By: Ariel Ludwick 

     Graduation parties have recently gained a lot of popularity, and for a good reason! Graduates hosting a party get a day to celebrate themselves and invite whoever they’d like to enjoy food, reminisce in photos and memories, and give gifts and cards to celebrate their accomplishment. However, planning a grad party is where it can get tricky, so here are some helpful tips from The Squire and senior Alexis Stec on how to own your grad party and celebrate successfully. 

     The first thing to plan is where to celebrate. You can always have the party at your house, but depending on how many people you invite, you may need a bigger area. Some important things to consider include, if the location has an inside and outside area to celebrate in case it rains, where everyone will park and if there will be space, how far the location is from your home, and whether there will be tables and chairs or if you’ll need to provide those yourself. I plan to have my party at the Lander Fire Hall because it meets all the above considerations, as well as having a kitchen so I can cook all the food there rather than at my house. I can also use it for free because my grandparents are members of an organization that allows family members to use it. Stec has hers set to take place at her grandmother’s house for similar reasons. Be sure to consider how costly it will be to rent a venue or building, if that is the route you are going.  

     Next is to prepare your guest list and how you plan to invite everyone. Depending on where your grad party will be, determines how many people you are able to invite. Having mine at the fire hall allowed me to invite over two hundred people, but if I had it at my house, I would not have had nearly the amount of space required for all of those people. When I put together my guest list, I did not want to print out all of those invitations and mail them out. So, stealing the idea from Stec, I invited everyone to an event I created on Facebook so they could also let me know if they could attend. As for the remaining guests that don’t have Facebook, I plan to print out invitations and either mail it to them or give it to them myself. That way I only have to print thirty rather than two hundred. 

     Following the technicalities of planning is deciding what food to provide. When choosing food, pick something that’s easy to serve and enjoyable to many and yourself as well. Depending on how many people you invite will determine how much food you need but also give variety. I plan to provide pulled pork sandwiches and meatball subs as well as macaroni and cheese, along with plenty of chips and sauces. Desserts are always an obvious delight at a party, so be sure to have cake, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, or a combination of your favorites. Stec explained, “I’m going to have barbecue chicken with all the sides and good snacks, and my mom is making her cupcakes which are to die for.” Also be sure to have options for food for specific diets if you know of family or friends that may need that. 

     Finally, my personal favorite, decorations. There are a million different options with what you could do. My party’s theme is the Fourth of July, but you could theme it off a specific color scheme, school colors, your favorite animal, pattern, or really whatever you’d like. A photo backdrop is also something a little special for your party, and it could feature a balloon arch, big letters, or even something as simple as a wall with your name. Speaking of photos, you can also have pictures set out or hung up somewhere. Another idea that I plan to include is a section for the college I plan to attend that’ll include merchandise I’ve gotten from my college, my acceptance letters, and photos of me from when I visited, but you could also do this if you plan on going into the military or the workplace and base it around that.  

     Stec, though she took a much different approach than I did, also has a variety of decorations planned ahead of time, explaining, “My decorations are blue and gold, but also my college colors and then I’m going to have sunflower centerpieces I’m going to have a lot of special things. I’m going to have a lemonade bar. I’m going to have a photobook where they sign in and they take Polaroid photos and then write me a little message and put it in a book. I’m going to have a photo backdrop and then I’m going to have cornhole and ladder ball and can jam.” 

     The Squire hopes to have helped you with any planning questions you may have had and given you ideas for when you plan to celebrate.