"Oh the Places You'll Go", a great grad party theme! Dr. Seuss's last book and graduation speech is inspirational and fun; I was able to get many ideas from Pinterest which turned out to be easy DIY projects. I used this theme for my graduation party, which was an afternoon open house.
For this reason I chose an array of finger foods and small bites for easy conversation while munching.
First and foremost, food! The party food choices were inspired by the wacky world of Dr. Seuss so you'll see lots of color and sizes. I provided several different snack foods for appetizers that would appeal to different tastes.
Nacho cups - I took the classic 7 layer party dip and turned it into an individual portion. Use your choice of ingredients including bean dip, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and olives and layer it into small cups. Stick a tortilla chip in the top for garnish. This is a tasty snack that can be prepared beforehand and it was surprisingly filling.
Mini Hors d'oeuvres included ham roles, party potatoes, and pretzel bites. Ham rolls are made by spreading cream cheese on ham slices, then adding either a pineapple spear or green onion in the middle and rolling it up. Slice the role into 1/2 inch bites that look like colorful pinwheels and display on top plate. You can spear each roll with a fringed toothpick for easy picking.
Party potatoes were a huge hit- they were gone before you could say, "Green eggs and ham." Try to buy the tiniest red potatoes you can find. Boil them, slice them in half, and lay them on cookie sheet. Sprinkle them with cheese and powdered ranch flavoring and bake until warm. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and an olive slice and crispy bacon bits.
Pretzel bites were freshly made from a box of pretzel dough, boiled, baked, then sprinkled with salt. I kept a mini crockpot filled with warm cheese dip to go with the pretzels.
For a healthy addition disguised in a brightly colored shot glass, try Veggie shooters (or salad in a cup). Place a small dollop of ranch dip in the bottom of a mini shot glass, then add a carrot and celery stick and a speared cherry tomato. This makes eating your veggies refreshing and fun.
For drinks I offered melon-ball lemonade in a glass pitcher- a colorful and wacky drink perfect for Dr. Seuss and the summertime.
The best part of all, dessert! Dessert was especially colorful with lots of variety.
My favorite is a fancy French dessert- mini fruit tarts in filo dough cups. I filled each cup with vanilla pudding and fresh cherries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. check out my full recipe
here. These are a pleasing decoration as well as a delicious desert. I displayed them on a 3-tier serving plate with lemon bars.
I made a cookie recipe I found on Pinterest designed to look like the rainbow spirals on the cover of "Oh the Places You'll Go". For this recipe, I used a regular sugar cookie mix, divided the dough into 4 bowls, and colored each with different food coloring. Take a small piece from each color, roll it into a ball, then roll the 4 colors together into a spiral. Lay the spiral in a circle on the cookie sheet and bake. Display like a tipsy tower for a cool effect.
Dr. Seuss rainbow spiral cupcakes, designed to look like something from an imaginary land, are delicious too. I baked two sizes of cupcakes, regular and mini. I placed the mini cupcake on top of the regular cupcake and held it in place with a toothpick. Then I mixed several colors of frosting together and swirled the frosting around the two cupcakes, making a tall topsy turvy cupcake. I added pearled sixlets as a final touch.
Lastly, I made a Funfetti cake with pink strawberry frosting. On top I added the quote, "Oh the Places You'll Go" made out of rainbow colored fondant. The perfect ending to the dessert bar!
Now on to the decorations. I went crazy with all the great ideas I found on Pinterest and a few of my own.
For the main wall I created a giant grad year sign with multicolor tissue paper. It took up that whole side of the room withe the 3d numbers popping off the wall.
Next I made a giant free form balloon sculpture. I used about 100 balloons which I taped to a wire form...it took on its own organic shape and really made a statement. The balloon sculpture created a whimsical effect making the whole room seem like walking into a Dr Seuss book!
For the entry way table, I created another display for the grad year. I cut out the numbers from poster board, then painted and glittered them. I also painted four large wine bottles in the same four colors; then I glued the numbers to a wooden dowel and stuck them in the bottles. Each bottle was topped with curling ribbon which looked like champagne bubbling out. This was really eye-catching and fun. On the same table I placed a copy of the the book, "Oh the Places You'll Go" to tie in the theme.
I created my own center pieces for the side tables; I glued painted and glittered Styrofoam balls on to dowels and tied them with curling ribbons. Then I stuck four each in small clear glasses filled with marbles.
Behind the drink table I decorated the wall with streamers and balloons creating a nice backdrop for photos.
In the dining room, I created a streamer tent centered at the chandelier. Scattered around the room I put up quotes from the book such as, "Your mountain is waiting" and "Today is your day."
One really great way to celebrate the graduate is to show snapshots of great memories; I attached a cute photo of fun times on to the strings of 20 helium balloons. People enjoyed looking at the photos as they floated around the room. It was an elegant and easy decoration.
I also used another classy artistic decoration made of paper fans. I used all different colors and shapes to create circular fans, which I hung overlaying each other. This turned out to be a "fan"ciful creative display.
To add more whimsy, I hung large neon spirals from the ceiling made from poster board. The whole room took on an imaginary feel.
For party favors I made little bags full of large and small gumballs with graduation stickers on the front.
Overall it was great fun planning and cooking for the party, I had lots of help! The individual appetizers were a bit more work than I thought, but with good friends, it all came together.
