My son graduated last year. Like the above poster, I did it the weekend after graduation. I used disposable plates, napkins, cups in the school colors and balloons to decorate. We had a crowd; well over 100 people. I did the picture collages and a video that played on a laptop going through his birth to graduation pictures and videos all set to music. It was wonderful. I also had some of his school work and artwork from the elementary grades, some of it was so funny! Lots of sports memorobilia too as he is an athlete. I made a lot of food! My son's requests were his favorite chicken pasta salad and a chocolate fountain; both were big hits. Since it was his party I wanted to include him in the menu too. We did not serve any alcohol but we did order a Root Beer keg from the liquor store. We put some prefilled cups with ice cream in a cooler so people could make floats but I think most just drank the Root Beer. We went through a 16 gallon keg in a little over 3 hours. It was outside on the deck because it gets sticky. Guest really loved it and I got a lot of good comments. I set up a volleyball net in the back yard. After the official hours of the party, the teenage guests stayed and played some very competitive volleyball for a couple hours and I served them leftover sandwiches, salads, fruit and punch. I suggest you designate someone with your camera to get pictures of your DD with guests, grandparents, aunts, uncles, special friends, etc... you'll be much too busy and you'll appreciate having the pictures later. Have fun and find someone to help you so you can take some time out of hostessing to enjoy your guests. Maryp

My son is graduating too this year. We'll probably give him money. We got our older son a St. Michael medal (his name is Michael) and nice gold chain + some money. Middle son said he didn't want the medal, so will just give him a bit more $$. Personally, I dislike gift cards - unless they're for a specific purpose to a store that they already know they want to shop at. My kids have gotten countless gift cards over the years from relatives to stores they don't really shop at. So, they "save" them thinking they'll find something they need at some point. I'm not talking about handing the kid a small fortune, but at some point they need to learn to control themselves with more than $100 bucks in the bank. My son recently started working steadily and we opened him a bank account with an ATM card. He'll use this account in college, and I'm assuming will deposit all his gift money into it. Maybe we'll talk about creating a savings account too, so he knows he's got the money over there, but isn't tempted every time he goes to the ATM!

Congrats to your grand daughter, to your daughter to have raised such a nice young woman, to you, to have raised such a nice daughter that continued the tradition. :) Moni

Oh Kat, I do feel fortunate for my nephews and niece to think of me. They're almost 30 years old and all have their own lives to worry about. It feels warm when they take time to think of you now and then. Couldn't ask for more :o)