Skip to main content

NewFolks may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

8 amazing ways to make graduation in quarantine special for your teen

Congratulations! Your senior is about to graduate high school. This wonderful milestone is a noteworthy event in your child’s life to celebrate. It is a proud moment for your son or daughter as well as you. As parents, you have guided your senior through 13 years of education. You and the extended family will be showering your high schooler with graduation gifts. In the days and weeks following the ceremony, your teen will undoubtedly be headed to several graduation parties, but not everyone is comfortable hosting a big grad party.

So, what do you do when teens graduate? There are a number of fun ways to mark this special occasion with the fanfare it deserves.

Sharon McCutcheon/Pexels

Special family dinner

Most seniors leave graduation night to celebrate with families. This is a somewhat different tradition from when many parents graduated high school, but it gives you the time to savor the moment with your teen instead of watching them run off with friends to a party right after the ceremony. Depending on the time of the commencement, make reservations at a restaurant for the graduate, family, and grandparents.

Be sure to allow time after the ceremony for photos with friends and family. See if the restaurant can make a special graduation cake to mark the occasion or order one ahead of time from a nearby bakery.

Graduation breakfast

Surprise the senior on graduation day with a notable breakfast, making sure to include his or her top menu favorites. Dress up the kitchen with graduation signs and streamers in your senior’s school colors. Then, deck out the table in a plastic tablecloth, plates, napkins, and cups featuring high school colors or go with a graduation design. A festive breakfast is an upbeat way to start off this exciting day.

Balloons

You can always tell when it is graduation time in the neighborhood because the grad balloons begin appearing on mailboxes up and down the street. It’s a simple gesture, but teens appreciate it. Order your balloons ahead of time if you want them in your senior’s school colors. Like a flower shop on Mother’s Day, balloons are a hot item around graduation.

Car-decorating basket

Along with mailbox balloons, seniors love to jazz up their cars on graduation day. For a fun early graduation gift for your senior, fill a basket with window markers or crayons, packages of balloons in school colors, poster board, and markers. Now, he or she has all the fixings to deck out the car for that all-important last ride to school for the commencement ceremony.

Graduation wreath

High school graduation marks the culmination of 13 years of schooling. Craft a wreath for your graduate featuring photos from kindergarten through senior year. Using a glue gun, arrange the photos on a plain wooden wreath. You can find decorative wreaths online or at your local craft stores. At the top, fix a grad cap with your child’s name and graduation year.

Make a school-years scrapbook

Senior year flies by pretty quickly, and a nice way to capture the essence of this momentous occasion is by putting together a school-years scrapbook. One way is to go back through all of those school pictures and create a keepsake of your child’s 13 years of education, complete with his or her graduation photo. Another is to document his or her senior year in a scrapbook as your teen completes a year of “lasts” before moving on to the next chapter. Either design makes for a keepsake teens will cherish for many years to come.

Memory quilt

Kids hate to part with those school and sports T-shirts they have accumulated over the years. Instead of having the old shirts take up drawer or closet space, have the tees made into a memory quilt your senior can take off to college. If you aren’t a quilter, there are companies that will put together a memory quilt based on the number of T-shirts you want and the size of the quilt. Have a quilt made of your teen’s school years with those long-ago favorite T-shirts or focus on tees from the high school years.

Graduation cupcakes with cap decorations
Studio 2D/Shutterstock

Destination graduation celebration

High school graduation is an important milestone that takes place at the end of the school year. In a couple of months, your senior will be packing up for college. A great way to mark the occasion is with a special family trip. Rent a beach house for a week or plan a trip to somewhere your senior has always wanted to visit. Of course, a destination graduation celebration depends on the family budget, but whether it is a day trip into a nearby city, a camping excursion to a national park, or visiting another country, it will be an exceptional way to celebrate the graduate.

Graduation is an emotional moment for parents and teens. The high school years are ones filled with anxiety and stress for teens as they contemplate their future as well as fun times with friends they’ve known for years. When the big day finally arrives, there are tears and smiles. Enjoy making your senior’s high school graduation one to remember, whether it’s a big graduation gift like a trip or a series of thoughtful gestures like balloons and a car-decorating basket that show just how proud you are of his or her accomplishment.

Editors' Recommendations

Dawn Miller
Dawn Miller began her professional life as an elementary school teacher before returning to her first love, writing. In…
What to put in Easter Eggs for tweens and teens so they actually look forward to the hunt
Easter egg fillers tweens and teens won't roll their eyes at
Teen girls holding basket of Easter eggs wearing bunny ears

One of the best parts of an Easter egg hunt after finding the eggs is opening them to find out what's inside. That thrill doesn't really have an age limit. Tweens and teens still look forward to those family egg hunts on Easter even if they don't seem like it. Whether your kids are older or you're planning a multi-age egg hunt for the upcoming holiday, Easter egg fillers need to adjust as children age.

When your kiddos were toddlers, you used sweets and fun little toys as Easter egg stuffers. Well, now that they are tweens and teens, you need Easer egg fillers that will still appeal to their age. To keep older kids and teens interested in those family egg hunts and to keep the tradition alive, you've got to up your Easter egg filler ante. Don't worry! We've got fun Easter egg stuffer ideas that tweens and teens won't roll their eyes at.

Read more
10 treats for your toddler’s Easter eggs that aren’t candy
Fill your child's Easter eggs with these alternatives to sweets
A boy and girl having fun during an Easter egg hunt

Before you know it, the Easter Bunny will be hopping down the bunny trail, much to the excitement of toddlers far and near. That means it's time to get those Easter baskets and plastic eggs ready because it’s egg hunt time. Whether the egg hunt is in the backyard, park, or at school, little kids love participating in the fun activity. Parents, however, could do without the sugar rush that comes with all those chocolaty treats.

The good news is that Easter egg fillers for toddlers don’t always have to be chocolate and candy. There are a lot of fun alternatives to those sweet treats that make great surprises for your kids. Here are 10 treats for your toddler's Easter eggs that aren’t candy.

Read more
6 fun St. Patrick’s Day activities to do with your kids this year – from crafting to cooking
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with these activities and enjoy the Irish holiday
Toddler wearing shamrock glasses and hat

It's that time of year when we're all a little bit Irish! What's more fun than breaking out the shamrocks and the green outfits as we keep our eyes peeled for leprechauns and their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow?

With St. Patrick’s Day quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to celebrate with your wee ones as you commemorate the lively Irish culture and the hero who, according to legend, drove the snakes from the Emerald Isle. Now that you've got everyone decked out to celebrate the holiday, it's time to plan some fun activities, too.

Read more