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March 30, 2014 ·

Graduation Party Ideas

decorating· decorating inspiration· Graduation

Graduation Party Decor IdeasThe time flew by faster than I ever could have imagined. Now my first born is ready to graduate from high school! It is approaching a bit too quickly for me (sniff, sniff, waaaaa!).  Time to start the planning and preparing for Graduation party time! I’ve based the entire graduation party decor ideas and theme around these pretty, glittery light teal Shutterfly Graduation Party Invitations.

That’s my baby, Morgan! Isn’t she beautiful? She’s all grown up! Someone grab me a tissue please!

Graduation Party Invitation

I tried to keep the decor fun and festive, but also conscious of cost. Two graduation pennant banners were made from scrap book paper, and ribbon. Look for the tutorial later this week!

Graduation Pennant BannerThe graduation invitation is the centerpiece of the party table. I found a pretty frame, in the same color of the invitation, on clearance for $2.00 and just taped the invitation to the frame. To elevate it a bit, I covered a small dominos container in scrap paper. Voila! The flower arrangements were made from two $4.00 bunches from the grocery store, and were placed in my Painted Glass Vases.

Graduation Party Decorations - Shutterfly Graduation InvitationsMy daughter Morgan is known for being incredibly sweet and kind hearted, so let’s create a dessert table full of sweet treats!

Girl's Graduation Party IdeasI like going against the grain when it comes to “expected party decor”. You won’t see any cliche, black graduation hats here. For a fun twist on the graduation hat decor, I made up tiny, white Graduation Cap Bottle Toppers, complete with tassels even. They fit over any water bottle or in this case, sparkling juice bottles. Are they not just the cutest things ever? The juices are served out of galvanized pail from a hardware store.

Graduation Party Decorations - Graduation Hat Bottle ToppersAnd if we’re drinking special, sparkly juices, then we need fun and festive decorative straws to sip with!

Decorative Straws - Graduation Decor IdeasBecause this day is all about Morgan, I wanted to display pictures of her over the years. Shutterfly has these amazing, customizeable, plexi photo cubes. I made 3 different designs on their website, one of her as a toddler, one in grade school, and a collage of her in high school. She absolutely loves them. These would make a great gifts for your graduate. She plans on snagging the collage photo to take to college with her.

Graduation Party Decor Ideas 2Everyone loves a fudgy brownie right? Dessert gets even more irresistible when it’s in the form of colorful, candy coated Brownie Pops (click link for recipe).

Graduation Party Dessert Table - Brownie PopsLayer coordinating colors of chocolate candies in a clear, dollar store, footed bowl, or use a wide mouth vase even. Stick on a 2014 sticker for added appeal.

Graduation Party IdeasContinuing the graduation theme, we have some edible diplomas! Hazelnut and vanilla Pirouette cookies are tied with foot leather strips to replicate graduation diplomas. FUN and delicious!

Graduation Diploma Cookies

Every celebration needs a cake… a chocolate cake…  (a girl can never get too much chocolate!). This is just a homemade box cake, with white buttercream frosting. I dressed up the cake with hot pink carnations and 2014 wood numbers from the craft store, which I painted and hot glued together. This is an easy, yet beautiful presentation.

Girl's High School Graduation Party

This was the first time I was able to use the silver and crystal cake stand, given as a gift from my sister. If you notice too, butterflies are all around the tablescape also. A butterfly represents a new life, a new beginning. They need to spread their wings and fly! All of which Morgan is about to do as she embarks on her new journey, heading off to college.

Oh no… here come the happy tears again. 😉

Graduation Cake

Fun and Fabulous Graduation Party Decor

I hope you love these fun and fabulous graduation party ideas! If you have a son graduating, then feel free to check out this fishing themed graduation post. And visit Shutterfly for all your graduation announcements, invites, and gift ideas too! I love mine!

Kim

Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Shutterfly. All opinions and expressed idea are my own.

Linking up to TidyMom

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Comments

  1. laura@top this top that says

    March 30, 2014 at 7:21 am

    it’s perfect! congrats on Morgans graduation.

    • Kim Wilson says

      March 30, 2014 at 12:05 pm

      Thank you Laura!!

  2. Robin All Things Heart and Home says

    March 30, 2014 at 11:35 am

    LOVE it!!!! The colors are just perfect Kim and I love those tiny hats on the drinks…what a happy party and happy time in Morgan’s sweet life!
    xo
    Pinning 🙂

    • Kim Wilson says

      March 30, 2014 at 12:04 pm

      Thank you so much Robin! You are just the best!

