Kindergarten Graduation Ideas



Well, it's official.  My baby is a kindergarten graduate.

In the south, where we reside, kindergarten graduation is a big deal.  
We're talking caps, gowns, ceremony, diploma, professional portraits and a formal reception.


I love this free "Smartie Pants" printable from  Beth Proudfoot.  

I copied it onto full sheet labels at 90% and used my two-inch craft punch to create these fun goody bag labels.


Sand Pails in school colors made great gift bags for only 99 cents at Michaels.  
Personalization is easy with a paint pen.


We took photos of the kids and displayed them during graduation along with their favorite kindergarten memory.  Some of the responses were sweet (having the best teacher!), some of the responses were serious (Math - really?!) and some responses were hilarious (like watching a classmate dance!)


The kids loved these autograph graduation dogs from Party City.


Aren't they cute?


Look at this adorable cake!  A local baker made one for each class, but the supplies to do the same can be found on line!  The face and caps are made from chocolate molds, with piped on features and tassels.  You can find the chocolate candy molds here.  


The rest of the reception was Kindergarten Friendly:

Goldfish
Strawberries on Cake Pedestals
Brownie Bites 
Juice Boxes
Punch


First Grade - Here we come!

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Comments

rebecca @ beurrista said…
I wish I had kindergarten in the south. And a class mom like you to make the memories so sweet, creative, delightful and... memorable!
May 28, 2011 at 9:36 PM
Jules said…
Oh my goodness! My baby just graduated too, and I must say we don't do it up like that here in California and I'm more than a little jealous! So many wonderful ideas! That cake! The Smarty Pants! Congrats to your house for having a big first grader! Enjoy your summer, jules from bles-id {clicking to follow you, btw!}
May 29, 2011 at 12:21 AM
Chrissy + Nate said…
Such great ideas! I'm a Kindergarten teacher, so I totally appreciate all of this! Thanks for sharing!

Visiting from TT&J :)
www.chrissyandnathan.blogspot.com
June 3, 2011 at 11:54 PM
Vanessa @ {nifty thrifty things} said…
How cute!! Thank you so much for linking this up with {nifty thrifty sunday} last week!
I hope to see you again tomorrow!
xoxo,
Vanessa
June 4, 2011 at 8:08 AM
Jami said…
What a sweet party and gifts! Would love for you to share them at the Pretty Packages Party!
http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com/2011/06/pretty-packages-party-10.html
Smiles!
Jami
June 5, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Mindie Hilton said…
I would love for you to link it up to my party that is running now. Any linky goes.

http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/2011/06/any-link-goes-party-running-now-summer.html

Come strut your stuff.
June 11, 2011 at 5:36 PM
Deanna said…
This is my first year teaching Kindergarten and I teach in the South so I totally can relate with how big of a deal it is here! I LOVE your ideas and def. am going to use some! Thanks so much for sharing!! :)
April 13, 2012 at 5:26 PM
Lydia said…
I need some kind of song and dance for the kids to do
April 16, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Rachel @ Simple Girl said…
Our kids did a take on the song, "New York, New York!" But substituted the words "First Grade, First Grade!" It was really cute. They lined up on the front of the stage and made a little "chorus line" at the end!
April 17, 2012 at 9:41 AM
Unknown said…
This is sooo cute! I am having a hard time commenting :( My comments keep vanishing! I hope it works this way. But its so special that you did this for your little one.
April 27, 2012 at 10:25 PM
Heather said…
We are doing 4 things for our program:
1. Kindergarten poem (K is for kindess, we filled buckets each day, I is for imagination, we use every day. N is for numbers, we know 1, 2,3. D is for drawing--the best you can see. E is for exercise to keep our bodies strong. R is for reading books all day long. G is for good friends--we made more every day. A is for the alphabet we know how to say. R is for rhyming words like sun, bun and run. T is for the times that were so much fun. E is for excitement, this year we've had some. N is for next year, First grade, HERE WE COME!!!) We practice that every.single.morning...and the program is still two weeks out! So I have it memorized, too! lol

2. Addams family song "The kindergarten class" google it.
3. you've got a friend in me (from toy story)
4. First Grade, First Grade (I've done this one for years for our kinder grad

oh, and we'll open with the pledges.
April 28, 2012 at 6:11 PM
Randi~Dukes and Duchesses said…
Thanks for sharing this post ... I copied the cake idea and served it at our kindergarten party yesterday. It was such a hit! Thanks for sharing the link to the molds.
http://www.dukesandduchesses.com/2012/05/saying-goodbye-to-kindergarten.html
May 31, 2012 at 10:06 AM
Waseem said…
These gift will cherish the past memories....and help the Grad to hit the real world.
gift pakistan

Hank Hendricks has been a student at the University of New Hampshire- Whittmore School of Business and Economics.
At the university he was a very active participant in the student researcher group.
June 26, 2012 at 8:02 AM
Anonymous said…
Your blog is very informative for me,as it has the Kindergarten graduation gift ideas which is very special for the kids.I loved the cake for celebration,I am sure kids have loved it.The autograph graduation doggy is so cute,I am so amazed to see the cute ides.Thanks a loads
February 6, 2013 at 2:12 AM
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