Graduation Party Ideas, Inspiration, and Free Printables!

This post is a part of a campaign with Shutterfly and LooksiSquare. All opinions are entirely my own. Affiliate links ahead.

The graduation free printables in this post are now updates for 2019! Download the graduation free printables 2019 set here.

Parties always start with a little bit of inspiration from somewhere, whether it’s a theme, a favorite shirt, or in this case, a celebratory graduation stationery piece from Shutterfly. I just loved the glitter and bold colors in the invite; it just screamed party!  I took the colors of the invitation, red, gold, light blue, silver and black, and spread them through the graduation  printable patterns. The idea of the banner on the invitation is repeated throughout the details of the party. Our lucky grad, Ally, thought her party was pretty cool, too, with all the personal picture touches! And because we love celebrating big accomplishments, I’m offering all the printables in this inspirational shoot to you for free here.

Using this sparkly graduation invitation as a jumping off point, I designed bunches of coordinating graphics.

Confetti poppers (tutorial here!) made using push-up pops were tagged with a pretty sticker that says “Congratulations, Ally!” on the front from Shutterfly.

I think my favorite piece from Shutterfly I used in this party were the wall mount art. Photographs from a beach session with Ally mad for a perfect party backdrop, and she gets to hang them up at home after the party is over! Can’t wait to get some of these made for a few of my favorite family photos. I used a 16×20 and 12×12 boards to make the backdrop, then framed it with a tissue tassel garland. You can download the “Celebrate Class of 2019” 16×20 poster as part of this offer, and upload to somewhere that does wide-format printing. Office Depot is my favorite for this!

Want the 2019 versions? Sign up to my email list to download!

There were a few extra invitations, so I used them to make signs for the table centerpieces. See the tutorial on how to make these graduation centerpieces here. 

Through Shutterfly, I also was able to create some glitter-themed address labels. Instead of personalizing the labels with an address, I customized them with a congratulatory message for Ally, and then used them to top off little favor bags for our guests. They’re easy to make, and I give a quick how-to and free printables for the hershey kiss stickers here.

The cake top glitters with this “2014” – see how it’s made here!

On our dessert buffet, we served up some silver sprinkled donuts and a chocolate sprinkle cake. Donut holes with a unique presentation are irresistible, and mini-meringues fill martini glasses on the side.

Tiny circles do double duty as hershey kiss stickers and as fun confetti for our party tables. Most graduation parties tend to be casual affairs without full-fledged place settings, so we just made up more fun centerpieces to spruce them up and let people sit where they may.

Congrats to Ally on her graduation and thank you to Shutterfly for the amazing inspiration!

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