8 ways to display photos at a grad party
Graduation is an opportunity. An opportunity for parents, the graduate, family members, and friends to connect through their memories.
My 3rd and youngest child recently graduated from high school. Not surprisingly, the photos were my favorite part about preparing for her graduation party. It gave me an opportunity to dive into my own photos and memories, many that I hadn’t looked at in a long time. In my experience, reliving, sharing, and telling stories can be a really healthy way to work through all the emotions this transition can bring.
While I love a picture board, my goal with photo displays is to not only display the photos, but to tell a story. Here are 8 ways I told my daughter’s story at her graduation party.
Just a note, she’s played Fastpitch Softball since she was 9 years old and it’s her passion. I leaned into that theme!
1. Anna’s Eras. So one would think I took this idea from Taylor Swift’s book, but actually, I have a 95-year-old client that inspired me. Together, he and I took his beautiful life and broke it into ‘eras’ to display photos at his 95th birthday party. I took that concept and broke Anna’s eras into quadrants mostly based on her school life – birth to preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school. I included a summary of highlights and photos from each era, and pictures of her ‘1st days of school’. Her life…in a nutshell.
2. Gallery Print. Anna is a Fastpitch pitcher. She started pitching when she was about 9 years old and it was so fun to go back and pull a picture from each year to create this gallery print. When I look at this, I see the story of the hours her dad spent on the bucket catching her, the countless summer weekends at tournaments, and so many friends. Oh, how she’s grown! You can create a gallery print using any types of photos in any theme. For my son’s graduation, I did a ‘fishing’ print. I’ve also done a gallery print of my kid’s artwork.
3. Story Slideshow. I love a slideshow that tells a story. They are so powerful. Anna has played softball with a core group of girls since she was 9. They grew up on the softball field together. For their team banquet at school, I put together a slideshow of photos going back to the beginning. Here is a snippet of her Pony teams through the years.
Look for themes and pull together photos for the slideshow that fit that theme. It can be short and sweet like this one or you can create a longer one that plays in the background at the party. Mix in some fun music that relates to the theme. SO fun, meaningful, and powerful.
4. Photos on a stick are a fun way to display photos at the party. I did a ‘then’ and ‘now’ theme for the front and back of each stick.
5. Sign-in Book - A photo sign-in guest book is simply an album that includes a series of photos selected specifically for the celebration, that guests sign to help you remember who attended. I chose 1-3 photos from each year of her life. We encouraged guests to include memories and words of wisdom. For more on how to create a sign-in book, check out this blog: Tips for creating a photo sign-in guest book
6. Albums you already have! Over the years, I created an album each year for Anna’s summer ball teams. At the party, I put those books out, along with her faith album and a few others in a seating area where guests could sit down and look at the books comfortably. It was fun watching them laughing and reliving the memories.
7. Friends Collage! You can’t go wrong with a fun collage of photos. We wanted to capture just some of the many memories with her friends from school dances to football games to graduation.
8. Coasters! A fun addition to the party were these coasters that I created and made through Sticker Mule. It was both something practical and a special extra touch. These were on all the tables and people were welcome to take them home.
There is no wrong way to tell your graduate’s story, but don’t forget to create a keepsake or 2 that will last beyond the party. I guarantee you will both enjoy them for years to come.
Want more graduation or party ideas? Check out our other CYP graduation blogs HERE. These ideas can be used for any celebration!
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