High School Graduation Party

We have family and friends all invited at the same time but my son knew his friends were going to stay later (some spent the night) and some of those arrived later. We did it as a bbq and pool party so we have typical backyard bbq foods and graduation cake.

We always have just 1 party..friends & family combined. I suggest typical picnic type food, and definitely a "congratulations to the grad" cake. I'd set a time limit on the party, like 1:00 - 4:00. There are all kinds of 2012 paper plates, napkins, balloons, etc. Be sure to take lots of pictures..he won't be thrilled with the pics now but in the future he will love them! Congrats & have fun!

I've thrown three graduation parties. We did it on a Saturday or Sunday after the graduation day. Set a time frame. We did it at our house and backyard. A park would save you some clean-up time and give you more space but they may be all booked up. We invited ALL at the same time - family, friends, neighbors.

For the first, I had a Sunday brunch menu - egg strata, honey backed ham, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, potato salad. I made it all myself except the rolls. For the second, I had party trays from Davanni's (small subs) and chips and fruit salads.

Just yesterday I threw a grad school graduation party and we had shredded beef (in a crockpot) sandwiches, chips, and fruit and angel food cake to dip in chocolate.

Pam - here in the midwest, we just hope it's warm enough for an outdoor party at the end of May! And that it doesn't rain!

Often people have an open house where family and friends can come and go between a certain time period. Maybe a 3-hour window. Pick food that can be prepared ahead of time or have it catered.

Party together. Personally, I also wanted to enjoy my family and friends and didn't want the hassle of cooking, so we catered in BBQ (Kansas City, you have to have BBQ)! The place we used provided EVERYTHING (food, plates, utensils, serving utensils etc) for one price. We just put plywood over our pool table in the lower level and that was the buffet. And had the local grocery store do the cake.

Having at a park would be nice, no clean up before or after, but you're carting everything there.

And I agree with the other poster that said to set a time. We had our son's the week AFTER graduation. We are in a small school and it seems like there were 2 - 3 sometimes 4 in one day, sometimes at the same time. The kids also want to go to their friend's parties.

I had one big family and friend party the weekend BEFORE graduation. There are so many parties going on graduation weekend I wanted to make sure we had a high turnout with no conflicts.
I did a ham with rolls, pasta salad, green salad and cake/punch. We had a LOT of people (around 60) so I wanted to keep the menu simple but classy :)
Have fun & congrats to the grad!

High school and college was sort of like an Open House. Friends, family, everyone came and went. I had food available. We had it in our backyard. I ordered bbque for High school and for my daughter's college graduation party a couple of weeks ago, I orders fajitas from a local mexican restaurant. Yum!

for big events such as this, we prefer using one of our local parks....it has a great pavillion & serving station + activities for all age groups!

I plan our big birthdays, graduations, & even family reunions this way. Love the freedom & no mess at home!

I'd do both together. Just know that the kids will separate themselves from the adults, and that's okay. Do you have a outdoor grill? Chicken on the "barbi" and hamburgers - that's easy if the park has one.

Fruit, chips, desserts, sodas, water, for the adults, and music playing. If you don't have a big cooler, borrow one from someone.

Sounds like a great time! We did this for my graduating son, but at our home, where the kids threw frisbees, played a little tag football and badmitton, enoyed the fire pit where they made s'mores after it got dark.

Happy graduation!
Dawn

One party is the norm here. Backyard or the front using the garage for shade and laying food out and using plug ins for crock pots, etc.

My only child graduates in 3 weeks and I have been planning hers for months. I just pray and hope for a nice day, not too hot and no rain!

We are having a walking taco bar, fruit kabobs, bars and cookies and CAKE! My daughter loved the idea of a Root Beer Keg, so we will do that along with bottled water.

Her school does not have school colors (it's a small, but public, Arts High School, so no sports teams, etc) so we are doing everything her favorite colors of lime green, dark purple and lavender purple. I have been buying cups and plates and balloons and napkins and the rest for months with coupons and sales! I have plans set in place to borrow tables and tents, but we rented chairs ( and will share the rental with a friend who lives a half mile away and is having her sins party the next day!)

I say find a location if your home is not ideal, and go from there. Get a cake ordered and start the rest!

Have a great grad party!

We always have them friends and family. I have never heard of the kids wanting to play basketball or anything. Really when they graduate high school it is a big deal to them to play adults. That kind of goes away as soon as they start college but for that moment....

Pretty much my daughter is getting the same thing next weekend for college graduation. Tons of food, invite everyone, unless you are under the age of 10 don't expect me to let you in the pool, ya know? :)

Right now my older daughter is at a party at her friends house, all friends and family. They are celebrating a high school, college and law school graduation. Why didn't I time my kids like that? :(

We did just one big open house kind of party. That is how all the parties were when I graduated high school. You just have a lot of food, cake, and drinks and people just come and go. We all just piled into a few cars and went from party to party for weeks. It was fun and by doing an open house you don't always have a ton of people there at one time.

We're doing pork bbq and having everyone at the house the day after graduation. My daughter graduates Fiday night, the party is Sat afternoon.
I am also getting chicken wings and then beans, potato salad, chips, all the fixings.
I've orderd a cake from Costco.

If you have it at a park you don't have to clean the house or spruce up the yard. Hope it's warm enough.

we've always done one party. Usually the kids and family group up and come together for cake.

Sounds like "fun" but isn't it a little late to do it at a park??? At least it would be here in AZ. (Plus it would be way too hot...it's 109 today ;) But you would have had to reserve a spot a long time ago to get a spot here, but maybe it's different in Milwaukee? Our kids here graduate on Thursday. Our twins graduated last year...we had everyone come over to the house...they told us who they wanted to come for friends and we had some of our friends come and then they wanted their principal and their favorite teacher and wife and kids, so we only had about 40 or so. I did it buffet style which worked great, fortunately it wasn't 109 so people could sit out by the pool or be inside, I cut up two huge watermelon off the rind in bite sized pieces (it was a huge hit...not one piece left), veggie tray, small sandwiches, homemade potatoe salad, etc. had a big cake made, coffee, iced tea, etc. If you go with the subs, they can be made ahead of time and you don't have to hassle with the BBQ and it will simplify things. Good luck and congrats to the graduate!!!