graduation tips, tricks and ideas

shell's 2013 high school graduation the color scheme was purple, black and silver {shell's favorite color combo, even her bedroom is done in these 3 colors}

i took a long string of silver ribbon and using clear packing table taped the top and bottom to our glass french doors.. then using mini black and purple clothes pins i got from etsy i clipped photos all the way down..

learn from my mistake i added way to many photos and the balloons wouldn't float.. we then had to fill the balloons up with more helium causing us to run out of helium too quickly.. i should have put only about 2 photos per balloon and i think i would only do 18 balloons 2 photos from each year..

it was pretty windy at the start of the party so we left the balloons in the living room so when people entered they could see all the photos..

since some of the balloons wouldn't "float" high i placed them on the table and they just kinda hung out on the table..

i bought frames at savers and pete painted them purple and then the glass with chalkboard paint.. i then used a chalk/glass writing pen and wrote on the chalkboard..

we set an area on the dessert table for friends and family to sign a frame mat for shell.. when she had her senior photo shoot there was a picture of her hitchhiking and we had that in a frame by the mat, as if to say she is on her way and i used the dr. suess quote to exlemplify that.. i got purple, silver and black sharpie pens and that is what people used to sign it..

i made cake pops and oreo truffles for our dessert table and decorated them in the colors of the party..

i bought all kinds of frames from savers and placed pictures in them.. if they were ugly we painted them purple..

i had a drink station.. i bought individual crystal light packets so people could have any flavored water they wanted.. i bought "chalk labels" for people to put on their cup and write their name.. we had an ice chest with cold water and another with cold soda.. i made crystal light lemonade and added sliced lemons to the dispenser..

in a bucket i had 4-5 bags of chips, i cut off the tops all the way down to where the chips were and added spoons to the bags so everyone could get their own chips without having to dig in the bag.. i made a lemony herby chex mix {recipe soon} and had a spoon in it as well.. i placed small black plates with small napkins by the appetizers {we had people arrive around 6:00 and the food from buca di beppo arrive around 6:30-6:45}

we hung lighted chinese lanterns in the trees.. i got purple, black and silver table clothes and made small purple flower arrangements for each of the eating tables..

last year pete made this diy farm table.. i had full intentions of adding ice to the center and putting in drinks but totally forgot .. ha but that is what that center piece is for..

i ordered plastic warefare black glasses on line and had them in a bowl for the kids to wear..

we ended up a ton left over i am going to keep them in the boat so while we are floating or what not we can wear them and if we lose them it's not a $100.00 pair of glasses that have been lost..

we tied twine to the cinder blocks of the wall above the food table and we used clothes pins and pinned photos.. once the wind died down it was really cute and not a one blew away even in the wind.. {had i had time i would have dyed the clothes pins using rit}

i made these super easy antipasto skewers... {i had so many left over tortellini that i skewered them separately and used the refrigerated alfredo sauce from the market for the dipping sauce}

since we ran out of helium faster than we thought we had extra balloon strings with photos so we used the clear packing table and taped them over the windows on the back of the house..