“Sweet” Graduation Party for Under $1 per Person
Yesterday was our youngest son Cody’s graduation party. As you all know I have been getting ready for weeks cleaning windows, mowing grass, planning and organizing. It sure makes for a lot of stress… that I put on myself. I like everything to be perfect, so perfect I even scrubbed the inside of my washing machine clean. What in the heck was I thinking??? Not one person is ever going to put their head into my washing machine and inspect how clean it is. I’m a neat freak anyway so my house is always clean. Never the less I went over everything with a fine tooth comb making sure there wasn’t a speck of dust or cobweb anywhere. Once I was satisfied everything was in order I started my decorating process. We decided on an ice cream bar, so the obvious was red and white checked table cloths (I purchased 10 of them at the dollar store).
I moved our furniture to the perimeter of the room, put the coffee table in storage and set up three 8ft tables and one square table for seating (I also had tables on both the front and back deck). To the tables I added simple mason jars in blue and green filled with wild daisy’s (FREE). Since we adopted Cody at age 14 I didn’t have any baby photos, so the next best thing was a collection of pics from sports and fun times with his friends. I took them to Staples and had engineer prints done in 18X24’s to hang on the walls ($20). See that freezer at the end of my island? That’s the ice cream bar. We have a local creamery, MOO-ville, owned and operated by a husband, wife and their 5 children. What I like best about their products are they don’t put any of that funny stuff (chemicals or growth hormone) into their products, it’s just good ole fashioned ice cream. Their also so helpful, when I ordered the ice cream I actually got to go into the freezer where they stock the 4 gallon bucket and pick my flavors. They gave me a heavy coat to put on and it was still freezing in there.
What we got in the package was 16 gallons of ice cream, the freezer to scoop the ice cream from, 12 pounds of toppings, spoons, bowls, and napkins, to serve 300 all for $240 dollars. Can you believe that? Even if I take into consideration the soda and water I still served everyone for under a $1 per person, that’s just amazing…..and the best part was I didn’t have to cook a thing. I turned out HUGE sink into a drink cooler, there’s 168 drinks in that sink as well as 44 pounds of ice. I was amazed how much it holds.
I let Cody pick the ice cream flavors and the toppings. I just reminded him to pick something we like in case there are any leftovers. I printed and framed the menu choices and placed it on the island by the ice cream service station. My oldest sons girlfriend works for a place that serves pizza and ice cream so she volunteered to be our scooper for the day. Thanks Brittany 🙂 you did a great job. I also got out a few aprons in case she wanted to keep her cloths clean. I am a apron lover and expect everyone else to be too.
I think the house ended up looking like an old fashioned ice cream parlor with all the red and white checks going on and my white and blue furniture fit right in. One thing this party taught me was you don’t have to have a large meal for people to come. Everyone right now is hitting several graduation party’s in one day and just having ice cream at our place was quite refreshing to most.
Here’s the break down:
Ice Cream and Toppings, 300 servings: $240
Bowls, Spoons, Napkins, Freezer: Included in ice cream price
Table Cloths, 10: $10
Mason Jar and Daisy centerpiece : FREE
Engineer prints: $20
Final Cost : $270
I have to say I would recommend anyone host a graduation party to consider doing it this way. Who doesn’t love ice cream? We had the best time!!!
What a lovely party. I’m sure everyone had a delicious time.
Linda, the only downfall with having ice cream is the leftovers….someone has to eat them. LOL
Super cute, Dawn. I love those tablecloths and what a bargain. I am sure everyone enjoyed themselves.
Kim, we had a great time and the cost couldn’t be beat.
What a great idea and you were able to support a local business, too! I’ve got to pick up a few of those cute tablecloths if they have any left! It looks like ice cream for dinner tonight. 🙂
Vickie, I always love to buy local when I can and in this case the cost was far better than I could get any place else. I’m going to have to watch all that ice cream eating, I don’t need any new calories piling on. Thanks for stopping and have a wonderful Sunday.
What a fun idea for a party. Who doesn’t love ice cream!
Exactly Carol many people tried every flavor 🙂
What a fabulous idea! And all done so cute and clever! i am sure everyone loved it! EspecIALLY CODY!!!!
