Grads
After graduation, parents often celebrate the occasion by throwing a party. Whether the graduation marks high school or college may influence the theme or food, or you may decide to stick with the traditional open house route. Does this Spark an idea?
The Theme
A traditional open house allows guests to honor the graduate, with more casual and relaxed atmosphere.
Or choose a theme. For a girl graduating from high school, consider a Gossip Girl themed dinner party, where the teenagers feel like elite guests on the Upper East Side, and are served virgin cocktails and fancy cuisine. For a college graduate, base the theme around his/her degree. For example, if he/she earned a degree in veterinary science, use an animal theme.
The Décor
With an open house, decorate with balloons and streamers outside as well as inside the house to direct guests to the party location. Post a graduation sign at the end of the street pointing guests towards the house. For a large gathering, set up a tent in the backyard with several tables and chairs.
For a Gossip Girl dinner party,decorate the dining room with gold and silver accents. Shop at thrift stores for vintage dinnerware or a gold runner to place over their dining room table. Ask the teens to bring photos in decorative frames of their favorite moments in high school and place them next to their personalized place cards.
If parents decorate for a recent college graduate in Veterinary Medicine, they may decorate with balloons of different animals and use plastic dinnerware and napkins with dogs and cats on them. They could store drinks and ice in litter boxes instead of coolers, for a different look.
The Food
With an open house, plan for food that is easy is to store and replenish. Ideas include deli platters with rolls, several kinds of salads, slow cooker meatballs, and chips. And of course graduation cake for the guest of honor.
For the Gossip Girl dinner party, elegance is key. Prepare virgin cocktails in glasses and placing them on a serving tray for their child and her guests. Ideas for menus could include Waldorf Astoria Hotel's recipe of Waldorf Salad and Waverly Inn's recipe of Macaroni and Goat Cheese. For dessert, serve your version of Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes.
To make to the Veterinary Medicine theme entertaining, set out bowls of "puppy chow mix" as snack.The tasty snack combines Crispix cereal, powdered sugar, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butter.
Tags: open house, dinner party, Gossip Girl, high school, college graduate, decorate with