Graduation. Thank you, Pinterest!

Last Sunday, Chase graduated from high school.  That could be a blog post all on its own. Decorum at graduations has gone WAY downhill.  And I'm not talking about the kids. Come on, parents. Air horns and cowbells?  Enough about that, for now.  This post is actually about the ideas I grabbed from Pinterest and used through the week leading up to "the big day." This will also give my far-away friends an idea of what his grad party was like.

The above photo was the first Pinterest idea I incorporated.  Chase is holding his preschool graduation picture.

Three things were sources of the most comments at the party: 1. the potato casserole (Thanks to Hy-Vee catering!); 2. the popcorn (I'll comment on that later.) and 3. The Oreo Cake.

This was SO simple, and SO much less-expensive than buying a cake or decorated cupcakes.  I stacked Oreos until it was the desired height, then used canned frosting to adhere the number candles to the top. I used Mint Oreos for the middle layers as green/silver are LSW school colors. I made it the day before, and CAREFULLY placed it on the kitchen counter, covered with a large trash bag.  I had two large bowls of Oreos on our serving table, and only a few people removed cookies from the actual cake.  I would have been mortified if it had toppled mid-party.

This photo collage came from an idea I found on Pinterest, but we made it our own.  We found a wooden screen door on clearance at our local home improvement big box store ($7.25), stripped the screen off, spray painted the frame, replaced the screen with chicken wire (which my husband stapled on the back), covered the stapled edge with cute Washi tape, and my daughter arranged the photos onto the board using tiny, wooden clothes pins (also found at a local big box store).  This is probably my favorite idea from the party.

Our front entry table looked like this.  See the banner that says "cards?" That is a chalkboard canvas I bought at the Haymarket Farmer's Market.  

Our computer table held the guest book (Chase's copy of Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom), assorted photos, and a slideshow running on the computer screen.

I wish I had a better picture of this idea.  I bought canning jars in three sizes, put a photo and a battery-powered tea light in each, and arranged the throughout the house, porch, and deck.

Chase has requested Raising Canes' chicken strips/sauce, and I also had potato casserole and fruit. None of that makes for exciting pictures, however.  So, my last grad party picture shows how the dessert table was set up.  I borrowed the "big bowl" from our children's ministry department at church.  The "big bowl" is legendary. It is huge (Those are 5X7 photo frames.), and so much fun to have on the table.  A few months ago, I was introduced to the Perfection Mix of popcorn at We B Poppin', and it ruined me for all other brands of gourmet popcorn.  If you live in Lincoln, you should head there. Now. It's at 14th and Pine Lake, across the street from LSW.  Just handy enough to be very dangerous!

I had 5X7's of his class pictures on different levels.  I used unopened reams of copy paper to provide a stable base for the Oreo cake, etc.

We had a great time, had way too much food left over... "luckily" Whitney as having 22 girls spend the night on Friday.  What was I thinking scheduling both those events, 24-hours apart???

Some of our gorgeous 2014/15 Ambience girlies