Planning a graduation party on a budget

[FQLover]

Back in the day, my Dad always made a rainbow sherbet/Squirt punch that people just loved. The punch bowl would be drained and re-filled and drained again.

 

[wendow]

we are having a surprise graduation party for one of my D's friends and wanted the sherbet/sprite punch recipe? Is it just sherbet and sprite combined? If so, easy peasy. Thanks.

Yes, just sherbet and sprite! Choose a sherbet that is 100% sherbet (no orange swirl) and I would not do the rainbow...color will be awful...We did pineapple sherbet but any solid color would work nicely for the color purposes. It's a huge hit and you cannot refill the punch bowl fast enough once the kids catch on to how good it is

 

[wendow]

Back in the day, my Dad always made a rainbow sherbet/Squirt punch that people just loved. The punch bowl would be drained and re-filled and drained again.

Not sure what color Squirt is but maybe that would compensate for the rainbow sherbet...If you mix the rainbow sherbet with sprite, the color is ugly. Of course, food coloring might could rescue that. I wanted a vibrant pink sherbet but all the strawberry was sold out everywhere. Settled on pineapple and like you say, the punch bowl was just drained over and over again

 

[JinxedSydney]

I have a year until our DD graduates, but I'm going to be planning waaaaay ahead. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

So, our DD graduated last past Saturday and our taco bar turned out great. We did the party open house, drop in style.

We actually did a lot of the prep/cooking the day before, so we didn't have to come home from the ceremony and destroy the kitchen before the party.
Her ceremony was at 8AM ! She had to be there by 7am, so she & I were up by 5:30 am for showers, hair, makeup and driving there.
We had reserved a brunch at a restaurant near the ceremony and then we all came home and took naps !

I ended up purchasing two of those triple crock pots and they worked amazing ! I got one off FB for like $15, the other I ended up buying at Sams club because it was the right size and price ($30) I can see us continuing to use them for holidays, etc.

Anyways : THE FOOD :

We made about 6 lbs ground beef, 7 lbs grilled chicken and 7 lbs shredded Mexican chicken, we cooked all the meat the day before, and I separated everything into gallon size ziploc bags, portioned out to how every much would fit in one fill of the crocks, so I could just heat up that amount and dump it into the crock when we needed refills. The three meats went into one triple crock.

We also made the day before grilled corn, that I cut off the cob, 2 one pound bags of yellow rice. We added white queso dip as the third item to round of the 2nd triple crock.
I had planned on making black beans, but completely ran out of time, and I just ended up with two cans of seasoned black beans.
We toasted up the soft taco shells and held them in a crockpot to keep them hot.

Then, I made up a little menu chalk board : Make your own, tacos, rice bowls, nachos or taco salad.

I did have our local taco place, Salsaritas help me out. I was able to pick up 5 of the taco salad shell bowls and they were all used. And that's where we got the salsa.

So we also had the tortilla chips, salad lettuce and iceburg for toppings, onion, tomatoes, olives, cheese, green bell peppers, sour cream, etc.

All in all, we had way to much meat & rice. We could have made half as much and still had leftovers. We only had about 25 people pass through, even though we invited 60+ ( don't even get me started on that aspect)

 

[WVMomof3]

So, our DD graduated last past Saturday and our taco bar turned out great. We did the party open house, drop in style.

We actually did a lot of the prep/cooking the day before, so we didn't have to come home from the ceremony and destroy the kitchen before the party.
Her ceremony was at 8AM ! She had to be there by 7am, so she & I were up by 5:30 am for showers, hair, makeup and driving there.
We had reserved a brunch at a restaurant near the ceremony and then we all came home and took naps !

I ended up purchasing two of those triple crock pots and they worked amazing ! I got one off FB for like $15, the other I ended up buying at Sams club because it was the right size and price ($30) I can see us continuing to use them for holidays, etc.

Anyways : THE FOOD :

We made about 6 lbs ground beef, 7 lbs grilled chicken and 7 lbs shredded Mexican chicken, we cooked all the meat the day before, and I separated everything into gallon size ziploc bags, portioned out to how every much would fit in one fill of the crocks, so I could just heat up that amount and dump it into the crock when we needed refills. The three meats went into one triple crock.

We also made the day before grilled corn, that I cut off the cob, 2 one pound bags of yellow rice. We added white queso dip as the third item to round of the 2nd triple crock.
I had planned on making black beans, but completely ran out of time, and I just ended up with two cans of seasoned black beans.
We toasted up the soft taco shells and held them in a crockpot to keep them hot.

Then, I made up a little menu chalk board : Make your own, tacos, rice bowls, nachos or taco salad.

I did have our local taco place, Salsaritas help me out. I was able to pick up 5 of the taco salad shell bowls and they were all used. And that's where we got the salsa.

So we also had the tortilla chips, salad lettuce and iceburg for toppings, onion, tomatoes, olives, cheese, green bell peppers, sour cream, etc.

