My High School Graduation Party || Photos and DIY Ideas

One of my favorite moments of my senior year of high school was my graduation party. My mom and I spent almost the whole year planning it, and it was a dream. On that day in June, I realized that joy and bliss came in the form of my backyard being full of all the people I cherish. I spent the afternoon with some of my high school friends, but most importantly with my family and the kiddos that I babysit. Since Making Joy and Bliss didn't exist last year, I couldn't do a post on it! I thought I'd still share some photos of the day for inspiration if you're planning an upcoming party!

Sweet Treats

I absolutely adore candy bars, and when my mom suggested we had one ready for when the guests left, I was so excited. We ordered all of the candy in bulk, off of Amazon. We also made a trip to Party City to check out the colored candy to match our theme.

A quick little D.I.Y. project we did was ordered stickers with the letter "M" on them for the bottom of the Hershey Kisses. Yes, we peeled each sticker and placed it on the Kiss, but it was worth the tedious job because it was adorable. You can do the same thing here!

One day I mentioned how amazing it would be to have cotton candy at the party. I believe that cotton candy has the ability to make anyone who likes sweets instantly happy. I mean, how can you not smile while holding delicious pink fluff? My mom ended up finding a company to send someone out to the house to make the cotton candy at the party and it was a hit! Have I mentioned how photogenic cotton candy is too?

Entertain the Kiddos

Since the majority of my guests were families of the kids that I babysit for, I knew there would be tons of little ones running around the party. My mom and I wanted to make sure that there were kid-friendly snacks and things for them to do so that the parents could enjoy as well. The bubbles were a last minute idea, and it was a great one. Some of the kids ended up taking them home as well.

D.I.Y.

At one point, this was just a plain old bulletin board, but I wanted to spice it up since my momma wanted to pin a ton of old photos of me on it. A little embarrassing, some were cringe-worthy, but oh well.

I grabbed some basic acrylic paint and used a few coats. If you decide to tackle this project, be sure to sand the frame of the board to get rid of the wood sealant before painting so it doesn't just peel off! I learned this the hard way :)

The flowers were bought from a craft store, and simply super glued!

These painted frames were one of my favorite D.I.Y. projects I've ever done. We grabbed the frames at our local craft store and simply painted them with acrylic paint. It was an inexpensive way to add some fun to the trees, and the photos were adorable. We hung them with tulle from the craft store as well. Make sure you paint both sides of the frames as they will sway in the wind when they're not being used! Here's a link to a few frame options! Only $4! 

Give the pool some love

When my mom first suggested filling the pool with beach balls, I thought she was crazy. I also worried that they would just sit in one section in the pool and never spread, but boy was I wrong. I think the most important thing when it comes to doing this for a party is that you have a ton of different sized balls. We even had some teeny tiny ones and they were just plain cute. And, you know the swan was the star of the show. The balls came from, you guessed it, beachballs.com! And the swan you can grab on Amazon.

Simple tables

We used Mason jars for everything. This included the centerpieces and it was just so cute. The flowers were from the grocery store. I know, hard to believe. My mom arranged them the day before, and they were so simple and pretty. The house was full of flowers for days after the party.

These beautiful cream plates with gold trim are from Party City! How adorable are the scallops? The quality was awesome.

Refreshments

I feel like it can be pretty difficult to find drink dispensers that are cute and that actually get the job done. They're either too small for entertaining and you up constantly filling them up, or they dispense at a snail pace.

These Mason jar-like beverage dispensers are perfect. We've even used them multiple times post graduation party. And they came with the little chalkboard signs that hang on the front. My mom tied the tulle and the faux flowers around the top for a sweet touch.

Buy these beauties here!

We found that buying Mason jars from Walmart (12 for $10) was the least expensive option!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope this post brought you some joy and inspiration for your next celebration! Let me know in the comments some of your must-do's when it comes to planning parties! And to all you seniors out there who are graduating this May and June, congratulations!