We’ve all heard that it takes a village to raise a child.
I would like to paraphrase that to say that it takes a village to throw a graduation party–especially when the graduate’s mother is more than just slightly party-illiterate.
I’ll start out by showing you a few photos from the party and then will add a few thank yous.
I got most of the decorations at the dollar store, including the orange bows, the lovely napkins and plates, and the silver platters.
The menu consisted of:
Chicken roll ups, bar-b-q pork sliders, vegetable/dip platter, yellow and white cheese cubes, red and green grapes, cheese slices with crackers, tortilla chips with two kids of salsa, Rice Krispie bars topped with white chocolate drizzle (amazingly delicious), blonde brownies, cake, punch, iced tea and water.
A somewhat quirky decoration that we featured at the party was The Photo Tree.
Yep. It was just how it sounded. Lots of photos taped to a tree!
The overall theme was . . . of course . . . hats.
Here are the two hat-bedecked tables that were at the entrance.
And here are two hat-bedecked fellas.
And here is a non hat-bedecked fella who still got plenty of attention!
He loved hanging out with Great Grandma Campbell.
Besides having perfectly lovely people to enjoy, we also had perfectly lovely flowers! Steve picked up several bundles of blooms at a grocery store and then a woman in our church arranged them.
So gorgeous.
Sarah made the rounds and talked with the guests . . .
. . . while Nathan was introduced to various people from the church.
Midway through the party, we invited different people to share what Sarah means to them. I really didn’t expect to start crying when I talked . . . but I did. Sarah immediately left her table and came up to stand beside me and comfort me.
By the end of the party, the grad girl and I were pretty zonked.
We took a wee break in the cleaning up to snuggle and take a 90-second power nap.
Love. My. Girl.
(By the way, Sarah’s graduation party had an extra special element added to it which I will write about in another post.)
Special Thanks to the members of my aforementioned village:
Melanie Coward: Talked through menu ideas with me, figured out the room layout, AND provided the yummy recipe for the chicken roll ups. (Which everyone raved over.) She also went with me to the Dollar Store and helped me figure out what things to buy since I get easily overwhelmed by that sort of thing. I was so grateful for the chance to be assisted by someone who is supremely gifted at organizing parties!
Meagan Smith: Stayed calm during decorating even when her mother-in-law sat on a chair and dissolved into tears. Had wonderfully creative ideas and worked tirelessly to get things done that I never would have even remembered needing doing.
Libby Allen: Made the punch, arranged the flowers, brought fresh gardenias from home to put on the tables, made the blonde brownies, donated a cake, added some décor, and stayed late to clean up.
Heidi Meekins: Made the iced tea and the Rice Krispie treats, and stayed to clean up.
Crystal Ambrose: Got called into service to help with prep in the kitchen (since we were running behind) even though she had only planned on coming as a guest. She also stayed way longer than she had planned to help clean up.
Steve Smith: Hauled tables back and forth from the church to the youth house, ran errands, picked up flowers, picked up silver platters, got ice, and kept me calm.
Debbie Mantik: Helped me get the groceries for the party, lugged supplies and decorations in and out of vehicles and in and out of buildings, organized, decorated, cleaned up, and was cheery and stalwart.
Randy and Caleb Mantik and Nathan Smith: Moved tables, took down chairs, set up chairs, vacuumed, and did all the bidding of the frantic females. Caleb also acted as my roving photographer and did a great job!
Looks like a wonderful celebration! . What strikes me the most is not the decorations or the food (as lovely as they look) but the incredible support and love encircling Sarah. It seems like she is incredibly valued by your family. I cannot imagine the incredible foundation of love instilled and invested in her life by this love: it will carry her through her entire life with a confidence, peace, and wisdom. Neither my husband nor I necessarily experienced this, and so it has been the most incredible joy to build and invest as solid foundation of love as we can for the second half of our daughter’s childhood (the years God has blessed us with to be her parents).
Jenna,
What a great joy it is to read your experiences about adopting and loving this wonderful young lady God has brought into your lives. She will always be impacted by your investment.
Your table looks gorgeous – and the food looked delicious. Are you going to share that chicken roll-up recipe? Don’t know who started the dollar stores, but they are a real blessing and make any table look like you spent more than you did. Great job everyone – I know Sarah appreciated everything each person did to make it a success.
Sharyn,
I’d love to share the recipe but I’ll have to ask the lady who gave it to me since it’s her original recipe. And yes, Dollar Stores are a wonderful place, especially for those of us who don’t have tons of money!
Wonderful party! I’m looking forward to the something special that you will be sharing shortly. By the way, I like your choice of outfit for the party-very pretty and flowy.
Lesley,
Glad you liked the outfit, Leslie–skirt was $1 and top was $3. I figured it would go with Sarah’s orange theme! 🙂
very nice Looks like a great party!
Michele,
It was a fun day–lots of work, but fun!
What a wonderful graduation party! 🙂
Kristi,
Thanks. Could never have pulled it off without a WHOLE lot of help! Thankful for friends and relatives who are generous with their time.
Y’all did a great job – can’t wait to hear the other story!
Angela,
Can’t wait to tell it! 🙂
Sure was a joy to be there! You and Steve did an amazing job with keeping all the plates spinning over the weekend. Absolutely fantastic job–very proud of you!
love deb
Deb,
You can come help me throw a party any ol’ time. So nice to have your helping hands and heart!
I LOVE the dollar store – you did a wonderful job. No matter what you would have done, Sarah would have been pleased because she loves you so. However, you wanted her celebration to be just right for her and the wonderful photos show that it was just beautiful. I have yet to have had the chance to watch the video that was played at church because of speaker issues here at work and I think tomorrow will be perfect as I can listen to it without a headset and cry as freely as is needed or wanted. Now, relax and enjoy the graduate and all that is to come from her college years!
Mary,
I hope you get a chance to watch the video in peace and quiet–that’s the best place for it! The graduate is taking a few days off to rest before starting on her job at a local grocery store.
quite impressive and lovely! and yummy! and wow: a Youth House!!! Most church’s have a Room.
loved the hats, too!
Mrs. Pam,
Actually, the pictures only show half of the Youth House; there is another room that is just as big as the one in the pictures. Although we call it the Youth House, it is used for a whole bunch of other gatherings besides the youth group–like when we house the homeless, or when we have an all church dinner, etc. Nice to have all that space!
Looks like it was a fun party. The flowers are spectacular. We have Dollar Tree here & it’s the first place I go when I’m trying to be a little fancy. I love it because nothing is over a $ so I don’t get too carried away.
Margie,
Yes, that store is one of those rare places where a dollar still goes a long way!
looks just like everything went perfect for the perfect day! loved the photo treee
Becky,
Glad you liked the photo tree; it was fun to create!
It looks like the party was a huge success! I really liked the colors and decorations that you chose. 🙂 I loved throwing the grad parties for my kids, but am so detail oriented that I drove myself crazy (as well as my wonderful hubby!) with all of my lists and to-do’s. Ha!! Both parties were at our house and my son’s came just 3 days after a devastating hail storm that stripped the trees, damaged the house and wiped out all of my flowers. Oh well…we still had a grand celebration and it’s one we will never forget!
LeeAnne,
Having a party after the mess of a bad hail storm would certainly be an extra, EXTRA challenge. As you said, it definitely made it more memorable! Sounds like you are a veteran party thrower. 🙂