So, where we live, graduation open houses are expected after high school graduation. You may recall our October 2019 Create Date where we rebuilt our deck in preparation for our oldest daughter’s graduation party. We did not do any huge renovation projects ourselves for this party – I think partially because I was really scared something was going to happen to make it not possible, just like last time. We did buy new front and back doors and had them installed, but that was done by professionals. So, in May we had the task of throwing a graduation party without really knowing what we were doing or what to expect. As a first step, I ordered about 800 photos and we used thumbtacks and string to cover walls, doors, hallways, curtains, and furniture in photos. It was so fun to walk though and look at that we left them up for quite a while afterwards. Here are some photos.

I also knew that I wanted to make Charlotte a t-shirt quilt, so that was my second project. It ended up using parts of over 50 shirts – definitely the biggest quilt I have made thus far. The front was the only part that was ready in time for the party, but it looked great out on our deck.

Charlotte had very few requests for the party. She wanted to choose the colors – pastel purple, yellow, and blue for GLHS and Capital, she wanted us to have hot dogs, hamburgers, and macaroni and cheese for food options, and she wanted a bounce house. I am super pleased to say that we were able to accomplish that. I have amazing friends that let me drop off mac and cheese to be cooked in their ovens that morning, and one of them brought her husband over to man the grill for the hot dogs and burgers. It all turned out amazing! Here are some photos of Charlotte’s special touches – Keith is manning the grill in this one, but I promise we did have a designated griller.

After attending several open houses over the past few years, we knew that we wanted a few finishing touches. We displayed most of Charlotte’s art from the past few years in the living room, we displayed her Chorale dresses, special sweatshirts, and graduation gown in the front hall, and Keith stayed up late a few nights making a highlight video of Charlotte’s singing and theatre performances. Everything went amazingly well and so many people came to celebrate. It was super overwhelming in the best way – I am pretty sure if you add up all the people we have had in our house the whole 19 years we have lived there it would be less than the number of people in our house just that day! We felt so much love and support for Charlotte and for ourselves and we are so thankful. Here are a few more photos because can you ever really have too many?

The last thing we did, which everyone loved, is had a photo backdrop, a photo sticker printer, and a journal for people to attach the photos and write notes to Charlotte. It meant that Charlotte and I were stuck in the living room most of the party, but the journal turned out so amazing – it is a great keepsake for her with notes from all of her friends. Here are just a few of the photos so you can see the backdrop.

I am super glad we were able to have this celebration. If I could do it again, I would buy have the burgers and hot dogs – we still have quite a few in our freezer – and I would buy one cake because we had a lot of that left as well. That is it – the only things I would change. I loved every single other thing we did – especially the bounce house and the journal.

Have you ever planned and thrown a graduation party? What advice can you offer to other families? Let us know in the comments!