How To Have A Cheap Graduation Party

Bobbi asks:

Our daughter graduates this spring and wants to have a graduation party afterwards for family and friends. We have very little money for that. Do you have any ideas for finger foods, salads, and decorating ideas that would fit our budget? Thank you, Bobbi

How To Have A Nice But Cheap Graduation Party

The first thing to keep in mind when hosting a cheap graduation party is to keep it simple. Please, don’t have a potluck! That’s just tacky! It’s better to have a small amount of great food instead of an entire dinner that will break the budget! I’ll share a few recipes from our cookbook to help you out below!

Cheap Graduation Party Decorations

Decorate using anything that your daughter has collected over the years that has her high school colors or mascot on it.

Tablecloth: For a tablecloth, go to the dollar store and get a plastic tablecloth in her school colors or go to Wal-Mart and get an inexpensive twin sheet (for about $3) in her colors.

Balloons: Also, balloons and streamers from the dollar store can add a lot to the decorations for a small price.

Misc. Decorations: Hang school pictures or scrapbook items around the room or lay them on the table

Cheap Graduation Party Food

For my daughters graduation I didn’t decorate much, but I did lay out a very nice food table.

Food Presentation: As far as food goes, having a nice but cheap graduation party is really more about the great recipes and presentation than the food.

Even the most inexpensive food looks expensive when served on a silver platter or glass tray which you can get at Dollar Tree and Thrift Stores.

Do things like cut the sandwiches into triangles and cut off the crusts.

Use foods like egg salad, ground up chicken or ham sandwiches. When you grind your meat, it can go much farther. Our cookbook has some cheap graduation food great ideas!

Punch can be a less expensive alternative to trying to serve pop. I make punch all the time by mixing 3-4 different flavors of Kool-Aid and then freezing it long enough to make it slushy. Use less water than what the directions indicate. If the package calls for 2 quarts of water, I use 1 and 3/4 quarts. People frequently ask me for my recipe and are often surprised to learn that it is just plain old Kool-Aid. You can also make an easy but fancy punch like this one.

Look through your cookbooks and find salads that call for less expensive ingredients. For example, adding a few veggies to a pasta salad is less expensive then making a veggie salad with lots of cauliflower and broccoli in it.

Make Your Own Mints

This easy homemade molded party mints recipe is perfect for weddings, showers and many other special occasions! This recipe is just one thing you can make to save money and impress your guests!

Party Mints Recipe

(from our cookbook)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 (3oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. peppermint flavoring
Food coloring
Sugar Candy mold

Mix first 4 ingredients. Knead several times. When dough is smooth, roll into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 2 hours. Roll into small balls, dip in sugar and press into mold. If mints stick to mold, knead in more powdered sugar. Remove from mold and let dry 1/2 hour. Store in airtight container. Can be frozen or refrigerated. Makes 100 one inch mints.

Use food coloring to match the bride’s colors.
You can buy molds in the craft section at Wal Mart, or a cake decorating shop. Use anything you like – hearts, leaves and shells all work well.

Kristina Writes: I wanted to add a tip to your Molded Party Mints recipe. If you don’t have molds for your mints, you can roll into balls and use an initial imprint stamp with the first initial of the graduate’s name. Just push the stamp down in the center of the mint and use even pressure. They look like designer mints. If you powder the mints with more sugar, do so before you stamp the mint. Thanks for letting me put in my two cents!

3 Ingredient Punch

1 liter orange juice (you can also use grapefruit, strawberry, etc.)
2 liters of your favorite lemon/lime soda (diet may be used).
1 pint of your favorite fruit sorbet (raspberry, orange or lime are all great flavors)

Pour juice into a large punchbowl. Add soda. Add fruit sorbet and don’t mix. Let sorbet float around in punch until melted.

Sparkling Brunch Punch

This Sparkling Brunch Punch drink recipe makes a tasty and refreshing fruit punch that’s not just for brunch. You can serve it at pool parties, showers and lots of other other get-togethers. It’s a different and refreshing drink recipe that is great in place of iced tea or as another drink option. Your guests will love it and the kids will keep asking for more!

