College Graduation Party

For my fiance's college graduation, his mother and I threw him a party at the youth center of his church. The theme was our University's mascot; the Longhorn (Hook'em!) and the colors were burnt orange and white. Its hard to find products in the true burnt orange color, so we made sure to go to a store on campus to buy plates, napkins, invitations, longhorn shaped confetti, and a pack of souvenir cups to be used in the centerpieces. The invitations were white with a longhorn at the top and a burnt orange border. Decorations: We had five round tables, each with white tablecloths. In the center of those tables were the souvenir cups, filled with tissue paper and a balloon bouquet in colors of burnt orange and white. We surrounded the centerpiece with the longhorn confetti. At each place around the table was a burnt orange party cracker (paper towel roll cut in half, filled with candy, and tied at each end with ribbon), which were filled with caramel kisses. The buffet table had a basket, lined with a longhorn bandana, in which we placed the plates and utensils. We scattered confetti amongst the food. On the wall behind the table, we hung a longhorn flag. The cake table was covered in a longhorn themed cloth and had a photo of him at 3 months of age next to a picture of him at graduation. Since he was a December grad, we decorated a Christmas tree in burnt orange and white. I printed out black and white images of him from when he was a baby through college. I glued these to burnt orange cardstock, stuck an ornament hanger through the top, and tied it with white ribbon. I also filled clear ornaments with burnt orange and white tissue paper and tied ribbon around the top. These ornaments were hung on the tree along with some longhorn ornaments that I already had. The tree made a great conversation piece and we sat I right next to the cake table. Food: His mom had the party catered by a barbeque restaurant. We had brisket, sausage, turkey, chopped beef, beans, creamed corn, new potatoes, bread, and iced tea. A local bakery made the cake; it was white with a longhorn in the middle and a burnt orange border. I made sugar cookies with burnt orange and white icing. His mom made an orange sherbet and ginger ale punch. These were set on either side of the cake. We also had a coffee bar with cups, longhorn napkins, sugar, and creamer.  Entertainment: We had music playing in the background throughout the party. The best part was a slideshow that my fiance made himself. We projected the slide show onto two screens. There were photos of him from his birth all the way through college. He also included photos of himself with all the party guests. It was very touching, most of us cried.