We just sent our first born off to college (sniff sniff)! Her senior year was very emotional for me, and it flew by! May and June were a blur of activities, awards, banquets and celebrations. I wanted to share a few of the projects that I put together for her graduation party. It was an open house of friends and family and was a truly special day to celebrate.
Table Decor:
I wanted something simple yet meaningful. I took jars that I had in my basement, tinted them blue (school colors) with decoupage and cake gel medium, added Scripture word art that I downloaded from the internet, added fresh flowers and viola!!
I made a dozen! I was so pleased with how they turned out!
I mixed up about a cup of Mod Podge and added about a half teaspoon of the Wilton color gel. If you want a darker color, add more gel.
I painted the inside of the jars using a foam brush. Painting the inside of the jar allowed me to keep create the look of blue glass vs. painted glass.
It goes on milky....
As it dries, it gets clear. The heavier you are with the mixture, the darker color. If you want a more subtle color change, use less gel. I sped up the drying process by using my heat gun. (Warning, the jars get hot if you do this, so hold the jars with potholders! I figured this out pretty quick!)
I decoupaged the verse on the outside, added some ribbon and a tag. The tag looked plain so I cut out some graduation hats on my cricut. It was just what it needed!
I hit up the grocery store, bought a bunch of flowers and ended up with some lovely customized centerpieces. The best part is that they are reusable and I have two more daughters that will be graduating high school.
Decorations:
I scrapbook so I wanted to utilize photos in any way possible for the party. Here are a few of the photo projects!
I picked up some banner templates at Hobby Lobby which were 50% off!! I used one set to showcase pictures of Emily and the friends, family and activities that shaped her life.
This was my favorite! I put her school pictures from Kindergarten through
Junior year on this banner!
I saw this idea on Pinterest and LOVED it!! I loved it so much I made two! Simple and easy to put together. Just use a wreath frame, mount your pictures on black card stock and arrange on the frame. The graduation hat is a 7 inch square with a raised button in the middle to hold the tassel. Again, I fired up the cricut to make the letters, but you could use stickers too!
Food!
We had approximately 100 people, and we were on a budget. One of our favorite meals is tacos so we had a taco/nacho bar which was easy to prepare ahead of time, keep stocked during the party and allowed me to enjoy the fun! (Sorry I don't have great pictures, I forgot to take pictures of the food table!)
Our graduate!!
Our garage buffet! It rained so much the day of the party, but having the food in the garage worked out great! I kept the taco meat, chicken and nacho cheese warm in crock pots.
We wanted to do something fun for dessert so we had a cookie bar!
I did a lot of baking the days before the party, and stored the cookies in the freezer to keep them fresh and from being eaten!
It was a great day and we were so blessed to have so many friends and family celebrate with us.
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