Graduation time is an exciting time for both parents and students. This milestone is usually celebrated with a party, and the decorations and themes can get a bit pricey. Once you have paid for the gown, the prom/ball/homecoming, moving costs to get to college and set up a dorm room, and family dinner on the night of graduation you may not have such a flexible budget for the party. Here are five ways to make a graduation party set up look nice and cost less, and they are fun to make.
Use candy!
Candy is the perfect, small, and generally colorful asset to any graduation party or any occasion really. Buy jelly beans or M M’s in your child’s school colors and fill some decorative cellophane bags with them. Tie a ribbon to close the bag and you have a rather personalized party favor. Even the other parents or students at the party will have them as keepsakes if most of the other kids are from the same school.
Fun Decorations
Have fun with the fact that most graduation caps are made of cloth and cardboard. You can make simple cap replicas and use them for almost anything! You can even make little mini caps to put on the table as place cards for dinner or to go around the straws in drinks. They can even be done without sewing with a hot glue gun or iron on stitching.
I’ve also seen Vintage textbooks or even essays and research papers used to make goodie bags and wrapping paper. This is a unique way of incorporating the theme of school and education. Older textbooks can be found at most thrift stores, like the Goodwill or Salvation Army. You can also find paper bag handles at your local craft store, and you can use an old gift bag as a pattern or prototype.
Let’s Not Forget About the Food
There is always a cookie cutter or baking pan that can be found for different occasions and graduation is no different. Check your local Party City, Michael’s, or Wal-Mart for festive molds and cookie cutters that you can use to bake goods to serve at your party, or include as favors in a goodie bag. There is also the option to bake a sheet cake and have a picture of the graduate printed on edible paper, the picture can be laid out on top of the cake and if you’re careful it can look just as good as similar cakes sold at your local bakery.
Invitation Cards
A crafty and fun invitation can also be made without the cost of a professional printing company. One idea is to design the invitation card online or in Microsoft PowerPoint or Photoshop if you know how to use it. The invitations can then be printed on parchment paper, rolled up, and tied with a ribbon. This will come out looking like a diploma being handed out on graduation day. Another Idea is to print the invitation in the format of an award. Award templates can be found online, and award covers can be found at your local craft store.
You don’t have to go into debt planning and executing a graduation party. Your local craft stores and thrift shops can offer some crafty and fun tools to decorate and plan a party. Sure you could easily go to a party store and buy readymade supplies, but preparation for the party should be part of the fun. You shouldn’t have to view the actual party as the eye of the storm, doing things yourself can reduce the stress of planning a party and make the whole process exciting.
