It’s almost time for the big day and you deserve to celebrate this important milestone!
As you start to think about your graduation day celebration, here are the elements you need to focus on.
The Guest List
Deciding who you want to invite will help you determine whether you need a venue, entertainment, and a caterer. Do you just want it to be family or friends and family? How many people do you plan to invite? Will it be a grand party or something more intimate?
Set a Budget
Sit down and work out a budget for the party. Start by listing what is most important to you and allocating budget towards that first. Whatever is leftover can be used to pay for small extras.
Search for Venues
Many seniors choose to have their parties right at home. If you would prefer to hire a venue, start searching for something in your area that fits in with your theme and your budget. Once you have a shortlist, find out about venue hire fees and whether you have to purchase food and drinks directly from them or a preferred food vendor. Being able to supply your own food and drinks always works out much cheaper. If you can’t supply your own, you’re helping out a local business in town.
Decide on the Food
Food that’s easy to make and eat is a popular choice for graduation parties, unless you prefer to have a more formal sit-down meal. If you are having a party at home, opt for food you can prepare the day before. The other option is to have a caterer take care of the food for you. In fact, many local restaurants are catering parties now too. I have used Cables End, Subway, Silver Mine and Qdoba before. There’s a great BBQ place in Eaton that has catered an event I attended. Talk to your favorite restaurant and see how they can help you! If you have some additional budget, you could even consider a food truck. I just attended a workshop in St. Louis. Everyday for lunch they had multiple food trucks and they were delicious! I’ve seen more and more food truck around Greeley, stop and talk to them. I bet they can help you out! Maybe you just want to do snacks. What about small bags of favored popcorn from Mom’s Popcorn store in downtown Greeley. She has helped me out in the past and she’s great! You have lots of options no matter how big or small you need!
Plan Your Décor & Entertainment
This is one of the best parts of planning a graduation party. Once you decide on a theme, create a Pinterest board and start collecting ideas. There is so much you can create right at home without spending a fortune. Whatever theme you decide on, have fun with it and make it your own. In terms of entertainment, a good playlist is all you really need. However, if you want to go big, you could hire a local band or DJ, or set up a games area. Since you will be sharing this celebration with the people you love the most. Maybe even setup a photo booth for you and your guests to take some fun photos of each other!
Remember, this is your graduation party, which means you don’t need to do what everyone else is doing. Celebrate in style, your way!
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you with invitations and photos for decorating. I am happy to help you out! We still have time to get things ordered but not for long!
