Graduation Party Decorations

Graduation Party Success!

My daughter graduated from high school and so I planned a big party for her. I had so much help with the decorations that I do not think I can list everyone but I think it was a beautiful party and huge success. I wanted to share some of the pictures from the party for others to get ideas from.

Her high school colors are red and white but we added black and silver for more of a fun feel. My daughter's college major will be radio, television, and film in the college of communications, so we also decided to go with the theme of communication for the decorations. We wanted a classic retro feel so most of the white we used on the tables was antique.

The table decorations were the main focus of the decorations. My aunt, Terri Vidal designed these and they were gorgeous. Each table had a different theme and we arranged the communication items on the table to her specifications to make theme pop and tie in with our color scheme.

Also, A friend from church, Kathy Dittmar created paintings on screens built by my Uncle Gary to tie the them in with the walls, my dad helped hang lights, my daughter Sara and I created a Pinterest worthy chandelier, and many other people added touches to the party decor. Here are some of the ideas below.

The grad announcement was a movie poster with info about my daughter and names of her family. (you can tell where I covered up personal info but I loved the way we included parents, grandparents, and sibling names) The invitations to the party were tickets to the Premiere party for the movie. Thanks to my friend Carrie Benevidez for designing these and my friend Monroe Walker for taking her pictures.

Sign In Table- Terri created a Scrapbook sign in book made of paper bags! Here are pictures of that table.

Radio Themed Table Centerpiece- (The dress form in the back is decorated with her great grandfather's Bolo tie and gradmother's rosary. Both have passed and we wanted to feel a part of them was with us on this day.

 Writing Centerpiece- OK it is not technically on the center and a wooden chair was placed with this as if a letter was being written at that moment. Old family love letters add to the sentiment. My favorite part was that my aunt took the time to create a back story for the letter.

 Telephone Centerpiece- I loved the fact that the fabric I bought shimmered with black and red depending which way you twisted it. (There are many boxes stacked under it to give different heights.

Typewriter Centerpiece- This reminded me of a museum because this antique typewriter was completed with a page about its history.

 Camera Centerpiece- Antique family photos and cameras decorated this classy table.

 Film Centerpiece- We originally wanted to use old film reels but because of costs we used a pretend one found on sale at Hobby Lobby. The pearls and candlesticks were garage sale finds.

 Printing Press Centerpiece- A friend loaned me these from an old printing press and my aunt placed them perfectly this container.

 Telegraph Centerpiece- This was added to the typewriter table with old telegrams and telegrams advertisements I bought on Ebay. My uncle got the telegraph working so that was a treat.

Chandelier- My daughter Sara and I created this. I searched Pinterest for ideas on how to make a fake chandelier and I could not find one I wanted. I did see some people created lighting with old umbrellas so we came up with this. I included several pictures of this so you can see what it it is made of.
How we did it: We got an old paper umbrella used for decoration. The paper was torn on this one so they sold it to me at Hobby Lobby for $2. Then we removed the paper and spray painted it black. I strung Christmas lights on it (made for an umbrella actually) and Sara and I hung ribbons, jewels, and Christmas ornaments. In the globe ornaments added cut up bits of ribbon and beaded garland.

Picture from above

Picture while we were creating it (You can see we added black beaded garland at the top for more of a chandelier look)

 Picture lit up for the first time

 Close up of jewels and bobbles we hung (all of this stuff we found in our Christmas decorations)

Picture of the lights hung up, from far away the bag put over the lights looked like a chandelier fixture I promise. (This covered up wires)

Picture of the lights at the party, the chandelier was in the center and my Dad hung lights out from it.

 More lights- I created this with lights and tool to decorate a corner that looked bare. It is made from an old wooden porch umbrella with no cloth.

 Popcorn- My daughter's favorite food was a must have but I borrowed a machine to make it appear more festive.

 Paintings on Wall- These are the paintings that added to the theme and tied in the radio, television, and film theme more. These screens were made by my uncle from an old patio canvas and some scraps of wood. He is amazing. Kathy Dittmar painted these for us. My daughter will use these in her first apartment as decor!

 Thanks to all of the help with the decorations. I have to say the food and cake was also provided by family and friends. My sister and brother-in-law also created a movie trivia contest for the entertainment and my daughter created a movie slide show for us (yes I cried). Also Thanks to Steve Gottlieb who took pictures at the party and Charlotte Rogers who ran a photo booth with an app called Photofunia. This was definitely a group effort. I am happy it was such a great success and my daughter felt our love.

 Family involved in the party