maid dresses, wedding dress, and decorations. We planned early, made decorations on a weekly basis (we made the pew bows ourselves) and I made all of the invitations for the wedding.
Most of all, keep the focus on her and the family gathering, not on the decorations and the event.
Congratulations, and I wish her well. I graduated from high school and left for basic training for the Army 30 days later. 9 1/2 years of Active Duty and National Guard service later, I am married to an active duty soldier. I appreciate her willingness to continue a tradition!

I was gonna do that Erica, but with rights on the photo, it is illegal to copy the image and reprint it...

I like the idea of the color area set up for the kids..and drawing too... We are using my step-dad and his wife's (not my mom) back yard which is huge.

I really like the memorial... she lost her grandmother this past christmas and they were very very close...

She leaves for basic the week after her graduation party...

Trish, when it warms up, take your daughter outside to one of the parks here in town (or maybe into the woods where those paths run between Mill Pond Park & Nelson Park?) and take some pictures with a digital camera.

Take TONS of them, candid's, posed, etc. Then, download them, find one you like, or several, and use that (those) for the post card.

Wish I could help, but I never had a graduation party and it will about 10 years or so before my oldest gets there. My mom did throw a BBQ for my little brother when he graduated a couple of years ago. She had chicken, hamburger, hot dogs, etc. for the grill. Salads. Chips & Dip. They did have beer though (they can't go anywhere without it) and soda, juice, bottled water, etc. to drink. She had a little inflatable pool for any little ones that came along. Had horseshoes set up. Tents & chairs, etc. Most of all, have fun. Take lots of pics & enjoy. Good luck to you.

Great idea Heather. .thanks.. have to wait till things are a little dryer and the river goes down a bit...lol..

I like the idea of outdoor type sports like volleyball and horseshoes..

thanks for sharing

I don't have any ideas, but I don't think that it's tacky to make postcards to send to people and have RSVP. I hope that the celebration goes well.

Don't you people have anything to do? As far as a party goes; it doesn't matter what you do. Your daughter won't remember it when she is 60.

Well as always I'm a little late in joining the conversation...but when my kids graduated we did a couple things. One was to buy hamburger and lots of it and made up sloppy Joes and put them in crock pots to be a self serve, Macroni and potato salad also...more macroni since the teens seemed to like it better! We went to a discount "paper/card store" in a neighboring city and bought out things like cups, table covers, and the such...spreading our costs over a few months.(same for the purchase of hamburger as it was on sale and froze it. This being March now is the time to get the things and squirrel them away, I am guessing the out door stuff won't be until May. My kids to this day talk about their party and the bon fire in the evening that they and their friends were around roasting hot dogs and marshmellos on the end of long sticks...and that has been 20 years later! Oh and pictures take lots!