A year nearly flew by, and I almost forgot to share the sweetest graduation tea party that I helped host for my goddaughter’s high school graduation. If you are searching for ideas for a high school graduation party for someone special this year, check out this gorgeous party!
A graduation tea party is a celebratory event, and it is often one of the most special parties of a young person life – at his or her young age. It is a time to recognize and honor a graduate for his or her achievements and to celebrate these accomplishments with family and family.
A graduation tea party can be held at most venues – homes, backyards, restaurant party rooms, or event venues.
Luckily, a family friend of my goddaughter owns a gorgeous wedding and event venue in northern Louisiana, where my friends live. The friend offered to host the graduation tea party at her amazing White Oak Venue, and she led the hosting of the party.
Tips for Hosting a Graduation Tea Party
Choose a Date and Time
I think the most important part of the planning stage is finding a date that works for at least most of the friends and family. Of course, if the graduation tea party is going to involve a lot of people, then the easiest thing is to choose a date that works for the graduate and his/her immediate family and go with that. It will be impossible to please everyone – especially in the super busy graduation month of May!
For a tea party, you will want to aim for the mid-afternoon. A 2:00 or 3:00 party would be best for a tea party for high school graduation.
Choose a Venue Appropriate for a Tea Party Graduation Party
Select a venue that is large enough for the number of guests you believe may attend. You might consider a botanical garden, a restaurant, or a banquet hall. Check availability for the date you have already chosen. No venue? A backyard party on a nice afternoon will work perfectly!
Choose a Color Palette and Visual Goals for the Graduation Tea Party Theme
The tea party theme and color palette you choose will help guide everything else in your planning process. The theme will also determine how casual or how fancy you intend to go with the invitations, the decor, the food, etc.
Send out Invitations
Send out invitations well in advance. You will want guests to have plenty heads up about the event so they have enough time to plan accordingly. If you are planning for this tea to be extra fancy, be sure to mention that somehow in your wording for dress code purposes.
Decorate the Venue
This is probably the most fun part of all! Plan decorations – such as balloons or balloon arches, banners, and fresh flowers or greenery. If you decide to go with a graduation tea party theme, you might want to skip the typical confetti and such and go for a more upscale theme in a soothing color palette. You can also set up an area – a senior table – to display the graduate’s diploma, photos, and other high school memorabilia. You can see this table featured my goddaughter’s framed senior photos and cheerleading photos.
For the other decorations, our party boasted fresh greenery, live flowers, and a balloon arch.
Plan a Tea Party Style Menu
Plan a menu that includes tea, coffee, sandwiches, pastries, and other finger foods.
Our afternoon tea party featured dips, fresh fruit platters, chicken crescent sandwiches, sausage balls, and more!
You can also have a cake to mark the occasion. In the photos below, you can see that we included petit fours, individual shortcakes, cupcakes, a cookie cake, a bakery-style cake, and tons of other sweets like white chocolate popcorn!
Plan the Tea Service or Drink Station for the Party
Should you plan to serve traditional tea from tea pots, you need to have a plan in place as to how and when the tea will be served. Traditionally, someone serves the tea individually to each guest straight from the tea pot. You will also want to decide what type of teas to serve. Favorites are Earl Grey tea and lemon tea.
Although we called our party an afternoon tea, we went a more casual route with several drink options set up at a station with a variety of fun glasses offered.
Arrange for Entertainment of Some Sort
Arrange for some entertainment to keep your guests engaged, such as music or speeches. You can also create a memory board or memory book where guests can write special messages for the graduate. Since a tea party presents a calm vibe, it would be best to choose some sort of soft music to play in the background as opposed to a loud and wild music kind of vibe.
Our party included speeches from special people in my goddaughter’s life. Her mom (my best friend), former teachers, and longtime family friends spoke.
Prepare Party Favors
In my old age, I have come to view party favors in a more optional lens than I once did. If you do decide to go with party favors, keep them simple and significant. Maybe a bookmark with the graduate’s photo and graduation date with a “thank you for being my village” type of phrasing. Or you could prepare individually-wrapped petit four’s for the guests to take home. Another cute idea would be to place flower seed packets with a cute sign that says “thanks for helping me grow.”
Set Up a Gift Area at the Graduation Tea Party
Many people will arrive at the party with a gift for the graduate. You will want to set up a table for guests to set gifts when they arrive.
Assign Helpers to Assist with Tasks
Our party had the cutest little door greeters and gift carriers who assisted guests as they entered. To be honest, we hadn’t thought ahead to assign these tasks. My girls are just the take over types! But it was a nice touch!
Our girl had a wonderful high school graduation party! We can’t wait to see where the next few years will take her!
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