  3. jessica @fourgenerationsoneroof says

    March 30, 2014 at 12:16 pm

    This came out beautiful and the color scheme is perfect 🙂 Nicely done!

    • Kim Wilson says

      March 30, 2014 at 9:26 pm

      Thank you Jessica!

  4. Shannon @ Fox Hollow Cottage says

    March 30, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    Oh Kim, it all looks so pretty! What girl wouldn’t love that? Congratulations on the upcoming graduation! What an exciting time (:

    • Kim Wilson says

      March 30, 2014 at 9:27 pm

      Thank you Shannon! It was so pretty I didn’t want to take any of it down!

  5. KC Saling says

    March 30, 2014 at 8:11 pm

    Beautiful! And what a fun color scheme! Congrats on Morgan’s upcoming graduation!

    • Kim Wilson says

      March 30, 2014 at 9:32 pm

      Thank you so much KC! Cliche is so boring. I love different, unexpected color schemes for typical celebrations! Her school colors are teal & black, but why not teal and lime…. and hot pink?
      😉

  6. Beth@HomeStoriesAtoZ says

    March 30, 2014 at 11:07 pm

    Gorgeous sis! And I’m thrilled you had a chance to use the cake stand :). Everything looks so yummy I’m sad I wasn’t there to party with you. Those grad cap bottle toppers? Pure genius! It’s all beautiful. Well done!

    • Kim Wilson says

      April 1, 2014 at 10:06 pm

      The cake stand is gorgeous! I love it! Thank you! We’ll have a mega party again in June (you’ll see all these same decor items again!)

  7. laura @ eye candy creative studio says

    March 31, 2014 at 12:50 am

    this is so gorgeous & makes me sad for you since I can’t even imagine my daughter leaving for college yet. (she’s turnin 11 soon) but it will be here before you know it! Oh girl, hang in there – she hopefully isn’t goin too too far. =)

    • Kim Wilson says

      April 1, 2014 at 10:10 pm

      Thank you Laura,
      I quietly cry about every other night. I’m not ready, but thankfully she chose an amazing university that is very close to home! Yay!

  8. Jen (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam) says

    March 31, 2014 at 9:22 pm

    Oh Kim, it’s beautiful!!! My son graduated in January, so it’s so very anti-climatic without having a traditional graduation party and seeing this makes me WANT ONE! 🙂 We had one for his 18th, so that was his special day.

    • Kim Wilson says

      April 1, 2014 at 10:08 pm

      We’re have a huge party when all the cross country relatives come into town in June. There’s never an excuse NOT to have a party!!! 😉

  9. jane says

    April 1, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    holy SMOKES! amazing!

    • Kim Wilson says

      April 1, 2014 at 10:06 pm

      Thank you Jane!

  10. Brenda @ a farmgirl's dabbles says

    April 2, 2014 at 8:17 pm

    So fun and colorful, you did a great job!!

    • Kim Wilson says

      April 6, 2014 at 6:48 pm

      Thanks Brenda!

  11. Layla says

    April 24, 2014 at 7:13 pm

    Absolutely gorgeous!! Where are the graduation banners from?

    • Kim Wilson says

      April 25, 2014 at 8:11 am

      Thank you Layla! I actually made them. I’ll be posting the tutorial next week. 😉

  12. Courtney O'Dell says

    July 21, 2014 at 6:00 pm

    This is gorgeous, Kim! I love the colors and all of the special touches. You daughter is beautiful- congrats!

Trackbacks

  1. Graduation Cap Bottle Toppers - Sand and Sisal says:
    April 2, 2014 at 6:00 am

    […] But don’t get nervous, amazing decor can be so easy and inexpensive! I just wrote all about Graduation Party Ideas. Everyone was asking how I made these cute little Graduation Cap Bottle Toppers and so let’s […]

  2. DIY Graduation Banner - Sand and Sisal says:
    April 29, 2014 at 1:46 pm

    […] Banner with simple scrapbook paper and ribbon. I recently made a few for my daughter’s graduation party.  Let me show you how easy it […]

  3. East Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ - Sand and Sisal says:
    October 8, 2014 at 7:01 am

    […] a lot, which is great for a crowd. I made 20 lbs of East Carolina Pork BBQ for my daughter’s Graduation Party. It was a huge hit! One tip I do have is that you can make the BBQ a day or two ahead, place it in […]

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Kim WilsonWelcome to Sand & Sisal: where love of home and sea meet! I share tutorials in DIY, decorating, crafts, gardening, & recipes.  [READ MORE]

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