Graduation Party Food & Decoration Ideas

Graduating, whether it is from high school or college, is a big accomplishment and a great reason to throw a party. Just like any other party, a graduation party calls for food and decorations. Your decorations should celebrate the graduate's time in school and your food should suit the time of day that your party will be held.

Decoration: School Colors

Decorate the graduation party with the school colors of the school the graduate just graduated from. Special order M&Ms in the school colors, cover the tables with school color table clothes, hang streamers and balloons. Decorating with school colors makes decorating simple and easy because around graduation time most party supply stores stock decorations in the local area school colors.

Decoration: School Picture Clothes Line

Take the graduate's school pictures and put them in order from youngest to oldest. String the pictures in order from left to right on a clothes line using clothes pins to secure them. You don't have to hang the clothes line outside, in fact, it is probably better that you can it inside to project the pictures from the elements. You can hang the pictures over the food table so that people can miss them, or along a long wall with push pins. This decoration is a great way to celebrate how far a graduate has come.

Decoration: Bi-Fold Display Board

Bi-fold display boards can be purchased at local craft stores and come in a variety of colors and the great thing about these boards is they stand on their own so you don't need a way to hang them up like you would a poster board. Decorate the bi-fold display board like you would a scrapbook. You can wrap the board in fabric or wrapping paper to give it a nice background if you don't want to use a colored one. Add a collage of pictures to the board with little tags to explain what is happening in them. Use the same embellishments that you would in a scrapbook, such as ribbon and stickers, to dress up the display board decoration even more.

Food: Brunch

Most graduation parties are thrown during the afternoon, which means that many people will have several to attend in a short amount of time when graduation season rolls around. Throw a graduation brunch to allow your guests plenty of time to visit and enjoy the food. You can have traditional breakfast foods such as scrambled eggs, muffins, bacon, sausage, orange juice and coffee. A brunch menu will offer a nice change in pace from the usual hamburger and hot dog served at graduation parties.

Food: Barbecue

Traditional barbecue foods are well-received by most and thus an easy graduation party menu. Hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, potato salad, chips and dip and soda are sure to keep your guests full and happy. You can make the grilled food ahead of time and keep them in a warming container or you can grill them to order at the party. Consider barbecued chicken wings and drummies if you don't want to go with hamburgers and hot dogs. You can grill the chicken plain and offer a variety of sauces for guests to choose from.

Food: Dessert Bar

Set up a dessert bar if you are throwing your graduation party later in the day. You can have cookies, cupcakes, candies and punch. Set up an ice cream sundae bar if you really want to impress your guests. Offer a few different flavors of ice cream, different candy toppings, syrups, whip cream and cherries. Guests will have a blast putting together their own sweet treat.