Graduation is an exciting time for many. Whether you’re the student receiving their diploma, the parent or sibling sitting in the audience cheering them on, or the grandparent bursting with pride, there’s no doubt that graduation day is a special day for you. So, how do you make sure this special milestone in your or your loved one’s life gets celebrated and appreciated in style?
By throwing a graduation party, of course! There’s no better way to celebrate an achievement like a high school, undergraduate, or even postgraduate degree than a party with all your family and friends. But planning a party can be a challenge too. You have to think of everything, from the decor and food to the guest list and party invites.
Luckily, we’re here to help out. Here are some graduation party tips to help you plan out your graduation party without hassle, constraint, or budget issues.
Send out your invites
The first thing you need to do is figure out who to invite and how to invite them. Remember that a good invitation sets the vibe for your whole party, so you have to make sure your invite is exciting, engaging, and worthy of your guests’ attention.
You can use PosterMyWall to browse through a wide range of graduation templates and pick out the one that best fits your requirements. Once you’ve made your choice, hop onto the editor to add some personalized elements to your invite. Use a classy yet bold font to announce your graduation party. Add some fun graduation themed animations and stickers to spruce up your invite. You can also adjust the colors to match the theme of your party.
Add in your RSVP details and venue location, and your graduation party invites will be ready to send out. You can email your invitations to the guests who actively use the internet. But for those who aren’t as internet savvy, like your grandparents, you can print invites and mail to their house.
Pick a fun theme
Once your guest list is sorted, it’s time to start the planning. And there’s no better kick-off than deciding on a fun, easy-to-follow theme. While themes are relevant to all kinds of events, they can be especially fun at graduation parties. You already have the costume set up, all you need is a fun way to spruce it up and make it easy to adopt.
Come up with an exciting graduation party theme by adding a cool twist to the traditional graduation attire. You can set up an 80’s grad night and have your guests show up as their own rendition of a graduate within a 1980’s setup. Alternatively, if you want the actual graduating person to have all the attention that day, you can set up a more subtle color-coded theme and have the graduate be the only one to put on their gown and hat. You can never go wrong with a classic white and gold theme, or even something a little more seasonal, like springtime pastels for an early graduation party.
Personalize your decorations
Once you have a set theme in mind, the next step, of course, is to plan out how you’ll decorate your party. There are a ton of great ideas out there on how to decorate your graduation party, but that also means a lot of ideas are either mainstream, cliche, or just simply too overdone.
Try to incorporate a hint of creativity into your party decorations by making them personalized and unique. The first thing you can do is make DIY graduation accessories for all your guests with their names on them. All you need is some black chart paper and some tassels to make personalized graduation hats for all your guests. And of course, it doesn’t hurt to have some welcome treats set out for each guest either. Make mini versions of these graduation hats and place them on some wrapped individual chocolates to hand out to people who show up.
You can also incorporate your theme or dress code into your decor. If you’re going with a white and gold theme, set up a statement wall in one corner with a white and gold balloon arch, some gold streamers, and a white and gold cake to match, so that the graduate can stand there for a fun photo-op.
Set up a buffet table
Who doesn’t love a good buffet? Not only does it provide guests with a load of options to choose from, it also saves you from the hassle of having to plate and serve individual portions. Guests can help themselves to whatever they want without you having to worry about it.
To link your buffet to your graduation party, add some themed elements to your food dishes. Here are some great graduation party food ideas you can add to your buffet table.
- Graduation cap cupcakes
- Diploma shaped tortilla wraps
- Graduation peanut butter cups
Set all of your food up on a long table against one wall, and add some cardboard cutouts of graduation quotes on skewers and toothpicks to place on your food.
Promote your party on social media
Your party planning might be done, but there’s still a lot more left to do. It’s not just enough to send out invites and expect your guests to stay excited until the day of the event. You have to find ways to keep the excitement levels up the entire time and this graduation party tip will help with just that.
Here’s some additional easy to do graduation party tips for social media:
- Use social media to showcase your party planning efforts to your potential guests.
- Make little clips of you and your family blowing up balloons or putting up streamers and post it on your Facebook and Instagram story.
- Show them snippets of your personalized decor, and add a fun caption to let them know to expect a lot more.
- Post your party invite on your social media feed if you’re looking to invite more people, and encourage your followers to show up if they want to celebrate your success and have a great time doing it.
Final thoughts
Graduation is an important time in everyone’s lives. It not only marks the completion of a significant goal, but also the start of a new chapter in your life. And what better way to kick off this new chapter than by celebrating with your friends and family?
So try these graduation party tips and use PosterMyWall for all your party related needs.
Senior editor at PosterMyWall.
