Loveless Events is familiar with catering a wide variety of events around the Nashville area, but we especially enjoy being part of our local students’ graduation celebrations! Here’s some advice from the team on what to expect, how to plan, and our best advice for different aspects of the event.
1. Guests are likely to come and go.
- Because graduation weekends are packed full of fun celebrations, don’t anticipate your guests coming and staying for the entire party. Keeping your event to 2-3 hours total is ideal!
- Grab-and-go food is best; you don’t need to have a sit-down meal. This allows the whole event to be more laid back and relaxed! Your guests can enjoy the menu whenever they’re ready, and that way they can feel comfortable leaving if they have another obligation.
- Offering a variety of food to cater to all age groups is nice. Children tend to have different tastes than adults, and graduations will certainly pull all age groups!
- OUR ADVICE: Use Action Stations! Our action stations range from salads to carved striploin. We have child-pleasing sliders and macaroni and cheese as well as healthy options such as assorted salads, soups and more. You can put together your favorites to create a custom menu for your guests! This is also a great way to provide some great food, but not necessarily a full meal. (Yet something substantial enough to fill the guests who want it all!)
2. Guests range in all ages and interests.
- Be sure to provide enough seating. With parties like these, some people like to sit and stay while others like to mingle and only take a seat to eat. By having a few seating areas as well as some standing tables, people can relax and hang out however they prefer.
- Have games out for your younger guests. Children may not stay as engaged as the adults, so offering lawn games or board games gives them something to stay busy during the party!
- OUR ADVICE: Let us get more involved and bring some fun activities for you – from karaoke and bouncy houses, to mechanical bulls and more! We have close connections in all sorts of areas of entertainment, and you’d be surprised how much fun these kinds of things can add to a grad party at home. Other fun options include frozen drink machines or dessert bars.
3. Have a Plan B.
- Weather can be unpredictable, especially in Nashville during graduation season. Be sure to have a rain plan so you don’t have to stress last minute if the forecast isn’t sunny.
- OUR ADVICE: Our event team is well-versed in plan B options and we always have a backup plan. Let us take care of adding your rentals and setting the floor plan, timeline and logistics. We will ask questions and present options ahead of time to give you total peace of mind knowing we will take care of things! Our operations team will arrive to your event early to ensure the plan is in place and everything goes smoothly for the entire event.
Graduation is a time to celebrate with family and friends! By keeping these three points in mind, you can be sure to cover all your bases and have a successful event that people will enjoy and remember forever!
Contact Loveless Events to learn more and get started.