By Dawn Hall, author of the Busy People’s Cookbook Series.

I was born in the baby-boomer era.  As a child growing up, the only graduation celebrations our family and friends had were held for high school graduates. 

Things have changed and these days it seems like there are more graduation celebrations than ever before.  Pre-schoolers, kindergarteners, sixth graders, junior high school students, high school students, and college students are all graduating.

Graduation celebrations range from a few friends and family members sharing a special dinner to elaborate parties with DJ’s playing dance music and catered meals.

Graduation parties with themes are on the rise.  You name it; Mexican, Italian, Hawaiian, and Carnival themes with cotton candy machines and snow cones are popular. I have even been to a graduation party with a “fast-food theme” where they had Subway sandwiches and Pizza Hut pizzas delivered every 20 minutes!

For my own daughters’ high school graduation parties they chose Hawaiian and Mexican themes.

When you write cookbooks for a living and have won numerous cooking contests, there is an unspoken hope amongst invited guests anticipating the party that I (also known as the cookbook lady, locally), will be serving homemade foods I have prepared myself. 

Let me tell you, cooking for 200 guests all by yourself is no small accomplishment - especially when all I have is a small, modest kitchen without any frills.

If you are planning on being so brave I encourage a few helpful tips:

• Make sure you are well prayed up!  Ask God for extra blessings and patience! You’ll need it!

• Plan ahead.  Select the menu your graduate desires, estimate how many guests, multiply the recipes by how many servings you will need, make grocery lists and plan, plan, plan!

• Plan on it taking a lot longer than you originally anticipated.

• Plan on mishaps happening.  For example, my daughter cut her finger the night before her graduation party and I spent 5 hours in the emergency room with her.  Then the day of her graduation party the nearby country club restaurant (that allowed me to use their refrigerators for storage overnight) lost ALL of my food!  (That happens when a restaurant has 5 separate kitchens.) Then to top it all off, the seal on the frozen drink machine I had rented to make frozen virgin strawberry daiquiris broke and I had 5 quarts of bright red gooey virgin daiquiri mix all over my garage floor!  (Thank goodness it was on my garage floor and not on my indoor carpet!) 

• Plan on people eating more than you anticipated, especially if you are a good cook or if people think you are a good cook!

• If the party is large, take time off of work to prepare.  Don’t try to be super woman by continuing to work full-time, and also cleaning, decorating and cooking yourself. It is not worth it! You won’t enjoy the party.

• A week before the party begins, arrange to have someone else oversee keeping the foods and beverages full throughout the party, so you can enjoy your time with the guests.

• Have a wall with photos of the graduate growing up, along with photo albums.

• Have an “autograph book” for guests to write in, and to also collect addresses for thank you notes.

• Have a TV playing a video or DVD of photos of the graduate growing up. Try to include as many photos of the guests that will be attending as possible. People like to see themselves on your family videos and it helps the guests feel important and special.

• Have a designated area for gifts and cards so they are less likely to get lost in the shuffle of the party and clean up!

• Deep clean and decorate a few days before the party.  Trust me, you’ll have your hands full with all that you need to do two and three days before the party.

• Roasters and slow cookers are a convenient way of keeping and serving heated foods.

• For large salads, tables can be rented that are about six inches deep, with a special area that can be filled with ice. Then large containers of refrigerated side dishes can be placed in the ice to stay cool.  The bottom of this special chilled table is designed to drain, so when the ice melts, the water drips into a can under the table.

These ideas were created for Precious Moments Moms by Dawn Hall, the author of the award winning Busy People’s Cookbook Series including the just released title: Busy People’s Super Simple Menus Cookbook, (137 healthy, homestyle-meals made in 30-minutes or less); Slow Cooker Cookbook, Low-Carb Cookbook, Diabetic Cookbook, Christmas Cookbook, Low-Fat Cookbook, Busy People’s Down Home Cooking Without the Down Home Fat Cookbook and 7 Simple Steps to a Healthier You.  Her books are currently available at all fine bookstores and on the internet.  Her website is: www.Dawnhallcookbooks.com