Home and Living has a talented, funny, author and BFF named Penny Warner who has the best party ideas. Throw those caps in the air Grads because here is a gig just for you.
"After all those years of teachers and textbooks, it’s time to celebrate the payoff that comes from all that studying!" says Penny. Hosting a goodbye to grades doesn’t require a lot of pomp and circumstance. Choose a theme for the party, such as “Forever Summer Vacation” with a luau theme, “Welcome to the Jungle” with a rainforest theme, a “Smooth Sailing” with a nautical touch, or “Show Me the Money” with a financial feeling to the party. Then just follow these easy tips to make your graduation celebration a “class” act.
Grade A Invitations
• Write the party details with a calligraphy pen on white parchment, then roll it up and tie with ribbons using school colors.
• Make mortarboard (grad cap) invitations from black cardstock tied with a tassel, and write details in silver ink.
• Create a fake “Final Exam” for your invitation, and ask multiple choice questions such as, “At Ray’s Graduation Party, you want: a. lots of food, b. a disc jockey, c. a toga party, or d. all of the above.”
• Make personalized Report Cards with party details included—and give everyone straight A's in “Partying 101.”
• Include a kindergarten picture of the graduate, along with the senior picture, for a “Before” and “After” invitation.
• Ask guests to come dressed as school stereotypes, such as a cheerleader, jock, nerd, skater, teacher, principal, or custodian.
• If it’s a surprise party, blow up pictures of the faculty, attach them to large craft sticks, and have the guests hold them over their faces when they yell “Surprise” to the unsuspecting grad.
...it’s time to celebrate the payoff
Intro to Decorations
Tape up banners, garlands, and “Class of …” signs in school colors. Blow up balloons, tape mortarboards to the tops, and float them from the ceiling as if they’re flying through the air. Decorate the room with school mementoes, such as saved dance tickets, dried corsages, prom programs, textbooks, old reports, beat-up binders, pictures from yearbook. Give the guests grad caps to wear and megaphones and clappers to use at the party. Rent movies to play in the background, such as “Rock and Roll High School,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” or “Clueless.”
Cover the table with the newspaper want-ad section, and circle some of the more bizarre ads, such as “Bundles potter” and “Process Server”. Collect job applications from fast food restaurants and gas stations and use them as placemats. Or blow up pictures of the faculty and use them as placemats. Have the school mascot serve as a centerpiece.
Grad Games and Activities
• “Teacher Test.” Write the names of teachers on sticky labels, place them on guests as they arrive, and have players ask “Yes/No” questions to find out who they are.
• “Whatever Happened to…” Write up funny predictions about guests, such as, “Matt Warner, captain of the football team, now has his own chain of drop-in brain surgery clinics…” Insert them in balloons, write the names of the guests on the balloons, then have them pop the balloons to find out their funny futures.
• “Autograph Hound.” Give the guests autograph bears, dogs, caps or books to sign.
• “School Scrapbook Memories.” Set out scrapbooking materials and have the grads make their own memory books.
After-School Snacks
Have “cafeteria helpers” wearing aprons and hairnets serve classic cafeteria food (only better!) on plastic trays. Give each dish an “appetizing” name card, such as “Meat Surprise” or “Broccoli Jell-O.”
Offer popular school foods, such as pizzas, hamburgers, chips, and sodas. Serve them from lunch boxes and pour drinks from thermoses.
Make a cake centerpiece that looks like the school mascot or a mortarboard.
Grad Gifts and Party Prizes
Give the graduate a scrapbook to safeguard school memories, a personalized engraved pen set, a key chain with a “key to the future,” a funny tie to wear to work, an autograph book to collect good wishes from the guests, a cartoon lunch box, personalized business cards, a new wallet, a name plate, or a nice briefcase filled with want-ads or job applications.
Send the guests home with grad hats, clappers, and megaphones, “Class of …” photo frames with group 
pictures, pens engraved with the school name, autograph books, or job-hunting books.
Penny Warner has more than 25 years of experience as an author and party planner. She has published more than 50 books, including 16 specific to parties. Additionally, Warner writes a weekly newspaper column on family life and has appeared on several regional and national TV morning programs. Her latest books are Ladies Night: 75 Excuses to Party with Your Girlfriends
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