Ideas and tips for decorating a graduation party with meaning

If you've been following along, you know my oldest is graduating from high school. This Friday is his official ceremony. I've been busy these past few days, cleaning, trying to de-clutter, and planning for his grad party on Sunday night.

We're hosting a drop-in party in the evening. We'll have finger foods, graduation cupcakes with homemade fondant and cupcake topper decorations, and other easy-to-fix foods.

Luckily my wonderful mother-in-law will be here to help with the food! She is amazing in the kitchen.

I admit that the majority of my focus has been on the decorations (um, craft and DIY blogger, so no guilt here!).
I've already done the giant chalkboard. I found this great Benjamin Franklin quote on Pinterest and, although it took me awhile to figure out how to draw a circle that big (luckily my 8th grade math skills came in handy...I made a DIY compass with chalk and string...booyah!) I mastered it in one go! Love when that happens!!


My mantle has been turned into an homage to studies with stacks of books, pencils, pillars (they stand for the Pillars of Education), a globe and includes pictures of my son through the years.


I spray painted some old mats with black chalkboard paint so they'd all match and, minus the frames, hung them using string and tape onto a large pallet board that's leaning in front of our firescreen. I wrote his age in chalk onto the black mats.


The table under the large chalkboard holds a tree I made from branches I picked up from the backyard that I spray painted white. Only now, it's a tree of knowledge! Guests are invited to share their wisdom with my son by writing their thoughts down onto pieces of paper and then hanging them onto the tree. There's a small album resting nearby that I will fill with the notes of wisdom and give to my son. I hope he will read it often and treasure it as the keepsake that it will be!


I went to Staples and had two architect's prints made from two of my son's grad pictures. I was going to decoupage them onto artist's canvas, but they are 24x36" and the canvas price was about $30 each for the cheap canvas. I don't know if he'll want to keep these as they're so large so I didn't want to invest a lot of money if they're only going to be used for one evening.

I decided to get a sheet of plywood cut to fit at Home Depot and decoupage the prints onto the wood. You can see how the oversized photo canvases turned out HERE.

One print will go front and center on our mantle. I'm planning to use a large easel to hold the other one at the front door to welcome guests to the party.