HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION PARTY OR COLLEGE SEND OFF PARTY? WHY NOT BOTH ?
I remember when I threw "the kid" lavish birthday parties. She had the best parties, of course it is easy & cheap to entertain little ones. They never asked for much. My mother always told me why didn't I wait till she got older so she could remember. Yea, mom like taking me to Disney Land, Rocky Mountains, & Bull Winkles theme park (something by that name) was waiting for me to grow up so I could remember? I don't remember anyone of those. So now years later i finally understand. "I GET IT MOM! " God rest her soul.
As the kid got older the parties weren't as grand and more and more it just got to be about hanging out with her friends. So when it came to graduation day we made a decision. Thanks to our friends who did this before. We decided NOT to have a graduation party, rather we had a graduation get together. We figured that potential gifts should come later to save for college. Much better then getting graduation gifts that she either will use, lose or spend. The day of her graduation, we invited people to come over to hang out and grab a burger and relax. We didn't go all out and we had fun just relaxing and laughing. We didn't want to compete with the crowds & or other graduation parties. We wanted it to be about her and for it to be relaxing. So we did 2 get together's.
The send off party!!! We had her register for a house warming registry and we kept everything simple and under $25 This way it was easy for people to get what she really wanted and needed. We didn't have much information about her dorm as we weren't certain as to how it was set up. We used TARGET university store list and we decided to get ideas from that. She didn't need everything. Remembering that what you take there will have to leave there at some point, so less was more.
I will attach a list later. But for now here is a pic of the North Russel dorms at Baylor Univ. for 3 roommates! -ea. had their own style - kids side is the single bed. on left. We got a hand me down fridge and I spray painted the sides black, duct taped the front with a chevron pattern and spray painted the handle blue. It wasn't a pretty hand me down but it was FREE and most important it WORKS. No need to go all out fancy when you can fix it up yourself. I spent $4 for duct tape & $4 for spray paint (i used epoxy appliance spray paint) The blue wall is a peg board that really has no purpose as you cant really hang any pegs off of it. It is too close to the wall. So we added fabric to match and she posted up pics. We took extra chevron duct tape to make the surrounding border so it could match.
Remember - hand me downs are great thing. You can always clean it up, fix it up and make it your own. Hand me downs means more money for you to spend on their gas, car maintenance or groceries.
Below is her desk area. The toaster, crock-pot & coffeemaker were all SALE items from black Friday of 2011- yes! I prepared that much in advance. It was one less added expense later on. And do you need all those items? NO - but the kid loves her poptarts, coffee and queso / the official staples of tex mex college students or least mine. None the less, we purchased a huge clear container so she can store the stuff till she needs it. I also bought her a little wash basin so she can wash her dishes. The rest of the stuff was from her room (purchased at the dollar spot at target)
here is a closer look at the comforter, rug and pre fabricated peg board. The comforter was from target and so was the rug - NOW please note, get the items when on sale. Just one set is fine. Then after clearance when everything is so low in price, like extra long twin sheet sets & comforters, buy them for next time and of course for an extra set for this semester too. I spent less than $15 on 3 sets of sheets for this year and next and I bought a comforter set for $11. Now is it the color she wants ? maybe not but I will make it work since I do like to change up her
room every year. So I figured since I am not touching her Marilyn Monroe room, I will do her dorm.
SIDE NOTE : going off on a tangent...
Now if your kid is in college now, or about to be next year. I say stock up on Black Friday. I like going to target because they make you wait in line and everyone gets a ticket or coupon stating what # they were in line and they can state what they want from the black Friday ad (big ticket items). There is no pushing, shoving or rushing back and forth looking for the item you can stroll around & people watch, which I love to do. First come first serve and that's it, you will know if you get the item or not before the doors even open. This is the time I stock up on towels (guest / kid room) I get items such as the small appliances for less than $10 ea. Pillows & small vacuum cleaners are cheap too (perfect for gifts, college students and guest bedroom). Never too early to look for bday gifts for the year too.
So back to the party - I didn't go all out on her going off to college party either. I didn't spend my time in the kitchen baking away. I made cold pasta and I purchased the cake & cup cake at Sam's whole sale. I bought the fondant sheet at Michael's & used their
COUPON. I cut the BU out and placed it on there. The green and yellow were already on the cake - I purchased angry birds cupcakes (already placed on them) & just took the rings off & sprinkled a little yellow sugar topping to match Baylor colors. I didn't go all out on spending too much money on desserts and food. You can do cute and inexpensive. When she graduates college I will probably have a professional make the cake & cater food in. Till then, its about taking care of what she needs for school.
So there you go - 2 party ideas for your senior & some ideas for pre-early shopping when they move out.
Lets not forget the INVITATIONS & THANKYOU CARDS -
I love using Picassa to make my picture collages. I didn't spend any money on hiring a photographer, I grabbed some ideas on line and went down the street to take pictures near a railroad track. Took the pics when the sun was about to set so I could get great lighting. I made the poem - cheesy, yes. But I'm all about cheesy and having fun.
The invites are just 4x6 pictures. Nothing expensive or fancy. I don't like spending lots of money on something that usually gets thrown away or stuffed in a box. I can tell you out of all my invites from weddings, graduation & birthdays, I may have one or 2 left. If they want a picture, I usually make extra copies without all the other stuff. In the envelope I added a post card pre-made to her.I included her address and a picture of her when she was little. I just glued a note card to the back. All they needed to do is stick a stamp on it and send it to her. I asked if they could send a note of wisdom, encouragement or something funny that she could have for a rainy day. If someone showed up to the party, I sent them a hand written thank you note from her. I think hand written notes mean a lot more then just a thank you card with your name on it.
I hope I was able to give you some great ideas. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Xo-Xo
~Mel
