Photo Guest Books

New for 2010 is a photo Guest Book from OurHubbub.

Photo Guest Books are similar to photo books except there are lots of spaces for your guests to leave congratulatory messages. You can include plenty of pictures too. Pictures of your grad when he or she was a baby or just starting school. Pictures of your grad with family. Pictures of your grad with his or her friends. Pictures of your grad at Prom. Pictures of your grad’s senior photos. Any pictures you want can be included.

One great idea is to include pictures of your grad with some of the family and friends who are invited to the party. Then they can leave congratulatory messages next to the pictures they’re in. Think of how much fun it would be for your grad’s friends to see themselves in pictures with your grad, especially when they’re younger. It will definitely bring back some great memories!

I have ordered from OurHubbub a couple of times and they make a quality product. Their website is fairly easy to navigate around as well. I love this photo guest book! I think it makes a wonderful momento. 

For more information on how to order a photo guest book or to see other graduation guest books, go to GraduationParty.com’s Guest Book webpage.

Graduation Photo Guest Book

Graduation Photo Guest Book

More Graduation Photo Books

Graduation Photo Books are a great alternative to traditional scrapbooks. They often have a template that you can use as is or modify any way you want. Most Photo Books start at a minimum of 20 pages but you can add more pages (up to 100 in most cases) at an additional cost per page.

Photo Books come in several sizes, from 5″x7″ up to 12″x12″. You can add multiple photos per page as well as text.

If your photos are already digital – on your computer, on your camera or on CDs – then creating a photo book is fairly easy. Simply find a template you like, upload your photos and then add the photos to the photo book. Some photo books allow you to embellish the pages with digital stickers and other graphics. Most let you add text such as descriptions and headings too.

If you have printed photos then you can create digital versions by scanning them yourself or by having them professionally scanned at a local or online photo lab. If you scan your photos yourself, make sure you scan them at the best resolution and biggest size possible. The better the resolution, the clearer the picture will be when it’s printed.

If you don’t want to scan your photos you can always order a blank photo book (one with no photos) and then glue or tape in the printed photos yourself.

A photo book may be more economical to create than a scrapbook especially when you consider the cost of printing your photos and the cost of buying a scrapbook, scrapbook paper and embellishments.

For more information on Photo Books and some online photo labs that offer them go to GraduationParty.com’s Photo Book web page.

Graduation Photo Book

Graduation Photo Book

Time to start thinking about your graduation party

Well, the summer is over and the kids are back in school. Last year’s juniors are this year’s seniors.

A new group of parents is thinking about graduation next May or June and some are already making plans. If you’ve had a graduation party in the past then you know the ropes already. You know that you should start working on some things now before it gets too busy, like your scrapbooks and photo books.

But if this is your first graduation then you may be feeling a little overwhelmed or worried because you don’t know what you don’t know.

Not to fear. There’s lots of great information out there. You just need to find it. Start with our website, www.graduationparty.com. It has tons of free advice and great suggestions. It’s a great resource that can help you decide what to do and what not to do.

If you feel more secure with something you can hold in your hands and make notes on, check out the book, “Graduation Parties: Everything You Need to Know From Start to Finish!”. You can buy it from GraduationParty.com. Most of the information in the book is also on the website.

Graduation Parties! Everything You Need to Know

Do I have to bring a gift to every grad party I go to?

Teachers, counsellors, coaches, and other people who work with kids every day often get invited to many graduation parties each year, especially if they’re well liked or make a significant contribution to the community. The dilemma these folks face is whether to bring a gift to every party they attend.

In general gifts are not mandatory and it would be crazy to expect teachers, school staff, coaches, etc. to bring gifts to every party they attend. In fact, most grads don’t expect gifts from these people. They’re just thrilled if their mentors take the time to come to their party.

If you’re invited to a lot of parties and can’t afford to bring a gift to each one it would be nice if you could make or buy a card  and write a little congratulatory message or words of wisdon to the grad. But even that’s not necessary. Just making an appearance to the party is often “gift” enough.

My grad got an invitation. Am I invited too?

If your son or daughter is bringing home graduation party invitations you may be wondering if you’re invited to these parties too, especially if the invitations didn’t come through the mail addressed to you. What is the etiquette for these situations? You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by not going to their party but you also don’t want to show up to a party if the invitation wasn’t meant for you.

First look at the invitation to see what kind of party it is. For open house type parties go to the parties for the students you know personally and avoid the parties for the grads you don’t know.  If it’s an open house then chances are many people have been invited and even if you weren’t specifically invited it’s probably okay for you to go. If it’s a sit down dinner (most aren’t) and an RSVP is required then if the invitation wasn’t addressed to you then you weren’t invited.

Another question is whether your other kids are invited. If you’re not sure if you should bring your younger children it might be best to hire a sitter. If you know the family has kids in the same age range, it’s usually okay to bring yours. But when in doubt you can always call and ask.

To avoid awkward situations like this for your own party, mail invitations to the parents you want to invite and make sure you address the envelope so the parents know they are invited. For example, if you want to invite the whole family address the envelope as “The Smith Family”. If you want to invite the parents plus their graduate but no other kids then address the envelope as ”John, Jane and Ashley Smith”.

Don’t rely on your grad to pass out invitations to the parents of his or her friends. It’s best to mail them. There are many stories of invitations never making it to the parents. Feelings get hurt on both sides.

When invitations from other grads start coming in, set up a basket or special area to collect all your invitations. Encourage your grad to include the ones he or she receives. Make sure you note which parties you’re invited to and which ones are for your graduate only.

Get a special calendar and record all the parties you hope to attend. Include the times in case parties overlap. If there was ever a time to practice good scheduling habits this is it. Help your graduate keep track of all of their activities during this busy time.

Many kids are now using Facebook and other social networking websites to invite friends and classmates to their parties. Encourage your grad to note these parties, or at least the ones they want to attend, on the calendar.

If you’re invited to parties on the same day as your own, chances are you won’t make it. If an RSVP is requested call right away, explain the situation, compare notes and offer your congratulations. Keep in mind that you can go to other parties on other days.

And last but not least … have fun! Try not to stress too much about the parties you can or can’t go to. This should be an exciting and fun time for you and your grad.