<p>Here in north Texas, it seems like parents hold open houses to celebrate their kid's graduations. I've heard friends negotiating times/dates, so two kids with the same circle of friends won't have conflicting parties.</p>
<p>Lots of the schools have "Project Graduation" the actual night of graduation, to keep the kids sober and safe on graduation night.</p>
<p>What is the celebration tradition in your area?</p>
<p>I wouldn't say it's a tradition, but our school does hold a "project graduation." S and his friends went bowling instead.</p>
<p>A few kids have grad parties, but it's not the norm.</p>
<p>No real grad parties here either. Most people go out to dinner after graduation with a group of family, friends and friends' families or have a cook out.</p>
<p>our school D an all night Grad Night....takes LOTS of pressure off of having parties...</p>
<p>most of our seniors go to the grad night- parents encourage it-- my D had a blast</p>
<p>Nothing organized the night of graduation - in fact, our graduations are often held in the morning...</p>
<p>Lots of people do graduations parties/open houses the weeks (and months) following graduation. We did ours the 1st weekend after Tuesday graduation - I was so happy to do it then while the memory/excitement of graduation was still there - lots of kids had their parties weeks after graduation - as late as late July....!</p>
<p>The tradition at our school is to circle the parking lots endlessly looking for a parking place, and then park at the large parking lot at the nearby grocery store and worry about being towed.</p>
<p>HS parents organize an all night party the night of graduation in these parts. The kids get onto buses to be taken to an "unknown destination" where there are non-stop activities, food, entertainment, and no one gets in or out until the bus takes them back to the HS in the morning.</p>
<p>(It's an exhausting night for the parents who organize and staff it)</p>
<p>Graduation open houses are the norm, usually within a couple weeks either side of graduation. A few are quite extravagant. Having a single party for 2 or more seniors is becoming more common.</p>
<p>No all night, school organized parties here. It sounds like a great idea though! </p>
<p>I think lots of students have parties/open houses in the weeks following graduation, some combining for large groups of friends. One of my collegues rented out part of the football locker room (or something that was under the football stadium) at the local Univ. for her son and a group of his friends (all football players) a couple of years ago. </p>
<p>Graduation is always held at Assembly Hall (again, thank you university!) so no parking problems or ticket limits. One local HS is am, the other pm. They alternate years.</p>
<p>Lots of open houses here. Invitations are sent out...many with the senior picture on the front..others with the logo of the future college.<br>
Parents and kids are invited to these open houses. Some are very informal, others really fancy.
We wanted something fun so we dragged our ping pong table from the basement so we could put it outside. It rained :( So we dragged it into the garage and that's where all the kids hung out (with loud music of course). I thought it was kinda grungy but what are you going to do? The parent all hung out inside and ate - kids just came in for cookies and drinks (non- alcoholic of course). My s loved it...very appreciative.</p>
<p>Kids here usually leave for the beach as soon as possible. S and his friends have already made a plan to go camping. The school does not plan anything. Graduaution is held in a huge arena in a nearby city five days after the last day of school.</p>
<p>Last year 8-10 families decided to do a group party. We split food and other costs. It was nice because teachers could attend lots of parties at once. The kids camped out there overnight and did clean-up next day.</p>
<p>Our school has Project Graduation- an 11pm-4am cruise around Manhattan. Lots of people have parties for days/weeks after graduation. They range from Open Houses to pool parties, dinner parties, dances, etc. We'll probably invite a group of people to our lakehouse for swimming, barbecues, fires, s'mores, etc. :)</p>
<p>My school has Grad Nite at Disneyland...the only problem is that they lock you in until the following MORNING, so we're not allowed to leave. Very few of my friends are actually going.</p>
<p>Lots of people have parties. :) I'm going to have one in August, before I leave for college.</p>
<p>Around here (upstate New York - farm country) the parents usually throw large graduation parties. I am currently planning/buying ahead and I told D the other night I feel like I am planning a wedding all over again. Menus, guest lists, invitations, decorations, yeah like a wedding and almost as expensive. I gave my D the choice to take the money or the party and she wanted the party (people usually give money to grads here anyway). I am planning on giving her the same choice for her wedding. At last count we had about 160 people on the guest list for the grad party!!!</p>
<p>Here in almost-in-the-Thumb MI, grad parties are EVENTS, similar to what Momof3Stars describes. Most are open houses/picnics, but the planning and logistics (and expense) are very similar to wedding receptions. Attending these events almost seems to require a cash gift for the student too, which really adds up...I'm grateful my daughter went to high school an hour away from home, where the grad party tradition is more muted. My daughter was told from elementary school on that there was no way we would throw such a bash (we're not native Michiganders, so the scale of the tradition was new to me), but we did pay for a dinner out at a nice restaurant for her and a group of her friends.</p>
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The tradition at our school is to circle the parking lots endlessly looking for a parking place, and then park at the large parking lot at the nearby grocery store and worry about being towed.