All in all, we had way to much meat & rice. We could have made half as much and still had leftovers. We only had about 25 people pass through, even though we invited 60+ ( don't even get me started on that aspect)

It is so hard to judge the amount of food needed, especially when no one RSVPs anymore! Plus many people are party hopping so may or may not eat at your party. We too had tons of leftover meat. I made 6 lbs of ground meat plus 10 lbs of shredded chicken. I also had a pound of ground beef that I had precooked and froze in case it was needed. My sister was in charge of the refilling of all the food and at some point she decided to add in the other pound, though I think I had about 2 lbs leftover in the end. Probably 3 lbs chicken left. We did walking tacos so I had 36 bags of doritos plus 50 small flour tortillas plus big bags of tostitos that could be used. All of the doritos and tortillas were used, but my DD said a lot of people did not know what walking tacos were and just took a bag of doritos. I think I should have had a few more dorito bags and tortillas. We had around 75 people come.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Yes, just sherbet and sprite! Choose a sherbet that is 100% sherbet (no orange swirl) and I would not do the rainbow...color will be awful...We did pineapple sherbet but any solid color would work nicely for the color purposes. It's a huge hit and you cannot refill the punch bowl fast enough once the kids catch on to how good it is

I had a bridal shower for my sister this past Saturday and did this punch, but with orange sherbet. It was great.

 

[wendow]

So, our DD graduated last past Saturday and our taco bar turned out great. We did the party open house, drop in style.

We actually did a lot of the prep/cooking the day before, so we didn't have to come home from the ceremony and destroy the kitchen before the party.
Her ceremony was at 8AM ! She had to be there by 7am, so she & I were up by 5:30 am for showers, hair, makeup and driving there.
We had reserved a brunch at a restaurant near the ceremony and then we all came home and took naps !

I ended up purchasing two of those triple crock pots and they worked amazing ! I got one off FB for like $15, the other I ended up buying at Sams club because it was the right size and price ($30) I can see us continuing to use them for holidays, etc.

Anyways : THE FOOD :

We made about 6 lbs ground beef, 7 lbs grilled chicken and 7 lbs shredded Mexican chicken, we cooked all the meat the day before, and I separated everything into gallon size ziploc bags, portioned out to how every much would fit in one fill of the crocks, so I could just heat up that amount and dump it into the crock when we needed refills. The three meats went into one triple crock.

We also made the day before grilled corn, that I cut off the cob, 2 one pound bags of yellow rice. We added white queso dip as the third item to round of the 2nd triple crock.
I had planned on making black beans, but completely ran out of time, and I just ended up with two cans of seasoned black beans.
We toasted up the soft taco shells and held them in a crockpot to keep them hot.

Then, I made up a little menu chalk board : Make your own, tacos, rice bowls, nachos or taco salad.

I did have our local taco place, Salsaritas help me out. I was able to pick up 5 of the taco salad shell bowls and they were all used. And that's where we got the salsa.

So we also had the tortilla chips, salad lettuce and iceburg for toppings, onion, tomatoes, olives, cheese, green bell peppers, sour cream, etc.

All in all, we had way to much meat & rice. We could have made half as much and still had leftovers. We only had about 25 people pass through, even though we invited 60+ ( don't even get me started on that aspect)

Awesome sounding party!!! I'm hungry just reading your menu and details lol!

I was frustrated with the rsvp's too. We ended up with about 85-90 total. But so many showed who did not rsvp and several families who did rsvp never showed. And they have still not said a word to me about it. Like, 'hey, sorry, we totally spaced the party'...I'd feel super weird if I said I was coming (and bringing the fam) and then just didn't show...What!?!

Anyway, I'm betting you are thrilled the party is done and my guess is that your dd is thankful that you threw up such a great party. Well done, Mama!

 

[wendow]

It is so hard to judge the amount of food needed, especially when no one RSVPs anymore! Plus many people are party hopping so may or may not eat at your party. We too had tons of leftover meat. I made 6 lbs of ground meat plus 10 lbs of shredded chicken. I also had a pound of ground beef that I had precooked and froze in case it was needed. My sister was in charge of the refilling of all the food and at some point she decided to add in the other pound, though I think I had about 2 lbs leftover in the end. Probably 3 lbs chicken left. We did walking tacos so I had 36 bags of doritos plus 50 small flour tortillas plus big bags of tostitos that could be used. All of the doritos and tortillas were used, but my DD said a lot of people did not know what walking tacos were and just took a bag of doritos. I think I should have had a few more dorito bags and tortillas. We had around 75 people come.

I made 14lbs of just ground beef and had very little left over. Maybe 2lbs at the most?? But I didn't do any chicken. Only other protein was black beans which no one really touched.

The walking tacos are a neat idea, and I think I'd do those next time, but I think they need a very clear sign of what to do. Did you do a sign and people just ignored, or no sign?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

The RSVP thing can be so frustrating! In my family (and culture) RSVPs are unheard of. The younger generation understands but the older ones, forget it. My XH and I had to call people and just ask. We are having my son's party at a hall and I did not want massive amounts of food leftover or going to waste. We have 119 coming so far and that's not including my son's friends he invited separately. Our party is in two weeks!

 

[WVMomof3]

I made 14lbs of just ground beef and had very little left over. Maybe 2lbs at the most?? But I didn't do any chicken. Only other protein was black beans which no one really touched.

