A retro grad party is such a fun theme to celebrate such a big milestone. Here’s a few tips for bringing a retro grad party to life.

The end of this school year marks such a big moment for both of my kids. Trevor is moving on to kindergarten and Tatiana is moving to high school. I honestly can’t believe that the end of the year has gotten here so quickly. It seems like just yesterday they were starting the school year. To celebrate such a big milestone, we’re having a little graduation party at home with our family. One of the things I vowed to start doing after having my kidney transplant was to celebrate all of the moments, even in the littlest ways. So, I pulled out my Cricut and grabbed a couple of supplies from my go-to spots to put together a small party while staying on budget.

Tips for Planning a Retro Grad Party

1. Create a budget and stick to it

The first thing that I do before planning any party is to create a budget. This helps me stay within my means while planning and shopping for the party. It also helps to determine what I will be buying and what I’ll DIY. DIYing saves me so much money when it comes to party planning and hosting. There’s honestly so much that I can DIY with my Cricut and the crafting supplies that I have at home that it just makes sense to make what I can.

Since this party was just for my family of 4, the budget was pretty simple. I needed a few things like plates, a table cover and I wanted to make small party favors filled with candy for dessert. Other than that, I pretty much DIY’d everything at home.

2. Pick a theme

The theme for this one just popped into my head one day. I wanted it to be colorful and fun but the theme was inspired by this smiley face image that I found on Cricut Design Space. One day I was making stickers for another project and came across the cutest smiley faces wearing grad caps and immediately knew that was going to be the inspiration for this little party. I found the striped wrapping paper that I used for a table runner in Dollar Tree and everything else fell into place from there.

3. Get to DIYing

There were a few projects that I absolutely knew I wanted to DIY for retro grad party. I wanted to create more of the stickers that I previously created to use for the party favor boxes. Of course confetti was a must for this celebration. I made banners to decorate the arches with. The last thing that I wanted to DIY were napkins. I customized napkins for my 33rd birthday and they were such a huge hit. Even though my family and I were the only ones at this party, I knew my kids would love the napkins.

If you’re wanting to DIY the projects that I used for this party, you can grab the Cricut Design Space files that I used here:

4. Set the scene

Once all of your DIY projects are complete and you have all of your supplies, you’re ready to have a retro grad party. I set the table with a plastic tablecloth and wrapping paper from Dollar Tree. These iridescent plates from Michaels were perfect for a retro themed party and cost under $5. For dessert, I found these grad cap plates at Dollar Tree. These plates from My Mind’s Eye are a great alternative. I love finding things that fit perfectly into the budget. We kept the food simple and ordered pizza and had cupcakes.

I used mini iridescent gable boxes from Hobby Lobby for party favors. A pack of 12 cost $2. To customize them, I put the stickers I created with my Cricut Joy Xtra on them and tied ribbon to the handles. You could also use iridescent cardstock to create gable boxes with your Cricut.

Grab your Retro Grad Party Supplies:

I stopped by Daytime Tampa to chat about how the Cricut Joy Xtra is the perfect party party essential.

Watch the Segment Here

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