Also from MI, my whole life. I did have an Open House when I was younger, but my girls have all informed it is called a Grad Party now. We did everything you said for our oldest 3. We had it in the backyard and borrowed large tents, tables and chairs from our Church. The oldest had a taco bar, the next one had a s'more's bar, and the last one had a rootbeer float bar. We had pasta salads, dessert and hot dogs for one and pinwheel sandwhiches for the other. For dessert- cupcakes are easier than cake since you don't have to be constantly cutting pieces.
As far as decorations, I have kept them from the 1st one, and we just change things up a little for each one. I used all High School colors just so it would be easier to reuse.
For display photos, I didn't want to be printing photos or hunting through old ones, so I created a school "yearbook" with their layouts from Kindergarten through whatever Senior or graduation photos I had scrapped, printed them through Shutterfly and put the albums on display. Each of the girls created a binder full of awards, report cards, school/art work they wanted, and that was on display too.
Try not to be too stressed out. Enjoy yourself and use this to celebrate your child and to see family and friends. If you run out of food, noone will even know!
|