You did it! You graduated from high school . . . and it’s time to celebrate! Graduation parties have become one of the staples of high school graduations. It’s a great time to get family and friends together to celebrate the end of a very significant part of your academic life. The following tips will help you make sure that your grad party (and your grad party hopping) will be great.

Pick a good date. While you may be tempted to just choose a Saturday soon after graduation, it’s better to properly plan your party. Ask your friends when they’re having their parties, and do your best to coordinate so that you can get to at least a few of your close friends’ parties. Even if you’re planning your parties on the same day, you can try to have one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Send invitations. When it comes to sending invitations, there’s only one piece of advice that I can offer: invite a TON of people. Invite your friends, your relatives, your favorite teachers, and anyone else you can think of that might want to show up. The more people you can get to your graduation party, the better. It’s pretty standard to send written invitations via post, but it’s becoming increasingly common to send out email invitations instead. Whichever you decide to do, get a big list of people together and start sending!

Have a good time. When it’s time for your party, enjoy yourself! Talk to everyone that shows up, enjoy the copious amounts of food that are bound to be served, and have fun—this is a party to celebrate your achievement!

Plan your party hopping. Because almost everyone has a graduation party, you have a lot of options for visiting other parties. Running around and going to other graduates’ parties can be just as fun as having your own. Write down when your friends’ parties are, and start making a plan for hitting as many as you can. Graduation parties are in full swing for a few weeks after graduation, so you can plan on having a few full Saturdays of party hopping. Enjoy the summer weather, a whole lot of free food, and hanging out with your friends, free from the worries of school!

Send thank-yous. As much as you may not want to do this, make a point to send thank-you notes to everyone who came to your party, even if they didn’t leave you a card or a gift. It’s a really nice thing to do, and shows your attendees that you appreciate their showing up. It doesn’t need to be a whole lot (everyone understands that you’ll be sending a large number of notes), but it’s really classy to send out a card with a few sentences that express your gratitude.

Graduation parties are one of the best parts of finishing high school. Follow these suggestions and have a great time—you’ve earned it!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com