Graduation Party!

 By Beth


  This past weekend was my graduation.  I have survived twelve years of homeschooling, and I am officially finished! Hurray! No, I'm actually kind of sad it's all over because I loved being homeschooled.  This is only the end of a season, and by no means is this the end of my education. I will keep on learning for the rest of my life! Friday night my family had a special dinner out, with my grandparents from both sides, and a great aunt. After supper, my dad and I each gave a little speech we had prepared, and then my parents presented me with a diploma.

Yes, I am almost as tall as my dad…when wearing heels  :)

  On Saturday from 2pm-5pm we had an open house, where friends and family could come and celebrate with us (plus eat lots of yummy goodies we made)
   Since we didn't have school colors as a theme, I chose purple, peach, and teal and we went with a vintage picnic look (because you know how much I like vintage stuff)  :)

  Our menu included:
Frozen fruit cups
Hot ham and cheese buns
Potato salad
and last but not least, homemade "Hostess" cupcakes and twinkettes

Oh! And we had an italian soda bar! Which was a blast, though we can't take credit for the idea as we found it online.  It was really simple to do, all you need is sparkling water, ice, flavored syrup, and whipped cream.  It could easily be self serve, but since quite a few of my guests were under the age of ten, we had Becca and some of our cousins help by being the bartenders.

Out of our three flavor choices, Mandarin Orange and Black Cherry were close for most popular, but I think Black Cherry won in the end. Kiwi was interesting… not bad, but not kiwi. It had more of an artificial banana flavor, and was pretty good mixed with either cherry or orange (but not all three together, one of my cousins learned that the hard way). 

Decorating was fun, and pretty simple. For table covers, we used cute, floral sheets that we found in thrift stores. 

Instead of balloons we made a bunch of tissue paper flower balls, which were easy to make and looked darling.

 We have a big, spacious garage which worked out very nicely, but we also set up some tents in front for more covered seating. The weather ended up being beautiful, and even thought it was cloudy that morning, it really brightened up later.

At one thrift store, we found a package of paper plates that were probably thirty years old and had never been opened. Becca made them into a cute little banner.

My bike worked with our color scheme, so we used it as a decoration in our front yard. We added a basket to the front and filled it with picnic things, though we put the books in plastic bags because there  was a chance of rain.

For a card box, I used my little purple American Tourister train case. 

 Kind of as a guest book, we put my vintage typewriter out for people to type notes on. The downside, no spell check :) I think people enjoyed it, and it was fun reading the notes afterward.
  We had a really nice turnout, and I'm thankful for everyone who came. It was a special time, and we learned some things for Becca's graduation next year.

#1 Don't worry about running out of food (That's to you,  Mom). We have tons of food left over, and we have have cases and cases of sparkling water from the sodas, plus syrup.

#2 Don't keep checking the weather forecast. There is nothing we can do about it, and it only makes us worry unnecessarily which is foolish since God is in control.

#3 Don't leave your upright toothpaste dispenser near the sink in the bathroom the guests will be using. One little girl mistakenly used it as soap.
She came out of the house giggling and told Becca, "Guess what!"
Becca: "What?"
"I think I washed my hands with toothpaste"
Becca: "Do your hands smell minty now?"
"Kinda. They're a little sticky too"


 

        Well, I really should start writing thank you notes for all the nice gifts I received (I'll post about some of those later). Thanks to everyone who came, and especially to those who helped us get things ready and set up, brought us breakfast Saturday morning, and helped during the party, you were really a blessing!