As a member of the high school class of 2007 and the sister of a current high school student, I have attended countless grad parties over the last few years. After my senior year, I thought that I was sick and tired and would never attend them again. Dead wrong. After attending college for a year and learning to love anything and everything associated with free food, I found myself attending as many grad parties for the class of 2008 as I did in 2007. Hanging out and eating for free were luxuries I had lived without during the last semester, so regardless of who attended, if I was invited, I was there (and I showed up a few times when I wasn’t invited, but we’ll save that for another AC article…) Being the astute college student that I am, after a solid week of attending multiple grad parties each day, I started to notice a rather disturbing trend…certain foods were being repeated over and over again at every party! This didn’t bother me during the first few parties when I was shoving burgers and chips and cheap Wal-mart cake into my starving body, but after consuming tens of thousands of calories of these oh-so-bland foods, I felt a bit disheartened. But I attributed it all to the fact that the class of 2008 was lame and didn’t know how to have good grad parties.
Now, as the very first 2009 grad parties are taking place, I am using my finely honed observational skills and once again, I am noticing this disturbing trend. I could say that the class of 2009 is also pathetic like 2008…but instead of making accusations, I have decided to take pity on these poor, ignorant high school seniors and share some of my grad party wisdom. Getting off facebook and compiling a set of grad party ideas is a sacrifice I’m willing to make for the greater good. I encourage you to try some of the ideas out, or, if you have other sweet ideas let me know. You won’t be disapointed, and neither will all those food-moochers who will be sure to attend your epic party.
1. Beverages
As much as we’d all (we meaning all the poor college students crashing your party) would love to attend a grad party featuring an open bar, I doubt many parents want to deal with their already chaotic party becoming a drunken brawl.
That being said, I am sick and tired of consuming flat pepsi all the time. Here are a few alternatives:
-Shirley temples
-mix any Kool-aid, club soda, lemonade and cool whip in a punch bowl…very tasty
-if you have a blender, mix equal amounts of fruit (any kind, but my personal fave is strawberries) and milk and a little honey or sugar, and voila! Smoothies! Or if you’re lazy and have money to spare you can have Maui Wowi cater your party..yes, they do that!
-Going along with the blender idea, milkshakes and malts are great too!
-Virgin Mary’s, although I doubt if the high school crowd would be into that. Just an idea.
-Iced coffee
–iced tea (Arizona’s iced tea is the best!)
-Starbucks frappuccinos
-if you are like me and live in Minnesota, you might get away with hot cocoa or apple cider, depending on the time of year and the weather. Or you could be a jerk and serve hot drinks when it’s 105 degrees in the shade. That would be awesome too.
-Snapple! Love that stuff!
-If you’re into healthy foods, you could serve Propel or Vitamin Water, or be boring and just have water
-Root Beer floats
-Rent a slushy machine and make slushies for your guests! Yum!
-Make a “muddy mountatin:” for each person, mix one cup of orange juice with a cup of coke..add 1 scoop of ice cream and drizzle chocolate syrup over the top.
-Mix Rainbow sherbert, a quart of pineapple juice and 2 liters of lemon/lime soda. Careful though, if you add all the sherbert first it will get REALLY frothy..
2. Snacks
If you’re looking to be the grad party with the interesting and memorable snacks, may I suggest avoiding chips, cookies, generic fruit/veggie/cheese/cold cut platters bought at the grocery store and those obnoxious m and m’s with the graduation date printed on them (isn’t “m” good enough? geez)
Here are some of my ideas:
-Bacon Roll Ups. My friend had these at her party and they were a hit!
Recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Bacon-Roll-Ups
-Garlic Bread
-Bread Sticks
-Spring Rolls: http://www.appetizerparty.com/Recipes/JapaneseSpringRoll.htm
-Caramel Popcorn, cheesy popcorn, popcorn balls, or just plain popcorn!
-Puppy chow
-Cheese Curds
-Have people make their own kebobs over the grill-provide a variety of kebob ingredients, such as cherry tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, tofu, shrimp, chicken or other meat. Also, provide marinades and sauces to brush over the grilling kebobs
-alternative kebob: the “fruity” kebob-use apple, banana, peanut butter and marshmallows
-Popcorn chicken
-Cheese Quesadillas
-Mini Pizzas http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1634,128177-250199,00.html
-Mozzarella Sticks
-Hush Puppies
-corn on the cob
-Pigs in a blanket
-Mexican Sushi bites: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50363
-Cheese Stars: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50250
-School colors pretzel wands: http://parentingteens.about.com/od/recipesforkids/r/schoolpretzels.htm
3. Main Course
As far as main courses go, I think as long as you steer clear of grilling burgers or hot dogs, ordering pizza, having submarine sandwiches or having a taco bar, you’ll probably be set as far as having interesting food is concerned..but for those lacking creativity I have a few ideas.
-Although it doesn’t really match the weather, I think it would be sweet if somebody had a huge pot of chili at their grad party. This also would be a really easy dish to cook up and serve and you could freeze the leftovers. There are about a million ways to make chili, but I have a few links to recipes for those who need help.
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/quantity/chile-con-carne.htm
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/quantity/chunky-turkey-chili.htm
http://www.famouschilirecipes.com/PartyChili.html
http://www.famouschilirecipes.com/ThreeBeanChili.html
http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Ambush%20Chili/itemid/83951/task/display/recipeid/83613/recipecategoryid/43
http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Nevada%20Annie’s%20Cowboy%20Chili/itemid/83992/task/display/recipeid/83654/recipecategoryid/43
-Have the guests make their own hobo dinners. Hobo dinners are tasty meals that I usually eat when camping-basically you take chicken, potatoes, onions and any desired spices (my favorite is lemon pepper) and wrap it up in tin foil and put in the coals by the edge of a campfire. It usually takes them about 15-20 minutes, but can be faster or slower depending on how hot the fire is, so be sure to monitor that.
-If you really, really desire to do the whole “grill” thing, try having ribs..always a good choice at a BBQ but don’t see them too often at the grad parties.. http://bbq.about.com/od/ribrecipes/r/blb91104a.htm
-I’m from Minnesota and we’re all about the hotdish here. Or what other folks call “casseroles.” This involves adding lots of random leftovers together, and if you’re a true Minnesotan, a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, and sticking it in the oven. Actually is way tastier than it sounds. But yeah, if you’re Lutheran and having a grad party, there better be a hotdish.
-consider having brunch for your party. How awesome would it be to go to a grad party with scrambled eggs and toast and waffles?!
-Swedish Meatballs. Or Barbeque meatballs. Or just lots of meatballs!
-Meatloaf and “smashed” potaetoes
-Baked potato bar
-Pita wraps with hummus for the vegetarians and hummus lovers like me 🙂
-Caprese Mini Sandwiches http://elise.com/recipes/archives/002158caprese_mini_sandwiches.php
4. Dessert
Avoid the sheetcake with the disgusting tasting frosting. I know it’s cheap. And so does everyone else at your party.
I actually prefer to go traditional here: chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and yes, strawberries dipped in chocolate. I don’t see ice cream too often and for good reason: it’s hardly something you can leave outside for extended periods of time! But if you get the chance, consider an ice cream sundae bar.
Other ideas:
