How to plan a graduation party on a budget

This past weekend, we held a graduation party for my bonus son. I was so excited about this party, because my own kids did not want to have one when they graduated,  which was such a bummer for this party planning mama.  I have been planning this party for the last three or four months, and almost everything used this party was from the Dollar Tree.  Buying the party supplies from the Dollar Tree definitely helped me stay on budget.  

There were only a couple of minor things that did not go the way I hoped, but over all it turned out to be a great party anyway.  It was too windy for some of our decorations.  I planned on having two balloon towers in front of the shelter house, and balloon sticks on the tables. The wind kept blowing the balloons over.  We also ran a bit late getting everything set up, because the graduate went to the wrong location when he was supposed to be picking up items for the party.  Oops!  The last thing did not go the way it was supposed to was when I pulled out the cupcakes to put on the cupcake tower, several of them had fallen over and were unusable.  Thankfully I brought some extra ones, so all was well. We just did not have as many cupcakes as originally planned.  

 ** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

The cupcake tower was one of just a few things not from Dollar Tree.  I found it at Target for $5.  It is really sturdy cardboard, and trimmed in gold.  Thankfully it did not blow over in the wind.  We are thinking of using it again at my bonus daughter's wedding in a few months. 

 

The original plan was to put our food on tables under a canopy, so everyone could sit to eat and talk at the picnic tables in the shelter house.  We ended up setting out the food inside the shelter, because of the wind. All the serving trays and utensils that we used for our food are from Dollar Tree.  You can find many of the trays here, and many of them are currently available in small quantities.  

One of the biggest hits of the party were our fruit and veggie cups with graduation picks in tumbler cups  The reason why servings were put into cups is, it was easier for the party attendees to grab and go.  l did not want to have all the fruits and veggies on a tray where they could be touched by multiple people. I had several people tell me that they really liked having the individual cups.

I did something similar for the kids.  Instead of everyone putting their hands inside the chip bags to get the chips, we displayed them in a large party tray from the Dollar Tree.  I found this white on in the party aisle, but they have a few other variations here.

There were green and white party plates, napkins, cups and plastic utensils to eat with.  I thought I took a picture of them, but I must have missed it, because I am not finding it in my pictures.  

At one end the shelter house I set up the party favors, games  and card box.  I LOVE my scalloped tray that I bought a few years ago from the Dollar Tree. I used it to hold our candy bar favors.  While I have not seen these trays in one of my stores yet, they are bringing them back!  They are available now on the Dollar Tree website here. They were very hard to come by a few years ago.  I had a lot of good comments about them at this party, we are now considering using them for the wedding.

Almost all of the favors on the table were from the Dollar Tree.  The bubbles and favor boxes are available in the store. The candy jars  and trays, are available in store and online. 

I bought this card box a couple of years ago for a graduation party that did not happen during Covid. It is really big, easy to put together.  I bought the graduation cap this year.  

We did not have a photo booth set up with the wind, but we did have photo props available for the graduate to take photos with his friends.  Both the sign and the photo props are from the Dollar Tree.  

I did take a photo of the balloon tower stand after the party, and when the wind died down.  It was so easy to put together and can easily be used again, and again.  

I did make a few printables for his party, a few of which are available in my Etsy shop.  

The graduation games were a big hit.  

While I customized our candy bar wrappers with the graduate's school colors, I have printable wrappers available in the shop. 

We also wrapped all the water bottles with printable wrappers as well.  They are not in the shop yet, but are coming soon. 

Everyone left full, and happy.  The graduate had a great day with his friends and family, which made it a fun and successful party.     

 

 

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The Unofficial Start of Summer

Happy almost Memorial Day! It's kind of hard to believe that the unofficial start of summer starts in just a few days. I wrote in previous posts that this May has been a blur. It won't slow down much in the upcoming weeks, because we have things going on pretty much every week until after the 4th of July. 

We survived graduation week. This was the last picture that I took at the graduation.  We thought this picture was really funny when I caught him mid jump. It is a keeper for sure! I am currently planning his graduation party which is planned for mid June. 

While I will be making some custom wrappers for our party,  I did just add some new  printable graduation candy bar wrappers in my Etsy shop this week.  

We are looking forward to having a few extra days off of work to celebrate Memorial Day this year.  We will be attending a cookout, but I am not sure about the rest of the weekend.  If you are having any parties or cookouts that you are going to host or attend,  here are a few of my previous patriotic posts  if you are looking for some new ideas. 

While I originally created this post for 4th of July a few years back, these Easy Pops might be a fun treat for your Memorial Day parties.  I have been asked to bring potato salad to the party we are attending, but I might make these again for the 4th of July.  

If you are out and about buying flowers this weekend, I thought I would share one of my favorite planters I made.  I loved the look of the red, white and blue flowers.  You can read more about how I put it together here.

When it was time to celebrate the 4th, I added these easy fireworks to make it even more festive.  This would be a fun craft to make with kids. 

Whatever you do this during this unofficial first weekend of summer, I hope it is a good one! 

 

 

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Graduation Party Ideas

 

It's that time of year again, it's graduation season.  It's hard to believe how fast this last year went, and that it is already the end of school year.  This year I will be involved in two graduation ceremonies/parties.   My new job is at a preschool and daycare, and we will be having a graduation ceremony for the kids who are moving on to kindergarten next year in early June.  If everything goes well in the next few weeks, I am also planning a graduation party for my bonus son.  I have been picking up a lot of graduation party items from the Dollar Tree to prepare for our party sometime this summer. 

**this post contains affiliate links

While I have bought more than what is posted, here are some of my favorite items so far. 

I bought this sign from the Dollar Tree. I think is would look great in photos  while being held by the graduate.  

We are going to use this as the cake topper. It has a nice elegant look. 

I am not sure what I am going to do with this graduation cap yet, but I really liked the size of it. 

These party picks are new for 2023.  They would look great with various party foods. You get 24 per pack.    Also available are picks that say Class of 2023. 

I plan on hanging this 2023 graduation banner on a long wall in the dining room or in our main hallway. 

If you plan on having a photo booth, these photo props will be fun and inexpensive to use. 

How adorable are these graduation gnomes! When I saw them I just had to get them to add to my gnome collection.  

I 

I picked up these led number lights recently.  I can not find them on the website, but if you see them grab them, because they were going fast! 

We are still in the early phases of the planning our party, so there will be more posts with food and other ideas in the coming weeks.  Did you know that on the Dollar Tree website there is a value seekers blog with a lot of graduation ideas ?  There are many great ideas over there, so be sure to stop over and check it out. 

Over in my Etsy Shop I have a few graduation party listings currently available like this chocolate bar wrappers. Over the next few weeks, I will be adding several more items for this graduation season.  

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