Graduation Party Ideas

It is that time of year for Graduation parties!  Recently we held our annual grad party for our group of seniors in our youth group.  Its such a sweet and sentimental time.  We have shared the last 7 years with these students and have had the opportunity to laugh, cry and watch them grow and mature into young men and women of Jesus.  Its pretty cool.  So I thought I would share some of the details of the set-up for any future party ideas.

Since we do this on a pretty large scale I try hard to do things as inexpensively as I can.  Throughout the year I am always on the look-out for things on clearance that would work for us.  I also utilize the dollar store and the Target dollar section as much as possible.  I love little details at parties.  I know its not everyone's thing but for a celebration like this I love recognizing the Seniors in little special ways.  We set up their table special for them with little fun treats like these.  All of the little 2015 stickers I found in the Target dollar spot and the glasses are from the dollar store.

Flower arranging can sometimes be intimidating for people.  To make these bigger arrangements I chose hydrangea - they are the most simple way of adding fullness to your arrangements without really doing much.  I also literally just used a grocery store bouquet of flowers and added a few hydrangea to them - the key is to trim down your flowers to the correct height.  Don't be afraid to cut down your stems!  

The rest of the tables were really simple.   Either a centerpiece of balloons or a simple pail with one hydrangea.  I would say using balloons is an inexpensive way to decorate- but not if you are using helium! Filling a ton of balloons adds up.  I have been going to more ceiling decorations like lanterns and poofs because of the helium cost.  I constantly search the Target clearance section for lanterns because they are often there and marked way down.  

This year we went with cake and cupcakes for the seniors.  I love this little table.

For a little added bonus, here is a little bit of last years graduation party....

I try to change it up a bit every year with colors and the little details.  These little star balloons are from Oriental Trading company and the turquoise mason jars are from Target.

Decorating is one of my favorite things, its almost therapeutic for me and its all in the little details that make it special.  Hope you all have a great week!

PS - If you are looking for more decorating ideas here is another graduation party we did a few years back!

Simple Pallet Board Shelf

Silas' room is becoming one of my favorites in the house.  We have been slowly adding so many elements that I love and its really starting to feel like a completed space.  His room has been transforming into a big boy room, which is fun and also a little sad at the same time.  But we are enjoying each season.

Pallets: you probably love them or can't stand them.  I'm on the love portion of that statement (of course).  I have been wanting to incorporate a pallet board in some form or another in our house for some time now and this little project ended up being the perfect fit.  I acquired this little pallet board somewhere, somehow and it made its way into Silas' room to act as a little quasi-shelf.  You can see below how its been leaning against his wall for a while and neatly organized with some of his things.  It was time to finally make this spot more permanent (and safe) for our little pallet board.

So we found a little time on a weekend and put together a quick plan to mount this thing to the wall and make it a functional part of his room.  To attach this to the wall I went and found some of the strongest wall anchors I could (pallets are super heavy).  Justin measured, drilled and anchored this monster to the wall.  Its not going anywhere now.  

To give it a little more function we also attached a little yellow hook set I found at Target.  Now Silas has a sweet little place to hang things, display his special little items and store some books.  

I love pallets because one- they are free and two - they add a little rustic touch to a room.  I didn't even bother with cutting or adding anything to the pallet.  It was functional just they way it was for me.

With it now securely mounted to the wall it feels like it actually belongs here now and its great to check one of those little projects off the list!  I have a few more things to accomplish in his room before I can say his room is completed.  For example- hang curtains, recover his little "couch" and Paint his bookcase..so we are getting close (sort of).

So do any of you have a thing for pallets?  Have any fun projects you have done?  Share with me, I'd love to know!  Have a wonderful weekend!

No-Cost Frame Redos

Pausing from closet doors to share with you some frame redos.  Since I have all of the paint materials out and set up I thought I would take the time to update some of the frames I have laying around, waiting for some love.  For all of these updates I used paint that I had on hand already so nothing was purchased just for these projects.  Free updates = Happy Us.   First frame up is actually a mirror.

This frame needed an update and my first thought was to spray paint it white.  After I did, I just wasn't sold and decided to try a bolder color.   I have recently bought some really great teal paint that I haven't used yet but I thought would work perfect for this project.  So teal it was.  Oh, and I also got some spray paint on the mirror (whoops) - but some nail polish remover rubbed it right off - no biggie.

This project I subbed out to my lovely niece Mya.  She is up for hire - her current going rate is a Popsicle and a handful of cherry tomatoes.  Not to bad if you ask me.  She only does one coat though because anything longer than that gets boring.

All in all it was a great deal, it was fun and entertaining for her for the first coat and I worked on other things and she did an excellent job.

Here's our finished product, Mya was digging the new color and excited to see it finished.  I think I know the perfect place to hang it.

Next up, an old frame that houses my beloved NC light houses print.  

You know from days long before that I once went a little crazy with a themed light house bathroom and promised that never again.  But, it's just one little print and I happen to love it...and I got it on our honeymoon to the Outer banks so it has sentimental value.  I wanted a black frame and I just happen to have black chalkboard paint leftover - so a little splash of paint and now the frame really pops.

Lastly, Is a little different redo.  Instead of changing the frame I'm changing what's inside.  I have several frames I bought way back when we first got married, the frames aren't bad at all but it's the inside prints that are hideous. 

 Instead of replacing it with a picture or different print I opted to replace it with a fabric I have that I got on a trip to Ecuador.  I haven't decided where this one is going yet but I love the framed fabric.  It makes me happy.

So no money, new frames, new artwork and we're good to go.  Sometimes it doesn't take much to revamp and old item that you're not so keen on anymore into something that you love!