With graduations coming up, it’s now the time to start prepping for their celebratory party. Although some have the idea that graduations cost a pretty penny, you can always knock the price down with some helpful tactics. In this article, we will give you a helping hand on throwing your kid the best budget-friendly graduation party.
The Basics
Establish a Budget
The first thing you want to establish when planning out your child’s graduation party is how much you want to spend on it. Without a budget, you may be tempted to overspend without the insight on how much each part of the party will cost. You can even use a party planning worksheet to use as a rough draft. Some of the important things to consider when drafting a budget are food, guests, amenities, entertainment, and energy costs for lighting or music.
However, be sure to talk to your kid about what they’re most excited for when it comes to their graduation party so you can plan heavily on the main attraction. Plus, you can even have your child help you draft your budget plan and help them establish a role in planning out their own part to ease the load.
Plan to Have the Party at Your Own Home
Although you could rent out a country club to throw your child their graduation party, planning it to be at your own home can save you hundreds in rental costs. It would even be easier for your child’s friends to attend since they know where it will be as well as being easily accessible. They may even want to lend a hand in helping set up, which could reduce even more budget money!
Ask for Help
Believe it or not, joint graduation parties are on the rise among teens nowadays since they can plan it out with friends and have more fun, not to mention, avoid conflicting schedules. First, ask your kid if they want to co-host or host and have them ask their friends about joining in. There’s nothing like taking the stress off your shoulders and balancing it out among your child’s best friends.
When it comes to music or food services, ask around in your local community and see if you can get discounted school rates. Or, you can even do the baking yourself to help reduce in catering costs.
Don’t Overspend on Invitations
When it comes to sending out graduation invitations, don’t plan on taking out a big chunk of your budget. One of the best ways to cheaply send out invitations is to send them out online via email or social media platforms. Or, you can always try sending out handmade cards that can even make their way into your pre-made scrapbook for your child’s special day.
Decorations
Create Your Own Fun Guest “Book”
One of the best ways for your child’s guest book to be remembered is to make the guest book fun and creative. One of my favorite ideas is to buy Jenga blocks on Amazon and have each guest sign one!
Use Creative Lighting
No one wants a dark party. Instead, opt in for stringed Christmas lights or fairy lights for more stylish and fun decorations. You can even use a handful of colored paper clips to hand up photos of your child on the lights for a more meaningful look.
Create Confetti Balloons
Since balloons are a high necessity at your child’s graduation, get creative with it! One of the best ways to this is to fill up some clear balloons and fill them up with a handful of confetti. You can even use confetti that matches your school’s colors.
Food
Set Up A Food Bar
You could get your graduation party catered, but it may be cheaper to cook the food yourself. Ask your graduate what kinds of foods they would like to serve at their party and work from there. Also, make sure you have plenty of snacks like chips, veggies, and fruit. Ask guests if they can bring side dishes. For your main dish, set up a food bar. Some good examples may be a taco bar or hot dog topping bar. This way guests can make their own meals and everyone will be happy.
Don’t Forget About Dessert
You can also ask guests to bring desserts. If you want to make some desserts, cupcakes are always quick and simple. You can take it one step further and make a cupcake decorating station. Bake and frost some cupcakes. Then, surrounding the cupcakes on the table, place some sprinkles, candy, and other toppings.
Decorate Your Drinks In Theme
No matter what kind of drinks you are serving, you can easily fit them in the theme by creating graduation cap straw toppers. This is an easy way to add a little more detail to your party.
Activities
Photo Booth Wall
Without a doubt, your guests will be taking a lot of photos at your party. A simple DIY photo booth wall is easy to make. Hang oversized confetti or streamers in your school’s colors on the wall as the backdrop. You can also provide fun and goofy props for people to take photos with. You should also create a designated party hashtag. That way you and your guests can see everyone’s photos, both taken at the photo booth and around the party.
Other Party Activities
Plan a few other events for guests to do while at the party. Don’t overthink it. Just see what games you have lying around the house. Twister is always a favorite. You could also play horseshoes, foursquare or anything else. Take out some sidewalk chalk and see what people create.
You can also create some graduation-based games. For example, you could play “Guess The Year” where guests look at an old photo of the graduate and try to guess what year the photo was taken in. You could then give a prize to the person who gets the most correct answers.
