A successful party is a difficult thing to plan and execute. It requires juggling tons of moving parts, satisfying sometimes unsatisfiable people, and keeping everyone engaged the whole time. Graduation parties are no different, which is why we’re going to give you three huge tips that will help make any graduation party excellent.
The first thing to realize, as a parent, is that a graduation party isn’t for you. It’s for the person graduating. Starting in the right frame of mind is tantamount, because the rest of the party hinges on how well you can remember that you’re throwing a party for an 18 year old whose entire life is about to change dramatically.
Necessity 1: The Food Persuasion
To get into your young adult’s graduation mindset, you have to understand that it’s fraught with anxiety. Soon, he or she will be embarking to a new place for college, or it’s off to the job world. Either way, major upheavals are afoot, which is why the right food can be so comforting. It might be the last time for a while that your young debutante is able to enjoy the delicious noms that he or she has become accustomed to over the past 18 years. Cook up or order all of the favorites. You want the food to be comforting and stress-relieving.
Necessity 2: Friends
As a parent, it’s natural for you to want to make sure that all of your family and friends are invited--including 4th cousins twice-removed and your high school friend that your son or daughter has only met one time--but forget your child’s friends. This is not ok. You should also make sure that your young grad has friends of his or her own at the party. After all, it’s going to be hard to spend an entire 4 hour party bouncing between people that are only tangentially related to them, all the while wondering, “Have I actually met this person before?” Have some sympathy for the young alumnus.
Necessity 3: Viewing Party
A graduation is the perfect time for reflection and reminiscence. After all of your guests have filled themselves with food, soda, and merriment, it’ll be time to sit everyone down for a trip down memory lane. You can create a video that splices together home movies from the grad’s life or create a slideshow of fun and notable pictures from his or her childhood. It’s the perfect time to look back on your child’s last 18 years with fondness and reverie. For all of the people at the party it’ll be a great way to slow the progression of the party, and it makes a great segue into the gift-opening portion of the soiree. Please, parents, don’t include baby bath pictures. Those are so 1990s, and most people these days find them creepy.
When it comes to graduation parties, they can be an awesome time for your graduate to hang out, enjoy the last few days of being at home, and revel in a major life milestone. If you need help getting your old photos and home movies into a digital format for your viewing party, Southtree is the perfect solution. They can digitize all of your physical pictures and videos, send them back to you in a timely manner, and even put them on a USB drive for convenience.
The choice is yours about how badly you want to embarrass your child with the slideshow or movies, but we say go to town. Just like it’s the last chance for your kid to enjoy a party at home, it’s also a great time for you to remind him or her that you’re the one in charge, and they’ll always been your little snookums.
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