My son graduated last year - I had about 125 people at his graduation party. The suggestions you got above are good. Here are some of mine: We had a rootbeer keg - it was a big hit. Ordered it from the liquor store, very popular with young and old alike. Our entire keg went in 3 hours. It was set up outside because it gets sticky. We set up a volleyball net in the back yard. The boy vs girl volleyball competition was intense as most of the kids were athletes. I'd do the extra bars and salads as suggested, borrow coolers if you need to keep them cool. The only thing that struck me in your email is to make sure that you really can get the red, white and blue decorations you want, lots of other parents might have the same idea and you may have slim pickings if you wait too long. If you are in a big city it may not be a problem but if you are in a town with only 1 or 2 high schools, you might have a problem. The nice stuff will go fast. Finally, get help to keep the food trays filled, coffee made, trash cans emptied, toilet paper and clean towels in the bathrooms, etc. It's a lot of work and you want to at least have time to say hello to your guests. Assign someone to take pictures of your daughter and guests, especially those important ones like grandparents, aunts, uncles, best friends, etc.. Good Luck, it sounds like you are already well on your way. Maryp

Thank you for the thoughtful answers... and Sweeby, for the equally important question! I think I have been going back and forth (at least subconsciously) about who this party is for. DS was a very difficult child in his early years (basically until high school), so we are happy, and relieved!, that he has turned out well! So in part, this party is a celebration of that -- but we would never say to him what we're thinking, which is "We never thought we'd see this day!" But many of the adults in attendance know his story and will appreciate the significance of the day. So I think I am trying to combine the "toast the parents and the kid who have (all) worked so hard to get here" and the "have your friends come too, and celebrate just being done with high school" themes. I didn't even think about having a separate area for the teens, but that is a great idea. I'm trying to keep the party mostly outside, but the teenagers can congregate in the basement. I can put coolers of soda and bowls of chips and stuff down there. I also agree with hhireno that he should be capable of a brief speech to thank people for coming. I'm sure he'd do that. I'm thinking too, instead of the collage, I can put his 'school years' photos in small frames and scatter them around the tables. I think in the end, he'll roll his eyes but let me do what I want w/ the photos.

Deanna, the licorice whips are a great idea! Where were you when my girls were graduating? LOL Of course, Ashley has another year of college which will be spent in her internship, then I'll probably have to have a party for her, so I'll try to remember that. trudymom, I used pork butt (which is actually shoulder) for the pulled pork, Elery just put them into the electric roasters and cooked them with some white wine, although I usually use root beer, apple juice or just water. When they fall apart they are ready to "pull" into shreds with a fork. I left some plain with homemade sweet relish on the side for those who don't like a tomato based BBQ sauce, and then made a big batch of BBQ sauce for the rest of it, then stirred the sauce into the shredded pork and let it simmer for another hour or so before it was ready to serve. The plain pork I kept simmering on low with some chicken broth to keep it from drying out. For the wedding I cooked pork about a month ahead, shredded it, cooled it and packed it into ziplock bags and froze it. On the day of the party I thawed it, dumped it into the roaster and added sauce. It worked very well, but I think LindaC's step of putting the pork on the grill would give it a great smoky flavor. Annie

don't get him any unabridged dictionary that costs less than $50--they're just not good enough. The Merriam-Webster and Random House brand are good, but their unabridged are about $70. Just because it says "Websters" doesn't mean it's good. Believe me, I know about dictionaries bcs I'm a professional copyeditor, and every one I've seen that was inexpensive was not very good--not complete; includes stupid words--a waste of money. I like the Financial Freedom book Anita9 recommended, and if he weren't irresponsible, I'd second the vote for Tiffany stuff. What about suitcases? My family's standard h.s. graduation gift was a set of luggage--the ultimate "you're on your own" message! LOL. (but in our family, it really did have a meaning of ultimate grown-upness, since we moved up from sharing mom's suitcase to sharing w/ a sibling to having our own that was part of a 4-suitcase trunk, to borrowing our own of mom and dad's. having out own suitcase was a symbol for not needing permission to go anywhere.)