21 Fantabulous Grad Party Ideas

This is such a fun way for guests to get involved and share their best memories or advice to the graduates.  

Is it really a grad party without a ton of balloons? But seriously balloon arches are so pretty and fun and just perfect for cute photos and they're super simple to set up. Just watch one of the thousands of balloon arch tutorials on youtube!

I've seen these trendy signs everywhere, although they are not the cheapest to rent or buy, you can totally DIY one like I did!  A huge 2021 will definitely be featured at my grad party and it would make an excellent addition to yours too!

Do you need an activity to do for your grad party? This sorta only works if your party is before graduation but a grad cap decorating station is such a fun activity that you and all of your high school friends can do and it's super fun, just get a ton of different colored sequins and a glue gun!

Another DIY project I'm working on is a mini donut wall and bubbly wall! I've seen them everywhere on tik tok and they add another super cute background for photos. Plus you can make your bubbly wall any drink you want, lemonade, sparkling cider, juice, whatever you want! Plus donuts are amazing and look super cool on a wall so there ya go.

Charcuterie boards are so in and so cool. I can spend hours looking at people's boards on tik tok, with all the intricate cheeses, fruits and crackers but you can make a charcuterie board out of anything really. You can make a fruit board, desserts board, candy board and wherever your imagination takes you!   

Setting up a memory board with a ton of photos of you and your friends from highschool  is such a fun thing for the guests and other high school friends to look at and reminisce on all that has happened in the last four years, you can also add your college logos so everyone knows where your heading to school in the fall!

I love string lights, they make everything look super pretty, you can hang them anywhere and they can turn your backyard into a magical space for a celebration.

Need food for your guests but don't want to deal with a ton of dirty dishes or having to make a million sandwiches? Get a food truck! There are tons of food trucks in Portland who will cater to your party with all of your favorite types of foods: tacos, sushi, and even ice cream!

You can buy your college flag and lay it on a table filled with college themed things and pictures of you for your guests to place grad gifts and cards on.

Good news people, it's spring and there's a million flowers everywhere! Flowers are the perfect way to decorate and make your party even more pinteresty!

Entrance signs are the perfect way to decorate the entrance of your party and set the theme. There are so many signs you can get or make, wooden painted signs, glass signs just use your imagination!

It's important to have fun activities at parties and some awesome options if your party is outdoors is to have some yard games for people to play. There's endless lawn games including bean bag toss, volleyball, bowling, giant jenga, Connect 4, tic tac toe etc.  

Use fruits or flowers to make your drinks super cute and if you're serving juice or coffee you can make them into ice cubes so your drinks don't get watered down!

Back again with more desserts. Need another idea? Make a dessert bar! Just like charcuterie boards you can make an anything bar!

Having little gift bags for guests to take home is the perfect parting gift for attending your party and they will love it!

Chocolate fountains are amazing, you can dip anything in them and they are so cool and fancy. You could even use white chocolate to make a colored chocolate fountain! 

Having a drink bar adds yet another cool decoration and using cute mason jars, or martini glasses you will have a cute little drink station with lemonade, orange juice, coffee or anything you want.

The dessert table is usually people's favorite spot at parties so why not make it themed and add to your decorations! You can do college themed or color themed or whatever your parties theme is and there's so many dessert options to choose  macaroons, cookies, donuts, cupcakes, cake.

Having a theme makes a party 100% better and having a dress code gets your guests super involved. Some cool theme ideas could be a luau theme, Mama Mia theme, Friends theme, and various colors (for example my friends and i’s grad party is an all pink party)

Photobooth backgrounds are an essential for a grad party and there are so many options, a flower wall, pallet wall, sequin wall, polaroid, curtain wall, chalk wall I could go on forever. They add a fun activity for your guests to take photos and you can even surround them with your balloon arch!