Get Straight As On Your Graduation Party

    Hosting a goodbye-to-grades celebration doesn't require a lot of pomp and circumstance. Choose a theme for the party, such as "Forever Summer Vacation" with a luau, "Welcome to the Jungle" with a rainforest motif, "Smooth Sailing" with a nautical touch, or "Show Me the Money" with a financial angle. Then follow these easy tips to make your graduation celebration a "class" act.

Grade A Invitations

-Write the party details with a calligraphy pen on white parchment, then roll it up and tie with a ribbon using school colors.

-Make mortarboard (graduation cap) invitations from black cardstock tied with a tassel, and write details in silver ink.

-Create a fake "Final Exam" for your invitation, and ask multiple choice questions such as, "At Rebecca's Graduation Party, you want: a) lots of food, b) a DJ, c) a toga party, or d) all of the above."

-Make personalized report cards with party details included —and give everyone straight As in "Partying 101".

-Include a kindergarten picture of the graduate, along with their senior picture, for a "Before" and "After" invitation.

-Ask guests to come dressed as school stereotypes, such as cheerleader, jock, nerd, skater, teacher or principal.

-If it's a surprise party, blow up pictures of the faculty, attach them to large craft sticks, and write the party details on the back. Then have the guests hold them over their faces when they yell "surprise" to the unsuspecting grad.

Intro to Decorations

   Tape up banners, garlands, and "Class of …" signs in school colors. Tape a mortarboard to the top of bundles of helium balloons and let them float from the ceiling as if they're flying through the air. Decorate the room with school mementoes, such as saved dance tickets, corsages, prom programs, textbooks, old reports, beat-up binders and pictures from the yearbook. Give the guests grad caps to wear and megaphones and clappers to use at the party. Rent movies such as Napoleon Dynamite, National Lampoon's Animal House or Ferris Bueller's Day Off to play in the background. 

   Cover the table with the newspaper want-ad section, and circle some of the more bizarre "Help Wanted" ads. Collect job applications from fast food restaurants and gas stations and use them as placemats. Or blow up pictures of the faculty and use them as placemats. Have a replica of the school mascot serve as a centerpiece.

Grad Games and Activities