Graduation party season is officially here and it’s a truly a time to celebrate! These graduation open house planning tips can save you time, money and hassle so that you can enjoy your party to the fullest.
1. Pick your open house date and book early.
It can be difficult scheduling your party when you’re trying to squeeze it in among the dates already chosen by friends and family. We always recommend that you pick your open house date as early in the year as possible so that other grads are scheduling around your date and not vice versa.
If that’s not an option, think outside the box! Grad parties don’t have to just be on a weekend. Pick a weekday evening and you’ll have a much easier time scheduling. Your guests will also appreciate a midweek night out.
Popular graduation party rental items like tents, grills, and games do book quickly. We always recommend that you reserve these items on a rental order as early as possible. With Prime Time Party Rental you have up to 2 weeks before your event to take rental items off your reservation without any penalty. It’s much easier and safer to take items off an order than to add them on peak weekends.
2. Don’t work your own party!
Anyone who has hosted a large scale event before knows that it can be a tremendous amount of work. By the end of the night you’re exhausted and the realization hits that you worked the whole party and didn’t even get to enjoy most of it.
Being the hostess with the mostest doesn’t mean you have to sweat and toil through your own event. Save time and hassle where you can by simplifying. One of the largest party workloads is feeding your guests, but there are some fun easy ways to reduce the workload while still impressing your guests.
Instead of working over a hot grill all day, swap that out for a super fun gourmet hot dog station! Our hot dog roller takes care of all the work and your guests will enjoy being able to create their own hot dog masterpiece.
In fact, all of our concession equipment saves you time and effort. Nacho bars, soft pretzel bars, or popcorn bars are an interactive and inexpensive way to serve your guests. Chocolate fountains and SnoCone machines also make for fun dessert experiences that aren’t a lot of work. And trust us…after your fifth grad party on a weekend, your guests will be happy to eat something different.
3. To seat or not to seat?
One of the top questions we get involves how much seating to plan for during a graduation open house. We always recommend that you have seating for around 50% of your invitees. During an open house your guests will be coming and going at various times so you don’t need to plan for tables and seating for all at once.
Any of our sales associates will also be happy to walk you through appropriate tent sizes for your guest list as well as help you remember all the things you might have forgotten like coolers, beverage dispensers, buffet tables, etc..
4. Entertaining kids of all ages…
Aside from feeding your guests, you should also remember to create some entertainment to make for a memorable experience. No matter the age games like cornhole, volleyball or lawn sized Jenga are fun and conversational at the same time.
Have lots of younger kids and teenagers coming? Add some extra fun with a bounce house, obstacle course, joust, soccer dart or slide! You’ll be surprised how many of your guests (even the young at heart) get a kick out of inflatables.
Music can make a world of difference when creating a festive atmosphere. Our DJ in a box takes all the guesswork out of creating playlists by having all the top hits across all genres already programmed in the system. Simply pick your favorite songs or artists and hit play just like a jukebox.
Have a slideshow of favorite school photos to show? An inflatable movie screen and a projector is a fun way to share all those memories. You can leave your slide show looping all night or switch it over to your favorite movies for an ‘drive-in theater’ movie night.
5. Cut Your Errands & Chore List
As you get closer to your grad party, you will find that you’ll be running errands all over the place picking up provisions for your event. One of the biggest perks of renting is saving yourself some precious time and energy. Prime Time will deliver and pickup your rental order, and even better…we also do the clean up. No washing dishes or dirty table linens; we take care of all that for you.
Plan on picking up your order? Did you know that we also sell ice and can refill your propane tanks? That will certainly save you some extra stops on your way home.
Still have some graduation party planning questions? Call 937.296.9262 and talk to any of our knowledgeable sales team members and they will happily assist you. Congratulations and Happy Graduation!