1 (46 oz.) can pineapple juice
6 cups orange juice
1 (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade
1 (750 ml) bottle of sparkling white grape juice, chilled*
1 (2 liter) bottle lemon-lime carbonated drink, chilled

Mix the first 3 ingredients. Before serving, add the last 2 ingredients. Garnish with orange slices, pineapple chunks or lemon slices.

*You could use 3 cups of white grape juice, if you prefer or if you have it on hand.

Here’s a strawberry salad that I used at my daughter’s graduation that is great because it freezes well, allowing me to make it long before the party. If you have a cake, too, this dessert can be used as a fruit salad instead.

Strawberry Dessert

This is probably one of my favorite desserts, partly because it is not too rich. It is a very light dessert. It is an especially good one to keep made up in the freezer for when unexpected company comes by.

I like to use it not only for graduation parties, but also for baby showers or any other get-together because I can make it a week ahead of time and that means one less thing to have to deal with the day of the special event!

Crust:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup butter, softened

Mix and slightly press or crumble into a 9×13 pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally while baking to make crumbly. When cooled, remove 1/3 of it to save to sprinkle on top of the dessert. Evenly spread out the remaining portion in the pan.

Topping:

2 egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 10oz. package of strawberries
2 Tbsp. lemon juice (must use)
1 small container whipped topping

Place first 4 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat at high speed for 10 minutes or until it forms stiff peaks. Be sure to use a large mixing bowl because this really increases in volume. Fold in whipped topping and spread over crust, Sprinkle with the 1/3 cup of crumbs you saved back. Freeze for 3-6 hours or overnight.

[dining]

Comments

20 responses to “How To Have A Cheap Graduation Party”

April 26, 2012

Daisha

Thanks for posting this article! My son will be graduating at the end of May and we would like to have a graduation party for him as well but do not have a big budget. Your ideas are great!

April 26, 2012

Bea

Jill, Can you explain the punch recipe a little more? Do you use 3-4 small envelopes of Kool-Aid, add less water and freeze it all, or only freeze some? Thanks.

1. April 26, 2012
  
  Jill
  
  When ever I make up kool aid for any thing I always use 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 quarts of water per package of kool aid instead of the usual 2 quarts it calls for. I like my things very sweet so for each package of kool aid I use 3/4 cup sugar.
  
  For the punch I would make up 3 – 4 packages like I said above and the put all or part of it in the freezer. You can take it out when it is only partially frozen or pour part of it into a ring or containers for “ice” to keep the rest of it cold.This way it doesn’t get watered down with regular ice.
  
  The whole secret though to this punch is mixing the different flavors. It makes it seem richer and more expensive tasting then it really is. I would grab some thing like a raspberry, strawberry and tropical punch. You could mix cherry, strawberry and tropical punch. I don’t think I have any that have not worked together but if you are having a very special party you might experiment ahead of time for your own taste.
  
April 26, 2012

Bea

Thanks Jill. Lately I’ve been using Kool-Aid for so many things, like dying Easter eggs, making lip gloss, drinking instead of juice or other flavored drinks, etc. so this punch idea interested me very much. Sounds so good and probably very refreshing in the summer especially when it’s so hot. Come to think of it I think you have a slushy recipe in your cookbook using Kool-Aid that I’m going to check out.

May 1, 2014

Cindy

Depending on the number of guests you expect, a nacho bar can be fairly inexpensive. Pasta salad would go well with it, also. A pack of inexpensive graduation cards at Dollar General make good decorations with their bright graphics. I’ve used them as table decorations.

April 23, 2015

donnab

I like the idea of decorating with pictures of your son/daughter as they were growing up. we use dollar store frames for this, also frames from garage and yards ales.

donna

April 25, 2015

Tina

Does anyone have ideas for a dessert to serve with a Pasta-bar themed graduation party? Don’t want the same old brownies – they’re good, just too predicatable.

Thanks,

Aunt of “Noodle Boy”
(this 6 ft. plus bean-pole will choose mac n cheese over a burger & fries every time!)