BTW Finally bought and tried the passion punch from Schwan’s. YUM!
xo kris
Kris, so glad you tried the Passion Punch. I won’t be buying for a while, we have a stockpile in the freezer right now from graduation. LOL
Wow, you got all that ice cream at a great price and so convenient! But please come clean my house including the inside of the washing machine, hahaha!!
Barbara, am I nuts or what? I am going to ask my friends this week if they peeked into the washer. LOL I know it is clean and I guess that’s all that counts.
Dawn,
The house looked so pretty and what a fun idea for Cody’s party. Love the table clothes you got at the dollar store. Everything looked so great. I bet they all had such a good time.
Kris
Kris, it was a blast and we have ice cream left over….
This looks so fun and incredibly welcoming. I think that’s what I like the best. You clearly love your home and family…and wanted to share that with your friends. Good job!
Thanks Ann, it’s nice to have it over with but it did want it to be just perfect 🙂
Oh how clever Dawn! The kids must have loved it!
Thanks Debbie 🙂 We had a fun time and I loved not having to cook.
Just had to look your up your website after reading about the article published in Aug/Sept issue of Country Woman. You and your husband are certainly ambitious and very creative. Loved the article. And now since reading about all your preparations for the lovely graduation party, you are definitely one remarkable country gal who loves finding unique ways to save pennies. Congratulations on a fun task well done.
I will certainly keep following you on your site for more fun ideas and stories.
Fern Miller
Mercersburg, PA
Fern, I didn’t even realize the article had came out yet. Thanks for letting me know. I will go buy the magazine now. Glad you will be following all the goings on around the cabin. Have a wonderful week 🙂
Wow! 300 people! Great job! Your party sounds like a huge success!
Congratulations to your son.
Pam
Thank you Pam, we had a blast.
Absolutely love it dawn!!
Thanks Sandi 🙂 There’s plenty of leftover ice cream so stop over any time for a bowl….
That is awesome! I have thought about doing this also. Looks like so much fun and you are right, you didn’t have to kill yourself cooking.
Deena, I encourage you to do it. No stress with just serving ice cream and the kids like having the different toppings to pile on themselves. I made it fun by putting everything into big glass containers and using ice cream scoops as serving spoons. I had more kids stop over last night to have some leftovers.
Sounds like everyone had a “sweet” time..LOL
Nancy, indeed they did.
Congrats to Cody and congrats to mom for providing a wonderful party so beautifully done!…Love the tables, decor and the menu!…Ice cream is my all time favorite!!!…
Shirley, after doing this I would host another ice cream party. It is so easy 🙂
What an awesome idea for a party! Everything looks wonderful, and what a bargain for a large gathering. Congratulations to your son! If I lived closer I’d come help you with the leftovers. That’s just the kind of friend I am : )
Jeanette
Jeanette, I would love for you to come over and help eat up all this ice cream. Thanks for stopping by.
What a great idea for a party, and you had me laughing at the washing machine bit. You sound like me. It sounds like a wonderful party! Congratulations to Cody (and to you)!
Thank you Suzanne, glad to hear Im not the only one out there that cleans things than no one will notice.
Love this idea! My daughter is graduating from 8th grade and all her friend are going to different high schools so I wanted to have one last party with all her friends and their families. Thank you for posting this. BTW Love your house!
Dawn, it’s such a fun party idea and it doesn’t break the bank. Thank you for stopping in and I hope your party is a success 🙂
What time of day did you have your party. Ours is 11-2 and I am wondering if this would be okay? I loved the idea!!
I just love this idea! And we LOVE MOOville! I don’t think it will work for my girl’s openhouse but I will keep it in mind! Loved the decorations too!
Traci, I know we love MOOville too. It would be great for a shower party too.
What a pleasant surprise. I ran across this post on Pinterest and was happily surprised to see the Mooville ice cream. Our family lives about 30 min. from their business and my husband grew up in that area. The decor looks lovely.
Bobbi, I live about 7 minutes from MOOVille, and have lived here for 24 years.
What a fabulous idea! So simple when you stick with a theme. Thank you so much for sharing!
Pat, thank you it was easy, no stress, and inexpensive.
Where did you get the daisys
Kerry I picked them from our field they grow wild in my area.
Where did you get the cute green mason jars? I’m having a hard time finding them.