You Are My Sunshine Theme Graduation Party for Tia by Event Coordinatior, Stylist & EventTrender Angela Butorac
When Tia and her parents, Gene and Sonia contacted Angela to help them plan Tia's graduation party at their home, they set up a meeting to get to know each other and talked about some themes.
Tia is Gene and Sonia's only daughter, she loves summer, she has been very active in sports at school and loves bright cheerful colors. The party would take place in the family's backyard which is centered around a beautiful in ground pool. Taking all these elements into account, Angela came up with the concept based on the theme You Are My Sunshine ~
Angela enlisted Jessica Nosis owner of Nosis Design to create these graduation invitations that were mailed and emailed to the guests.
The inspiration for our You Are My Sunshine theme event, colors: Tiffany Blue and Sunshine Yellow and bright summery flowers like the Sunflower!
Once we put together a plan of how many tables and chairs would fit in our event space based on our guest count we were able to start filling in the decor elements. Angela called on Todd Hardiek at Colonial Events to help us map out how many tables would fit into our space. We rented all of our tables, chairs and the tent from Colonial Events.
We prayed for sunshine and we got it!
ET Tip ~If you have the space, keep food protected inside the house or a covered garage or tent on hot summer days!
For their over thirty-five years of experience and mouth watering cuisine we called on Traveling Chef Catering to set up a delicious dinner buffet and serve guests around the island of the kitchen
~Menu~
Beef Tenderloin Carved with Shiitake Mushroom Zip Sauce
Chicken Piccata with Mushrooms, Capers, Lemon Sauce and Parsley Garnish
Bow tie Noodles with Roma Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic, Onions, & Olive Oil
Rosette Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Almondine
Lightly Grilled Asparagus
Appetizers, Drinks and Desserts were stationed in the home's finished basement
Traveling Chef Catering adorned a 6' rectangle table with appetizers that included a vegetable tray and dips, assorted cheeses displayed on marble with gourmet crackers, shrimp with cocktail sauce, fresh fruit garnish and a vase shaped ice sculpture!
The scene was set with a mix of high and low tables with bar stools and comfortable wood folding chairs with white padding.
Tables were dressed with sunny yellow watering cans filled with mini roses and gerbera daisies
Holland's Flowers & Gifts created a few beautiful larger arrangements to dress up the kitchen and dining room of the house!
Tia picked out sunny yellow and Tiffany Blue linens for the party and we rented them from the gals over at Affordable Elegance Chair Covers & Linens!
Angela rents these beautiful locked card boxes to her clients, they can be customized with photos, perfect for graduation parties, weddings, anniversary & birthday parties!
Another EventTrender Essential idea that Tia used is Angela's wood letters for her Gift and Sweets tables. These letters look cute swagged in front of the table with a ribbon and can be hung using shabby chic clothes pins like we did here or with clear wire.
ET Tip ~ Don't forget to display precious memories and your school spirit with memorabilia that represents you, your family, your friends, your school and the activities you participated in. Create and frame a fun list of facts about the college you will be attending for your guests to read!
Setting the scene and backdrop for our sweets table...we planned out and labeled where we wanted each dessert to go ahead of time so day of...everything could be dropped right into place.
Colonial Events provided a yellow pipe and drape backdrop for our Sweets Table and we hung white gerbera daisy garland and white tissue paper flower garland by Martha Stewart from Michaels Craft Store whimsically across the front.
Angela recommended the talent of pastry chef Jenn Tilton with Indulge by Jenn for the majority of our themed sweets!
Jenn created A sunflower cake, T for Tia and sunshine shaped sugar cookies, raspberry mousse cups, cake pops, dirt cake pots topped with a flower and filled with gummy worms, and caramel corn cups. Tia's grandmother and other family members also baked up some delicious sweets for the occasion!
Angela hand stamped and embossed Tiffany Blue and Sunshine Yellow napkins with a bright white sunflower stamp for Tia's party. She placed the napkins in a shabby chic weathered wood planter holder. Contact Angela to place your custom napkin order for your event here.
We placed white rose flower balls on top of square vases that were filled with yellow Jelly Belly jelly beans on the table as decorations
Each guest received a thank you gift of caramels by Kelly's Karamels wrapped in blue satchet bags and custom decorated with a sunshine stickers to fit perfectly with our theme!
Great Idea Alert: The Blessing Box
Guests were asked to write a well wish, a word of wisdom or a prayer on a pretty floral card and place it in a Blessing Box. Once Tia goes off to college, her parents would give her the box and on a day that Tia is feeling down or homesick she can open up the box and feel encouraged and refreshed from the messages.
Blessing Box Idea and Supplies were provided by Kathleen Lindeman contact her at 248-515-7910
During the party, guests enjoyed getting pictures together in a photo booth provided by Nick at Night DJ Service
The photo booth included a memory book filled with duplicate photo strips from her guests. Guests left a message next to the copy of the photo strip that Tia received!
Wishing nothing but the best to Tia as she continues her education studying Business and Event Planning (great choice) at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (Angela's Alma Mater...Tia you and me were meant to have met!)
Congratulations to Tia and all of the 2012 graduates!
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