1. April 25, 2015
  
  Jill
  
  This strawberry dessert is one I love because it doesn’t take much for expensive ingredients but even better I can make it 3-4 weeks ahead of time and have in the freezer ready and waiting. It is a very light dessert so it goes with anything and is a great summer dessert. Maybe our readers have some other ideas for you.
  
April 27, 2015

donnab

I like ice cream cake in the summer, you can make it yourself inexpensively. take a large spring form pan, I spray VERY lightly with spray, make an oreo, graham cracker, or whatever crust you like. then take softened ice cream and layer two or more flavors, I’ve done chocolate, butter pecan, and then vanilla on top, drizzle caramel sauce and then freeze til the day of your party, it’s a good do ahead. I’ve also seem them done with sorbets, sherbet, frozen yogurt, etc. it’s easy to make it a lighter desert with frozen yogurt, or other low fat ice creams, it’s your choice. it can be really inexpensive depending on what ice cream is on sale.

donna b.

May 22, 2016

Rebecca

What kind of nuts do you use in the crust of the dessert?

1. May 22, 2016
  
  Jill
  
  You can use any kind you want. I usually use walnuts because I have them on hand and they are less expensive but pecans work too.
  
April 20, 2017

Lena

The strawberry dessert sounds really good. Is it in the cookbook?

1. April 21, 2017
  
  Jill
  
  Lena it isn’t in the book but just here on the web site Strawberry Dessert
  
May 22, 2017

Brenda D.

My oldest son just graduated from high school this past weekend. I have a wonderful family that lives close and they all made salads, baked beans, cheesy potato casserole, etc. for my son’s party. My husband likes to smoke meat, so I have purchased pork butts on sale earlier in the winter and froze them and then my husband smoked them. I purchased slider rolls to serve the meat on from Sam’s Club. The meat stretched really far! We smoked 4 pork butts, fed 75 pretty healthy eaters, and I still froze 2 gallons of shredded meat. I served tea, lemonade (you can buy a huge container at Sam’s Club for $6 that makes 2 five-gallon containers) and water for drinks. For decorations, I borrowed a couple of pallets from my husband’s work and hung my son’s senior pictures, framed scholarship certificates, and other awards he won throughout his school career. My son likes simple and rustic, so we just bought one cheap plastic table cloth for .97 at Walmart and black and gold cake plates for .97 each package. I bought a large package of white paper plates at Sam’s club for $13.97 and a box of plastic silverware for $9. I bought a nice hard bound journal from Walmart for $4.97 so people could write him notes, etc. He really enjoyed reading the notes the next day. He said he plans to keep the journal and reuse it when he graduates from college. All in all, I spent less than $100 for a really nice graduation party.

1. May 27, 2020
  
  Tina
  
  great idea!
  
September 20, 2017

Ann

How many people does the Strawberry Dessert serve?

1. September 21, 2017
  
  Jill
  
  Of course it depends on how big you cut the pieces but in a 9×13 pan you can get about 24 – 2 in pieces or 12 – 3in pieces
  
May 9, 2018

Saragrace Friday

Jill,
I had another mom make a great suggestion, she said throughout the year prior to the party add a pack of water, soda, plates, or utensils to your weekly grocery list and store them somewhere. It was a great idea, as adding $5 dollars or so to our grocery list seems easier than buying $200 worth of products all at once. Also, it gave us time to watch the sales and save some money.

May 10, 2023

Donna

Couple of questions about the Strawberry Dessert.
Are the strawberries whole or cut or diced? Do you recommend fresh or frozen strawberries? Size of whipped topping? When should the dessert be removed from the freezer before serving?

1. May 11, 2023
  
  Jill
  
  You can use fresh or frozen (if you use frozen you may want to thaw them slightly because you will be beating with a mixer). You can add whole if you are using fresh. I cut mine at least in half because I use a hand mixer and it is easier for them to be beaten if slightly cut. The whipped topping is an 8 oz. You can remove it about 15 mins. before serving but to be honest I forget to most of the time and by the time I get it cut and people start eating it is easy enough to eat.