Graduation Party Decorations {Centerpieces and Wrap-Up}

Today I'll share the last of my DIY decorations I pulled together for Erin's graduation party.  When my son graduates in two years, I'll be able to whip these out in no time, even reusing the Congratulations banner and the buckets with flags {thanks for all your sweet comments on those, by the way!}.

For the centerpieces, I pulled out my glass hurricanes (Willow House Hawthorne and Hemingway), juice glasses, paper shred, and three more flags on spray painted dowels.  My mom and I picked up daisies and yellow and red roses at WalMart for just a few dollars a bunch.  I wanted two centerpieces in yellow and black for the food table and one in red and black for the cake table.

We started by putting a layer of white beans in the bottom of each hurricane to anchor the juice glasses, which held the water for the flowers.  We (Mom) combined some yellow and black paper shred and then some red and black paper shred and we tucked it around the juice glasses.

Here you see them without the flowers, but with their own little flags added.

Flowers added...

And here they are on the food table and cake table.

To share a few other quickie decorations, remember these letters and the gold stars from WalMart?

They became this little banner on my family room mantle.  I put one of her baby pictures and her senior portrait up there, too, since it was all about the girl.

And a couple of final touches...

Letters from Old Time Pottery for $1.99 each... they're now in her room. :)

And I think this is my favorite.  My Southern Living at Home Dress Me Up Platter (now retired), red ribbon from WalMart, and a snapshot of her at 6 months {wasn't she a cutie?}.  I simply used a couple of photo mounts to adhere the pic, dry erase marker for the message and a simple Pier One plate stand to prop it up.  You spied it earlier by the cake... this one drew rave reviews.

Whew!  So there you have it!  Party decor on a dime... hope you can use some of these ideas for your next celebration!  If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll be happy to answer.

Happy Decorating and Happy Celebrating!

Graduation Party Decorations {Paper Banner and Buckets}

Well, I can finally share some more of my handcrafted graduation party decorations!  Thanks for being so patient. :)  I wanted to share with you sooner, but -- well, you know the story.

I posted HERE about the diy paper banner... still marvel at how simple and inexpensive this project was.  The measuring and cutting was a little time consuming, but I love how economical it was and I will reuse this, I'm sure.

So here is the finished product, hung across my breakfast room bay window and party ready!

I had a plan as well for some sweet little yellow bucket decorations that I could spread around the house and deck.  I used the leftover scrapbook paper and cut out additional smaller triangles, like pennants.  Then I printed out a few phrases on white card stock, like "way to go!", "UGA Girl", "Top of the Class", etc.  I cut out smaller triangles with the phrases and glued them on top of the scrapbook triangles.

I attached each pennant to a dowel that I spray painted black.

Remember these little yellow buckets I scored at Old Time Pottery for 88 cents each?  I cut a square of florists foam to fit into each one and covered it with black paper shred.

I inserted the dowels with pennants attached into the florist foam.

Viola!!

I put one of these on each outdoor table on our deck, one in the powder room, one beside the beverages, and one on the coffee table.  Easily under $1 each to make. My favorite kind of budget party decor!

Next I'll share the centerpieces and a few other celebratory touches that drew rave reviews.

Thanks for stopping by!

Graduation Party Decorations {and a Pity Party}

Not only am I prepping for my daughter's graduation party coming up this weekend (yikes!) but I'm also in the midst of a pity party myself.  My lap top crashed.  My trusty partner-in-crime and keeper of all my drafted blog posts and photos is in a coma.  So until I can get tech support on it, my husband's non-portable, slower, older,  and much in use desktop will have to do.  *Sigh*  Okay, enough of that...

I've made some progress creating decorations on a dime for her party so thought I'd share.

Remember this?

I have a plan... and a vision.

Sorry for the unedited photos!  I picked up this patterned scrapbook paper on clearance at Target. Less than $3 for a pack of 8 sheets, all black and white and shades of gray.  These will become a "Congratulations" pennant banner.

You see my high tech method for figuring out how many triangles to cut. :)

More of my high-tech methodology-- ruler and pencil to mark out my triangles on the back of the scrapbook papers

Here are all my triangles, ready to be assembled and attached to black grosgrain ribbon.

I cut out smaller white cardstock triangles to act as mats for the letters.  Otherwise some of them might not have shown up well.  The letters are ArtSkills Quick Letter Pads.  We discovered these at WalMart a few years back and keep them on hand for posters and projects.  We love that they're repositionable, with a Post it note-like sticky on the top back of each letter.  Just glue them down once you've figured out where you want them.

I like the layered look to this!

A customized Congratulations pennant banner for less than $6!  You'll see the entire finished product once the   decorations for the party are in place.

More decorations on a dime to come. :)

Happy Decorating!