Mini-SGCC’s Grad Bash, that’s what!

That’s right. On June 2, 2012, my baby girl graduated from high school. I’m still having a hard time wrapping myself around that one! It seems like only yesterday, I was dropping her off for her first day of kindergarten. Where did the time go? It’s whizzed by so quickly that it all seems like a blur. I need to catch my breath!

Of course, Mr. SGCC and I are so incredibly proud of our daughter’s accomplishments – especially this past six months since her accident. Under the same circumstances, a lot of kids would have just given up on school. But, Mini-SGCC didn’t. She not only persevered, despite her injuries and physical limitations, she triumphed and graduated with honors! Now, in a few short months, she will begin a new chapter in her life at college. As excited as I am for her to continue on her journey, I know that I will be lost without her. I take some comfort in knowing that she will call regularly – even if it’s only to tell me she needs more money in her debit account!

To mark this auspicious occasion, Mr. SGCC and I hosted a big graduation bash for family and friends. It was held at The Boathouse, a gorgeous private waterfront venue owned by the Hyatt Regency ^[1] here in Sarasota. I’ve spent the past month planning and organizing the party, which is why I’ve been noticeably absent here. I’d forgotten how much work is involved in putting together a big event, although I had tons of fun doing it.

Mini-SGCC wanted a black and white theme with touches of red. We decided to go with back and white damask because it’s classic, elegant and feminine, without being too “girly”. (That’s my take on it. Mini-SGCC liked it because it was “edgy”.) We used simple white table linens embellished with lovely damask table runners ^[2] that I found on Etsy. The chairs were covered in black and tied with big red bows. The centerpieces were made with long-stemmed red roses in clear glass vases covered with squares of the same damask fabric used for the table runners. I thought they were perfect!

Look at these pretty vellum shades ^[3] I found. Put a small votive candle in a standard wine glass, slip one of the shades on top and voilà – a sweet little table lantern! LOVE!

There was lots of scrumptious food too! We had several food stations set up around the space so that everyone could graze.

This is the Barbecue Pork Slider Bar. Those little paper cones on each side were filled with tater tots.

My nephew, Clino, really dug those tater tots!

This is the Pasta Bar. There were various kinds of pasta, sauces and toppings to choose from. Everything was made to order.

Everybody loves pasta!

The Fajita Bar was set up outside on the deck. We had beef, chicken and shrimp fajitas, and again, they were made to order.

What’s a fajita without all of the trimmings?

Do you fondue?

And of course, it wouldn’t be a SGCC event without a big, old dessert buffet! I’d been collecting these black and white cake stands and serving pieces for months. I’m so pleased with the way it turned out!

This cake from Pastries by Design ^[4] was a work of art! And, it tasted as wonderful as it looked! The bottom tier was a Black Forest cake. The middle tier was a white chocolate and raspberry cake. And the top tier was a chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter-cream cheese filling. It was sheer perfection!

Those are vanilla cake pops covered in dark chocolate by the talented and creative Lollicake Queen ^[5]. Behind them, are mini dark chocolate cupcakes with Very Vanilla Buttercream, made by yours truly. They’re sitting in adorable little damask wrappers and are topped with tiny graduation caps.

Here are more lollicakes – this time, red velvet coated in white chocolate. And, those cupcakes are vanilla covered in the same dreamy buttercream. We also had white and dark chocolate covered Oreos – just because we didn’t think we had enough chocolate on the buffet!

Here’s Mini-SGCC mugging for the camera with Zia Giuseppina. Doesn’t she look all grown up?

And, here’s the guest of honor clowning around with some of her friends.

I made these personalized chocolate bars as favors to give out to the party guests. I wrapped regular Hershey bars in red foil and covered them with pretty labels I ordered from another shop ^[6] on Etsy. It took forever to wrap all of those bars, but I love the way they turned out. The guests did too!

This is DJ Ryan ^[7]. He kept the party hopping all night long with lots of great music! What a cutie!

It was so exciting to see my vision for Mini-SGCC’s party turned into such a lovely reality! Everyone involved really went above and beyond in their help and support! The décor, food and beautiful setting were all amazing! However, I think that the biggest hit of the night was the photobooth from Snapshoot. ^[8] All of the guests were encouraged to take lots and lots of silly pictures in the booth. The folks from Snapshoot put a copy of each photo into a big scrapbook and everyone took turns writing notes to Mini-SGCC in it. At the end of the night, the scrapbook was presented to her as a keepsake of her fabulous graduation celebration. It truly was an evening to remember!

Here are some of the photobooth highlights.

Don’t you wish you’d been there too?