Graduation party planning 101
By KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln
Journal Star
Monday, May 26, 2008 - 12:41:44 am CDT
It’s hard to fault
Amber Whitehall for
making a typo on her
sisters’ graduation
party invitations.
As the guardian of
her three younger
sisters, the
27-year-old is
tackling the
monumental task of
planning a
graduation party for
three people.
Three young women
with three different
personalities, three
groups of friends
and three different
expectations.
 And you thought
planning a party for
one was tough?
“Everything’s got to
be bigger and have
everyone’s
personality in it,”
Whitehall said. “It
is a lot of work.”
But her sisters —
Kaela, Krystle and
Shannon Spears —
appreciate her
effort.
“It’s just nice to
know we’re getting
something that most
seniors get when
they graduate,”
Shannon Spears said.
Of course, what
seniors will see
this year at
their graduation
parties will vary
from party to party.
More and more,
graduation parties
are becoming more
personal, more
hi-tech affairs,
said Ginger Venable,
owner of
Graduationparty.com,
based in Eden
Prairie, Minn.
This year, Venable -
whose Web site has
been providing
graduation party
planning advice
since 1998 - is
seeing several
trends.
The first: Parents
are wising up and
joining forces with
other parents to
provide graduation
parties for multiple
graduates.
That’s what Venable
did for her son, who
graduated recently.
She hosted a party
at her home for her
son and three of his
friends.
That allowed her and
the other parents to
pool their resources
and divide
responsibilities.
She provided a place
for the party while
the other parents
handled food, she
said.
And the boys enjoyed
it. They got to
spend time with each
other at one party,
Venable said.
“I think they liked
knowing their three
best friends were
going to be there,”
she said.
Parents are finding
other ways to make
the graduation
planning process
easier, Venable
said.
Many have begun
posting information
about their parties
on social networking
sites like Facebook.
That allows them to
send information,
such as dates and
locations, as well
as photos and
directions, for
free, she said.
Parents also are
finding inventive
ways to personalize
their parties to fit
their graduates’
personalities.
For her son’s party,
Venable had labels
made with their
photos and names on
them and pasted them
to water bottles she
gave to guests as
keepsakes. She also
suggested putting
graduates’ photos on
candy bar labels or
party favors.
“I think it’s really
neat to do something
that puts their name
on something,”
Venable said.
And she suggested
parents talk to
their graduates and
find out what they
want at their
parties.
Why spend so much
time and effort
planning a party for
a graduation?
“It’s an opportunity
for the parents to
basically welcome
the graduates into
the adult world.”
Gary Reber
planned to give
three possible
answers to
guests of his
daughter’s
graduation party
Sunday if they asked
about the flat,
rocky patch of
ground in his
backyard.
* “It’s for the
walking-on-hot-
coals part of the
party. Stick
around!”
* “It’s where we
buried them.”
* “It’s Pillar 1 of
the 2008 Vision
Group. Want to
join?”
Of course, the truth
is nowhere near so
humorous, at least
not to Reber, who
spent two days
recently trying to
clear a place in his
backyard for a
plastic shed he
wanted to build to
fill with junk from
his garage.
His hope: To clear
his garage to
provide an alternate
location for his
daughter’s party in
case of rain.
Ellen Reber, 18,
graduates from
Lincoln Southwest
High School at noon
on May 31.
Needless to say, the
shed proved too
difficult an
endeavor for Gary
Reber and he
realized too late
how much work goes
into planning a
graduation party.
“I am married to a
saint; she has not
complained once,” he
said of his wife,
Pam.
But not everything
went wrong for Gary
and Pam Reber as
they prepared for
their daughter’s
graduation party.
A particularly
useful tool they
employed was posting
information about
the party on
WordPress.org, which
allows users to post
blogs for free.
The blog they
developed includes
party date, time and
location details and
photos of Ellen.
“It was a good way
to provide
information without
cluttering up the
invitation,” he
said.
Dale Burrage, whose
daughter, Tina,
graduates from
Northeast High
School May 31, is
also finding
inventive ways to
celebrate his
daughter’s
graduation.
He had T-shirts made
with Doane College
on them to celebrate
Tina’s acceptance
into college. He
also had a Doane
banner made and
plans to show a
slideshow of photos
from his daughter’s
life during her May
30 party.
While planning his
daughter’s party has
been more difficult
than he expected,
Dale Burrage said
it’s more than worth
it.
“It means a lot to
us,” he said. “It
just seems like just
a few days ago she
came into the world
to us. Now we’re
sending her off to
college.”
At 6 p.m. May 31,
sisters Kaela,
Krystle and Shannon
Spears will graduate
from Southeast High
School.
For five hours
before that, they’ll
welcome guests to
the white house in
southeast Lincoln
where they live with
their older sister,
Amber Whitehall.
Two of the sisters,
Kaela and Krystle,
both 19, are twins
who were held back a
year when they were
in fourth grade,
putting them in the
same grade as
younger sister
Shannon, 18.
Whitehall became her
sisters’ guardian
about three years
ago.
She said she sent
out invitations to
her sisters’
graduation party two
months ago.
But the work isn’t
done.
“We’re still
deciding on food to
order,” she said
Thursday.
A critical part of
planning the party
was agreeing to
invite just 50
guests, Whitehall
said. Each
graduating sister
got to invite 10
people. Ten
invitations went to
family, and the
graduates had to
agree on 10
additional guests.
Whitehall said
agreeing on the last
10 was the hardest
part.
“That was a heated
Sunday afternoon
argument,” she said.
Whitehall has tried
to make the party
reflect each of her
sisters’
personalities.
For Shannon, that
meant setting up a
table with the
commencement speech
she plans to give
May 31 and her
acceptance letter
into the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.
For fun-loving
Krystle and Kaela,
it meant adding a
Hawaiian luau theme.
The graduates,
meanwhile, admit
they’ve had little
do with planning the
party because
they’ve been busy
with schoolwork.
“It’s a surprise
party for us because
we didn’t have much
to do with planning
it,” Shannon said.
Not that Whitehall
is mad.
Not at all.
“You want it to be
special for
everyone,” she said.
Reach Kevin Abourezk
at 473-7225 or
kabourezk@journalstar.com.
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