The end of a Era

My very own Class of 2024 has graduated. Technically she graduated in June and her graduation party was late June. I opted on having a later graduation party to give us more time to enjoy all the moments and not have to rush these milestones. This blog post has been sitting in my draft since the end of June, but in my defense I have wanted to enjoy all of the moments. Maybe a small piece of me thought if I didn’t share it, it didn’t happen, but we all know that’s not true. She is already living her best life and we couldn’t be more proud.

What a wild ride this summer has been. Getting these teens to the finish line is not for the faint of heart. If you had a Class of 2024 this summer, give yourself a huge round of applause.

I love party planning. who wouldn’t want to plan an awesome party with someone else’s money! The best of both worlds. I let my daughter pick the theme of her grad party! The theme she chose was Mediterranean. I loved the theme she chose and it was so her! We used Pinterest for her graduation party ideas and when it came to decorations for the banquet hall Amazon was our go to for just about everything! You literally can’t beat the price or the shipping! 

We are a foodie family!

The food was going to be one of the highlights if not the highlight. The food was Italian! We know you’re shocked it wasn’t Mediterranean but it was adjacent! We live in a very small town and finding Mediterranean food was going to next to impossible and we love Italian! So it was a no brainer! PaPa’s Pizza provided the fettuccine Alfredo, Caesar salad, and breadsticks for the main course.

The desserts had all the details! Wherever we could add in the Mediterranean theme of the party, we sure did! Using the theme in garnishes was the easiest way to help tie it all together. My dear friend Ronnett, with RR Confections created the amazing mini cheesecakes, chocolate covered strawberries and Oreos. We also had a grazing charcuterie board from Manitou Charcuterie Co. She has done several of our parties and always does an amazing job. The cupcakes were from C’est La Vie Cakes and they were amazing. Makenna wanted them to look like hydrangeas and roses and they nailed the design and tasted delicious!

Banquet Hall

We opted on having the graduation party at a banquet hall. Makenna really wanted to do a white tent with the white folding chairs. It would’ve matched her theme perfectly, but Summer in Indiana can be somewhat unpredictable and as it turns out, we made the best decision because the weekend of her graduation party ended up being over 100° And it would’ve been absolutely miserable being outside during those hours. As far as decorating the banquet hall at Culver Cove Condominiums we ended up using Sophia Decor LLC. She has been my go to when it comes to below balloon decorations, and we went big! The reason for this was I wanted an an impact. I also didn’t want the room to seem big so we filled the space with these two balloon displays. One of the lighted signs was rented from my dear friend Whitney at Confetti Betty.

Graduation Party Decorations

Since I am a photographer, it is by no surprise that we had plenty of pictures, albums, image boxes around the banquet hall. We pulled out all of Kenna‘s gymnastics awards, leotards, her senior track banner and her track school record plaque for pole vault. Our family had the custom plaque made from Tic Toc Trophy Shop. We also had her academics accomplishments displayed throughout the hall. It was so neat seeing all of these accomplishments over the years all being displayed at the same time.

Family and friends that came to celebrate Makenna we are forever grateful to have such an amazing circle of friends and family in our lives. Those that couldn’t make it but sent cards. We really did appreciate your generosity in graduation cards & gifts. 

Tips for the Class of 2025

1. Don’t wait until the last minute to start finding all of your memorabilia and milestones that you want featured at the graduation party.

2. About a month out start putting things have a designated area in your house. This is where you will start stacking all of the graduation party items.

3. If you don’t already have 3 to 5 totes, purchase a few new ones. I recommend using totes to put everything into. This will help making transporting to a banquet hall easier.

4. Order anything that is custom made about eight weeks. This will allow plenty of time for shipping.

5. Start a Pinterest board for grad party ideas today! -check out mine here