Rustic Country Themed Graduation Party

On Saturday, my oldest niece graduated high school.  (Yay Tiffany!)  I helped my mother-in-law plan her graduation party.  We spent tons of time on Pinterest searching ideas.  Here are some of the things we did-

Our main elements were sunflowers, mason jars, burlap, and lace.  I have a small collection of old aqua mason jars that belonged to my mom and grandma, we used those for the centerpieces.  Each jar had a raffia bow and a burlap tag that said 2014.

 

Each table had a burlap runner gathered with twine, a lace circle, mason jar with sunflowers, and two glass jar votives.  We hung mason jars around the sides of the tent,

on the porch, along the fence,

and in the trees!  It was hard to capture the pretty twinkle of all the jars in the trees at night with my iPhone!  I wired 26 mason jars to hang using 17 gauge wire.  It wasn’t difficult once I got a routine going, but it was pretty time consuming!  The final look was amazing though so it was totally worth it.

 

The main attraction was definitely the popcorn bar my husband made from pallets.  My mil had this great idea after seeing a few similar things on Pinterest.  I showed Matt a few of the pictures we liked best and he came up with this design.  It was absolutely perfect!  She wanted the kids to be able to reach and fill their own bags, so he mounted wood to the baskets so they would sit at an angle.  I made the rag banner for the backdrop and the whole thing was just too cute!  I can’t wait to use it for future parties and maybe as a lemonade stand!

Here’s a close up… There were paper bags to fill with the popcorn and goodies.  We had M&M’s, Reece’s Pieces, peanuts, and three popcorn flavorings.  The kids (and adults!) had a blast filling their bags with their flavor creations.

 

I borrowed the old Coke crates and wire basket (and a ton of mason jars and other things) from my crafty bestie Melissa. We used my giant gallon sized Ball jar for the food table centerpiece.  My mil arranged all the flowers… she’s great at that!

 

Our giant mason jar drink dispensers were the perfect addition to our theme.  I love them so much!

 

The awesome cake was made by my talented sis-in-law.

 

Originally, we planned to do burlap banners.  That meant cutting the burlap into triangles, threading through the twine to hang them, and stenciling on the letters.  On our mega supply shopping trip, we found these kraft paper banners on sale and decided to hit the “easy button” on that project!  Good call.  I stenciled the letters with black paint and a sponge brush and called it done!

My favorite thing about the evening was when the sun started to set and Matt and I lit all the jars.  The glow around the yard was beautiful!

All in all, it was a lot of work and planning; but we would do it again in a heartbeat.  It was a perfect way to show Tiffany how much we love her and are so proud of her!  Can’t wait to see what’s in store for her next!

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