Ask for Help!

Warning!  You cannot cook the food, serve drinks, clean up empty glasses, clean up spills, and still be the congenial host and introduce your friends and neighbors.  Don’t have your head in the oven when the door bell rings!  Ask for help!

If you try to do it all, you won’t have any fun!

A common complaint from parents after a graduation party is “I wish I would have had more help during the party. I was so busy, I didn’t have time to talk to anyone!”  

So we suggest that you recruit someone to help.  Do you have a friend who is hosting a graduation party this spring whom you could swap services with?  If possible, recruit a friend who may not know a lot of your guests – they work harder.  Do you have friends with children graduating next year?  Tell them you promise to help them if they’ll help you.

If all else fails, hire somebody through a catering service.  It’s worth every penny!

For caterers in your area, just go to our Local Resources webpage and search for your state.  We may have some local businesses listed.

Whether you recruit a friend or hire someone, ask your helper to come early and give them written instructions.  Give them a quick tour of the house and make your expectations clear ahead of time.

In addition to having someone help in the kitchen, ask an outgoing person to take photos.  Many parents complain that they forgot to take photographs during their party.  Have them take photos of everyone and give them extra film to reload the camera.

Give your helpers a thank you gift.  My sister-in-law gave me a photo of the grad party kitchen crew (we had a great time!) and a flowering plant for my garden.

One of our friends that served a Mexican taco bar with the help of two neighbors bought them both these red hot chili pepper aprons.  A gift certificate to a nice local restaurant would also be appropriate.