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<p>Your deadpan description is hilarious! I live in a rural area of Michigan where the tradition is pretty much what Mezzomom describes. We are also not natives and are not planning to follow suit. Our plan is to do dinner with family on graduation night and a send-off party sometime at the end of the summer before beginning college.</p>
<p>GradNite is big in our area of Connecticut; many schools host a lock-in all-night party for graduating seniors. Last year at our school there was a casino room, the pool was open, there was a rock-climbing wall and those inflatable bouncy things, lots of music and games. Something like 95% of the class attends and it takes a huge commitee an entire year to raise funds and plan the event.</p>
<p>Then throughout the summer, many families host picnics/parties at their homes to celebrate with family and friends. We actually held a "going-away/eighteenth birthday" party in August instead and rented out a town rec area. The only tradition that the various parties seemed to have was the renting of the inflatable bouncy things -- we had to have the 30 foot slip-and-slide (and it was a blast!).</p>
<p>The grad party celebration tradition in our area is inexpensive and easy. I love it. And it is exactly what my D wants, bless her. </p>
<p>Saturday or Sunday afternoon "open house" at your house. Invite family and friends and your kid's friends and your kid's friends' parents. Serve ham and chicken and beans and cole slaw and cake and cookies, much of which you ordered from an inexpensive caterer. Pop for the kids, beer for the adults. People sit around and talk, and play bocce ball or "cornhole" beanbag toss. A suggested start time and a suggested end time, but people drop in and out.</p>
<p>Sometimes the weekend after our Thursday night graduation, sometimes a few weeks later.</p>
<p>And you hope it doesn't rain. Although we have relatively big basement-rec-room-of-video-games, so I guess we'd be all right if we generally kept parents upstairs and teenagers downstairs. People with big yards often do the "rent a tent" thing where they rent a canopy and set lawn chairs or picnic tables under it if it is supposed to rain.</p>
<p>Wow-Project Graduation at Disneyland and a Manhattan Cruise....my kids' school's Project Graduation is at a local bowling alley. Funny, the other HS in the District has about a 95% participation rate and ours is under 50%...both are a bowling alley type of places.</p>
<p>We do the all night sober grad too. To entice the kids to participate there is a raffle and you have to stay to end to claim your prize which is anything from a check for 100.00 or a car donated by the local used car lot. It's a huge deal with fundraising that goes on all year. Parents put it on for the whole class</p>
<p>Srs. also take a Sr trip and hisgrace I have been to that Disneyland grad night with them. It actually is a wonderful night. Exhausting for us olds but really fun. Other trips have included cruises on the Bay and spending the day in a more local theme park. Then there's the Sr. Picnic. They go on the friday after they finish Sr. boards. The Sr. trip is paid for by the kids/parents. The picnic comes out of student body funds</p>
<p>Individual families have parties ranging from backyard gatherings to getting a few boats together and using the lake all day.</p>
<p>We have a fairly wide range of income levels but all kids get the picnic and grad night celebrations if they want to attend them. When your grad class has fewer than 100 kids it makes it easier to do things for all of them.</p>