Graduation Party

I’m going to admit something to you.  I’m old enough to have a child graduating from high school.  I had her when I was eight so I’m only 26 but whatever . . . It’s true, my oldest daughter is leaving the nest.  She is going to go to college in Hawaii in a few months.  I’m a little melancholy about it but I’m so proud of her.  We decided to have a little party to celebrate.

Because we are suffering the sticker shock of college costs,  we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the party, but we also didn’t want to skimp.  We came up with a creative solution that looked really impressive but didn’t break the bank.

We wanted people to have a little thank-you gift to take home with them so we made up some goody bags with candy and confetti.  We sealed them with labels with her picture and a “Congratulations Jana” hang tag.  They turned out very cute.  Another thing we could have done (wish we had  discovered it sooner) was ordered individually colored M&M’s in her school colors.

We had the party outdoors on a beautiful spring day (a rarity this spring in Oregon).  We knew it would be warm so we decided on having bottled water for everyone.  We ordered water bottle labels with her picture on them.  Then we bought  some bottled water at the store and removed the labels. Her little brother and sister had fun ripping off the old labels and sticking on the new ones.

Not only did we put a picture of her on the front, we wrote a personalized message for the side of the label, which said:

You made it.  You survived your first day of school, kindergarten, and state testing (again and again!).  You made it through middle school and Mr. Mittemeijer.  You enjoyed Middle C’s, cross country, track, and all your friends.  You overcame freshman year and the bell choir concerts.  You lived through APUSH and physics. Somehow, you made it through the last 6 weeks of school (though we don’t know how!).  Congratulations, you are amazing!

Look out, Hawaii, here she comes!

It was so fun for her to read a little time capsule of her school years.  Everyone at the party read it too, and she had fun explaining all the references.  Even the ones she cried about at the time, she could laugh about now.  That’s a sign of maturity, right?  That means my little girl is growing up, whether I like it or not.  I think I like it.

Go, Jana, go!

Jill (16 Posts)

Jill Moss works at an elementary school library in Gresham, Oregon where she combines her love of kids, books, and reading. She spends the rest of her time raising her husband, four kids, three chickens, two bunnies, and one cat.