May 16, 2008...5:16 am
Is there a Martha Stewart in the House??
Time to call in the reinforcements - Martha! Help!
Is there a high school senior lurking in your house? Thankfully not in ours yet, but I have friends who are in that exact spot. I asked my friend Ann to submit a guest post about the party she’s planning for her University of Idaho bound daughter who’s about to graduate from Bishop Kelly. And, according to Ann, you don’t have to be Martha to pull it off. 
Maybe you’ll get some ideas!
SURVIVOR - GRADUATION PARTY
by my friend Ann
Our daughter’s high school graduation open house is upon us next weekend, and my wonderful husband informed me the other day that he will be out of town the whole week prior to our open house. Rather than throttling him with the lawn hose, I took action and went directly to Costco. I love Costco, I really do. With the idea of 4 dozen family & friends coming between 5-8pm to share in our daughter’s graduation festivities, I envisioned a nice buffet with a variety of things available to appease the appetites of Emily’s 80-year old grandparents & great aunts, to her trendy aunts & uncles as well as the closest of her high school friends. Between my husband’s traveling for his job, my full-time job and two busy teenagers - getting everything ready to go seems like the perfect answer to having a wonderful buffet as well as keeping peace in the family. I am limited to a certain extent by how much I can spend so that does come into play and Costco has it all for a great price. Do yourself a favor - shop at one spot and get it over with. You’ll be glad you did!
Here’s what we are having and everything is at Costco -
Cake - all sheet cakes & graduation designs for all the local high schools are posted in the cake department. I ordered the appropriate one with my daughter’s name to be picked up on Friday. Serves 48 and under $20!!
Beer - (optional) case of 24 and will be plenty for Emily’s dad, uncles, friends and cousins.
Wine - (optional) good whites & reds in large bottles for approx $14-20 each. One of each will do fine.
Lemonade - Crystal Light or any other mix will be in a large Igloo container outside.
Buffet table -
Ham & turkey slices
Meatballs & marinara sauce
Chorizos
Summer Sausage
Serve all above with small dinner rolls sliced, mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes
Cheese tray
Veggie tray
Fresh fruit bowl
Hummus & crackers
Mango salsa & chips
Decorations -
We are decorating the front door of our house with streamers of Emily’s college choice (U of I). This is her sister’s job to complete.
Picture display - I have gone through a majority of all of our family photos over the last 18 years and pulled out the cutest, funniest and sweetest pictures of Emily from a newborn to her 18th birthday. I am going to Kinko’s tomorrow to blow them all up to 8-1/2 x 11 and will make a collage of them on the wall in our entrance way. I know that all of her school friends will get a big kick seeing her as a baby & toddler and her grandparents & other family will reminisce about the curly-haired two-year old that they all remember.
Housecleaning - I hired a cleaning lady and she will have our house spic & span the day before. Well worth the money!
….and that’s it! I will unload everything from Costco and put as much as possible in our own serving bowls and enjoy the party! The best part is celebrating our daughter’s step into adulthood and I don’t want to miss a single moment by trying too hard to be Martha Stewart. My husband will be happy because I am relaxed and happy.
“Survivor - Graduation party ” isn’t impossible. Do what you can and enjoy the moment! Hasn’t the last 18 years gone by fast enough???
1 Comment
May 16, 2008 at 5:24 am
Nice guide….thanks. I’ll have to print this one out and save it. I’ll be there in 3 years…and then again in another 5 after that.
Leave a Reply