Planning a Graduation Party? Try these 5 Tips.

A gift as simple as a corsage for the Graduate’s cap can showcase one’s signature style. This trendy design made of OASIS Aluminum Wire A graduation party is a celebration of success. Your customers are proud of their graduates and want to celebrate them in style. How can you help to personalize these parties with flowers and flair?

Offer a Party Planning Checklist

Invest some time in creating a party-planning brochure for customers who aren’t accustomed to planning events. Highlight how your floral business can help. Provide quick and easy tips for organizing social events. Offer ideas for adding color and fragrance with flowers. Consider including these five suggestions:

1.  Choose a theme

Set the stage for celebration by choosing a theme that best describes the graduate. Consider using school colors, favorite hobbies, sports preference or future plans as the subject of the theme. Keep the look consistent with invitations, decorations and even the food menu.

2.  Decorate to celebrate

Hang a banner, float balloons or scatter confetti on tables, but most importantly, don’t forget the flowers! Flowers add life to a celebration and help attendees to feel like special guests. Match the style of flowers to the personality of the graduate. This calla design in a slate OASIS ECOssentials Cylinder accented by dramatic lines of OASIS Aluminum Wire, a ruffled band of Flat Wire and a basing of OASIS Brooches would appeal to a modern taste. Decorate with these conversation starters:

• Fill a 21" OASIS® Wreath Base with fresh flowers in school colors for the entrance door.
• Order a life size cutout of the graduate in a fun pose, to greet guests as they arrive.
• Display the graduate’s scrapbooks, school activities, team photos, prom pictures and awards on a memory table with a personalized floral centerpiece.
• Showcase university or career memorabilia to indicate future plans.
• Frame a favorite photo in a wide mat, without glass. Ask guests to autograph the mat offering their congrats or best wishes.
• Set up a theme-inspired photo booth for snapshots of the graduate and guests.

3.  Have fun with food

Be creative with your foods while keeping the menu on-theme.

• The graduate likes sports? Serve ballpark foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, etc.
• Do the kids hang out at the pizza place? Order in their favorite pizzas and desserts.
• A movie buff? Rent a popcorn machine and offer a tasting bar of popcorn toppings and boxed movie treats.

Match your floral centerpiece to the party theme or color combinations of the foods. A unique design like this 17" Square Vase design featuring bands of red OASIS™ Snakeskin Wire and filled with rows of red roses takes up little space but makes a big statement of style.

4.  Make a plan for gifts

Guests often bring gifts or cards for the graduate. Set up a table to receive those gifts. Assign a person to oversee the table, accept gifts and keep a list of items for future thank you notes. Place a creative container on the table to collect cards. An upturned helmet is a clever cache for the cards of a former football player. A small travel bag or backpack can hold cards for one who is taking a celebratory trip or cruise, or has plans to study abroad.

5.  Give a gift of flowers

It’s been said that flowers are a gift of love. Congratulate your graduate with a wrapped bouquet of fresh flowers. Send a vase arrangement to their new office. If they enjoy cooking and live on their own, deliver a basket of fresh herb plants. Flowers are always an appropriate gift.

Suggest a backup plan

When a client is planning an outdoor event, encourage them to create Plan B in case of inclement weather. If food is to be served outdoors, around the pool or in a park setting, suggest a plan for dealing with unexpected hot or cold temperatures, windy conditions and uninvited insects. Graduation parties can be a lot of fun. What suggestions do you have for using flowers to celebrate a special graduate?