The walking tacos are a neat idea, and I think I'd do those next time, but I think they need a very clear sign of what to do. Did you do a sign and people just ignored, or no sign?

Did not even occur to me to do a sign! About half an hour into party my DD suggested one, but we didn't get around to it. I thought everyone knew what walking tacos are. lol But the next weekend I helped my friend do her kids party and she decided to do walking tacos after having them at my house, which btw she had never heard of walking tacos until my party. We did put a sign up by the dorito bags that said walking tacos and I think we scared everyone away. She had very few chip bags taken! So I guess we needed explicit instructions. We did try to educate people who looked confused.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

The RSVP thing can be so frustrating! In my family (and culture) RSVPs are unheard of. The younger generation understands but the older ones, forget it. My XH and I had to call people and just ask. We are having my son's party at a hall and I did not want massive amounts of food leftover or going to waste. We have 119 coming so far and that's not including my son's friends he invited separately. Our party is in two weeks!

You guys need to ask people to RSVP ASAP!!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

You guys need to ask people to RSVP ASAP!!!

Oh our RSVP's were done June 1. Whoever didn't RSVP we called them or texted them and asked. We are set with 119 plus my son invited 10 kids. They won't RSVP so I have them down as a yes.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Oh our RSVP's were done June 1. Whoever didn't RSVP we called them or texted them and asked. We are set with 119 plus my son invited 10 kids. They won't RSVP so I have them down as a yes.

Whew! Okay good. I was getting worried for ya.

 

[ShyMiss]

Thanks to everyone who shared ideas here. I really enjoyed this thread. I have honestly been dreading planning DDs late summer grad party, but I feel much better after reading this thread.

 

[wendow]

The RSVP thing can be so frustrating! In my family (and culture) RSVPs are unheard of. The younger generation understands but the older ones, forget it. My XH and I had to call people and just ask. We are having my son's party at a hall and I did not want massive amounts of food leftover or going to waste. We have 119 coming so far and that's not including my son's friends he invited separately. Our party is in two weeks!

I can definitely see the rsvp's might be a cultural thing but in our circle, there was no excuse. It's just a common courtesy!

I hope your party goes great!!

 

[wendow]

Did not even occur to me to do a sign! About half an hour into party my DD suggested one, but we didn't get around to it. I thought everyone knew what walking tacos are. lol But the next weekend I helped my friend do her kids party and she decided to do walking tacos after having them at my house, which btw she had never heard of walking tacos until my party. We did put a sign up by the dorito bags that said walking tacos and I think we scared everyone away. She had very few chip bags taken! So I guess we needed explicit instructions. We did try to educate people who looked confused.

Honestly, I had never heard of 'walking tacos' either until I was looking on pinterest for taco bar ideas. So, I can see where people need some instructions lol!

 

[DawnM]

So, our DD graduated last past Saturday and our taco bar turned out great. We did the party open house, drop in style.

We actually did a lot of the prep/cooking the day before, so we didn't have to come home from the ceremony and destroy the kitchen before the party.
Her ceremony was at 8AM ! She had to be there by 7am, so she & I were up by 5:30 am for showers, hair, makeup and driving there.
We had reserved a brunch at a restaurant near the ceremony and then we all came home and took naps !

I ended up purchasing two of those triple crock pots and they worked amazing ! I got one off FB for like $15, the other I ended up buying at Sams club because it was the right size and price ($30) I can see us continuing to use them for holidays, etc.

Anyways : THE FOOD :

We made about 6 lbs ground beef, 7 lbs grilled chicken and 7 lbs shredded Mexican chicken, we cooked all the meat the day before, and I separated everything into gallon size ziploc bags, portioned out to how every much would fit in one fill of the crocks, so I could just heat up that amount and dump it into the crock when we needed refills. The three meats went into one triple crock.

We also made the day before grilled corn, that I cut off the cob, 2 one pound bags of yellow rice. We added white queso dip as the third item to round of the 2nd triple crock.
I had planned on making black beans, but completely ran out of time, and I just ended up with two cans of seasoned black beans.
We toasted up the soft taco shells and held them in a crockpot to keep them hot.

Then, I made up a little menu chalk board : Make your own, tacos, rice bowls, nachos or taco salad.

I did have our local taco place, Salsaritas help me out. I was able to pick up 5 of the taco salad shell bowls and they were all used. And that's where we got the salsa.

So we also had the tortilla chips, salad lettuce and iceburg for toppings, onion, tomatoes, olives, cheese, green bell peppers, sour cream, etc.

All in all, we had way to much meat & rice. We could have made half as much and still had leftovers. We only had about 25 people pass through, even though we invited 60+ ( don't even get me started on that aspect)

Sounds great! And all freezable, which is nice.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

When doing walking taco's its best if folks cut the bag open along the side of the bag rather than the top of the bag. It makes it easier to reach into the bag if it a shallow bag rather than deep plus you are not sticking your hand down inside of a deep bag and getting stuff all over your hands which makes people use more napkins. And it makes it easier to mix things up if you can reach the bottom of the bag easier.