OTT dorm rooms have been a thing for a long time now. That’s a separate discussion though and there a have been many threads on that over the years.
This thread reminded me that I am a negligent parent because I didn’t even think of hosting a grad party for my son, who graduates from college in just under two weeks. So I just texted and asked him what day he would like to have a party and he seems up for it. Phew, CC to the rescue again!
Okay, well…like others here, I’m relieved to learn what a bed party actually is, and not what I feared it might be… 
It’s not something that would appeal to anyone in my family, but to each their own. I guess I’d rather see students celebrating the college they got into, instead of feeling sad and rejected over the ones they didn’t.
Glad we missed that craze!
Now I feel bad. On our college visits, I made the kids go to the clearance section if they wanted a school t-shirt.
My daughter would have been all over this, and we would have had fun with it. We had cakes for both my kids ready on results day - to enjoy or smash depending on outcome. She also has a pretty over the top dorm room - then again she had to stay in it alone for over a month only able to leave to pickup food, so zero regrets here.
Haha… we did do some silly things with only our family for results days, but nothing we shared.
This is cute and not at all over the top. I saw one posted on tiktok for a kid going to Duke that was thousands and thousands of dollars of stuff. This looks like fun with decorations and a small amount of appropriate swag. FUN!
I wrote this before I read the article. We live in the area mentioned in the WSJ where the parties are popular.
Thanks! Again, we’re lucky that she happened to end up at Syracuse (we NEVER thought it would be in the budget…) I don’t think I spent $100? I just bought the balloons/party supplies and that sign. And the orange. Lol
The former owners of our house must have been big fans of a state football team. The family room was similar to those bed party photos. Even after they packed their stuff, we had team colors in carpet and wallpaper border. I hope I don’t regret scrapping it all off should my children attend the same school.
On a parents FB for my kid’s college some parents posted pictures of bed parties. We are bad people - we 100% laughed about it.
ETA - I’m talking lots of money on swag. One had custom sneakers and about 20 shirts and hoodies - no joke.
I live in a “super extra” area, so yes…I’ve seen plenty of these here. It’s not my thing (so, I guess, by default, not my kids’ thing, either).
My kid goes to a school with 2 different campuses, each with its own vibe. One campus is traditional, with old buildings and a beautiful quad, and draws a lot from the Tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT.) The other campus is more artsy, made up of Manhattan high rises, and draws from all over. On the combined parents’ Facebook group I see a fair number of bed parties for the traditional campus, but none for the artsy campus. From what I can tell, the kids on the artsy campus don’t even want school hoodies!
I’m a cheap mom. I bought my kid a college teddy bear which I left on her bed as a surprise as I left after move in weekend. That was it for purchased swag.
My kid worked for undergrad admissions for 3 1/2 years and got plenty of college clothing (at no cost to her…and very nice too) from the college to wear when she worked.
And when she graduated, she bought a license plate holder for her car license plate.
That’s it.
Lol! If it makes you feel any better, I have bought her zero college swag. Any t-shirt she owns was free and even the sweatshirt she’s wearing in that pic is her sister’s. 
Our “bed party” was helping our youngest make this for her hs grad. It’s her grad hat btw. She’s graduating next week from VT and everyone in the fam has VT swag now.
This looks like a college-themed thing that my sorority used to do for new initiates. Cute.
At my kids’ first hs, every senior had a sweatshirt from their college and could wear them to school (otherwise a uniform school) starting April 1. And they DID wear them, even if it was 80 degrees (Southern Cal). Many had swag for their cars, and almost all had cars (pretty wealthy student body). I really doubt any of their home bedrooms looked like the photos above.
My kids each had a shirt from their schools. One had a sweatshirt and the other a long sleeved t-shirt. They wore them to high school and since both committed early, they wore them all year. The athlete had a signing day party (with other athletes) and decorated her table with a tablecloth in her school colors and cupcakes and whatever other swag we’d collected by then. Most of it was the stuff the school had been sending all year - bumper stickers, cheap sunglasses, beads.
My other one is rather into her school stuff, and did have me buy her a comforter for her dorm room (from Walmart, so not expensive). Over the years she’s collected a lot of t-shirts, sweatshirts, headbands, etc. A lot of it is from the thrift store she likes. I think the comforter is long gone. I’m sure most of the t-shirts are too. The school gave all the freshmen a t-shirt for the first football game, and it had the words to the school song on the back (so the person in back of you could sing along). Many of them have been pretty cute.
