It's that time of year again when high school and college seniors are getting ready to head out into the big adult world. After the ceremony is over…it's time to plan their Open House…a time to celebrate their accomplishments with friends, family and neighbors.
But what do you do if you don't have a big budget?
Here's some tips that got me through my oldest daughter's open house…and I stayed within my budget and everyone, including the young lady of the day, had a wonderful time.
Seating
Never order the exact number of chairs needed for invited guests, Chances are they won't all attend…and even if they do they won't all show up at the same time. We invited 150people and about 90 attended but they were scattered throughout the day and evening. We had more than enough seats for everyone plus we saved $8 per chair extra that we didn't order.
Menu
Make sure you don't overdo the food preparations and selections.
We had three main dishes (bar-be-cued hot dogs and hamburgers and chili) and seven side dishes (tuna salad, pasta salad, vegetables, fruit, nachos and cheese- to go with the chili and hot dogs, potato salad and macaroni salad.
All very popular summertime choices.
Cake
Don't pay a fortune for a store bought graduation cake (anywhere from $50 and up in my area). I made four-quarter sheet cakes in a variety of flavors and frosted with plain white icing. My cost: $10.
I had a friend decorate it for me. My cost: free.
Decorations
We attended dozens of open houses last year and we took note on decorations, food set up and seating. We learned from those mistakes.
Scattered around every table were glittery 2007 confetti pieces (overlooked and ignored), fancy centerpieces and heavy-duty plastic tablecloths.
My options: Skip the confetti, buy dollar store plastic tablecloths and make my own centerpieces.
I took three pieces of white poster board and decorated them with a timeline of pictures of my daughter's life. From birth to the day of her graduation ceremony. Boy did those collages bring back memories and attract a ton of attention. Stories were told and laughs were shared.
For centerpieces I took 12-ounce Solo® cups, filled with dirt, wrapped with pieces of the tablecloths and tied with curling ribbon (all in the school's colors) and a helium balloon. I received so many nice compliments about them- one guest even asked me where I found those "darling centerpieces".
Set out photo albums for viewing.
Card Box (For Money)
We decorated a cardboard box from an old television set we bought years ago and made a slit on the top for easy card dropping. We decorated it in another school colored dollar store purchased tablecloth.
Activities
Since we live in a rural area and own some acreage we were able to host a variety of activities for young and old alike.
We had a volleyball/badminton net set up, a swing set for the younger crowd, a bonfire later in the evening and supplied flashlights for kids who wanted to play flashlight tag after dark.
Overnight Guests
Living in the rural area like we do we could accommodate overnight guests easily. When I sent out invitations I added that anyone could bring a camper or pitch a tent if they didn't want to travel back home. We were like a mini campground.
We allowed people nearby or who traveled a long distant this opportunity for safety reasons mainly.
Co-hosting An Open House
We went to a couple of parties that were co-hosted by two or three families. When there's so many kids graduating and only so many Friday and Saturdays in the summer this actually makes sense.
It's also a good way to split some of the cost…just remember you need to be flexible. Give and take with the other families involved.
