Planning the Organized Graduation Party

Sadly, this is the last year I am writing about having an organized graduation party. My baby is graduating this Spring and I am unofficially retiring this topic. The invites have been designed and received and placed in the mail. I am now up to the nitty gritty party planning mode. This is the mode that often derails me. I need to stay focused as I dont have time for distractions! Having completed two previous graduation parties, I think I have the perfect formula down.

1.Dont have it in your home. Yes, there are people who do this, and do this successfully. But I am one of those people who needs to replace the carpet in the entire home and remodel the kitchen before I could host this party. I admit my flaws and this is a big one of mine. I know I am happier (and so is my marriage) by hosting it elsewhere.

2. Team up. Dont think you need to go it alone. Ask for help. Not good at the decorating? Ask a friend. If you are having the party in your home, make sure that you have someone in charge of refilling the food and drinks and clearing the garbage. This person should not be you! I repeat, this person should not be you. You need to enjoy the party and mingle with your childs friends and your family.

3. Have the food match the graduate. My youngest son loves soup.so you guessed it, we are serving soup. We are even having a morning party. Soup for breakfast? Why not. We served meatballs at my oldest sons brunch because he loved meatballs. I focus on the graduate not what people would think.

4. Stick to your budget. This party does not need to break the family bank. Figure out where you want your money to go and focus on that. Dont get distracted by details that add to the budget but do not add to the experience. This is hard to stick to the budget as we can get distracted but bright shiny objects, but just stop and keep that budget in mind.

5. Keep the decorations simple. I always look at what we already have. I met with a creative friend this week who gave me a ton of great ideas. I had to stop her and tell her my budget was zero for decorations. She then came up with ideas that cost very little money. I can get behind that. A simple decoration I do is I spend $12 at the dollar store on 5 x 7 frames and frame all the school photos and place them on a table. It is a simple and inexpensive decoration.

6. You are not expected to feed a full meal. Most people are stopping for 30 minutes or less. Sure, there will be the occasional family members that are there for the whole party who may expect something more, but those are rare. I think back to my graduation party where cake and coffee was served and everyone left happy.

7. Have a guest book to sign. I always struggle with this as it seems like an odd thing. I had a guest book at my wedding and I have never looked at it. What I do instead is buy a fun childrens book and have people sign that.

8. Enjoy the day. This goes back to all of my points. Keep it simple and focus on the graduate. Dont try to do it all by yourself and most of all dont stress yourself financially. To Joyful, Simplified Organizing,

MS. Simplicity

Melissa is a Productivity Consultant and author living in Fargo, North Dakota doing her best of living a life full of adventure. Filling a life of memories and not of things! Melissa's e-book on Kitchen Organizing can be found on Amazon .