Graduation Party Ideas

Commencement ceremonies are currently taking place across the United States.   I attended a few graduation parties this past weekend and thanks to my Iphone I was able to take some snapshots of things I loved.  I’ll have a senior next year and it’s never too early to start planning.  For those of you who still have graduation parties to plan, I hope these party ideas inspire you.  Some parties choose to focus on the colors of the high school, but these two parties focused on the school colors of the Universities the girls are attending.

My neighbor Anna is attending the University of Arkansas.  The Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs is the name of the sport teams at the University of Arkansas. Anna made this adorable wreath for her front door which was inspired by a wreath she saw on pinterest. I love the burlap and chevron ribbon. She continued the chevron theme in her decor and wore the cutest dress which matched with her theme. I wish I had taken a picture of her.  As everyone arrived, her Dad took photos of her with each guest which I also thought was a nice touch.

She and her Mom made this pennant bunting which was draped across her fireplace mantel. It displayed her school photos from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Her dessert table continued the University of Arkansas color scheme of red, black and white.  She displayed chocolate covered strawberries, red and white candies and cut out sugar cookies shaped like graduation hats and hogs.  Sugar cookies are my weakness so I was sure to grab one to go since I’d already eaten one an hour before at another party.

My friend Christine took these photos at my friend Mary’s graduation party for her daughter Maddy.  As I mentioned before, these are all Iphone photos so a few may be blurry, but I think you still get the idea. Mary is the party planner extraordinaire.  She had this beautiful banner made which hung in her front entryway.  The banner is from shindigz.com.

Mary also had cut out sugar cookies made with the University of Illinois mascot, graduation caps, diplomas and Illinois in their school colors.  If you look closely , I love how Mary adds little details to her serving pieces like the patterned paper and ribbon all in the University of Illinois school colors.   Mary also loves a candy bar which is something we have in common.  She had jars of different blue and orange candies and bags for guests to help themselves.

Chief Illiniwek is the mascot for the University of Illinois.  Mary had her husband pose as  Chief Illiniwek and took photos of him in an Indian headdress. She served orange and blue beverages and Chief Illiniwek watched over the adult beverages.  Her party favors were paddles with a photo of her husband as Cheif Illiniwek on them .   The container of party favors was next to a wall lined with pictures of the graduate.  The pictures were hung from clothes pins on a wire strung across the wall.

Of course no graduation party is complete without family.  Maddy’s little sister Maisy was dressed as a University of Illinois Cheerleader.  I’ll be featuring some photos of Maisy’s birthday party next month.  I hope these ideas inspire you.  If all of these ideas exhaust you, I can ask Mary if she works for hire.