Food & Party Planning Ideas

Don't Make Hosting a Graduation Party Like a Final Exam

Easy Graduation Buffet Lets Parents Enjoy the Celebration Too

Most parents who host a graduation party are filled with a mixture of pride, accomplishment and sheer fatigue. A child's graduation from kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school or college is a special day, but it doesn't have to be an exhausting one.

For parents who watched their children grow from toddling across the floor to striding behind a podium, it's natural to mark the day with a celebration. To help parents host a party, Wilton Enterprises has developed a special graduation party buffet menu that is sure to wow party guests but that is easy for parents to put together ahead of time.

"You don't have to spend a fortune in a restaurant or stand in the kitchen for hours and hours to make your child's graduation party a wonderful occasion," said Nancy Siler, consumer affairs director of Wilton Enterprises and a home-entertaining expert. "An easy graduation buffet is the perfect way for the parents to enjoy the celebration along with the guests."

Siler says even someone who cooks at the novice level can prepare a wonderful buffet that caters to many tastes. From salad to cake, she offers her advice and recipes for your graduation buffet line-up:

Work Ahead. Preparing the food a couple of days ahead helps reduce a last-minute rush and confusion. Since most of the recipes are served cold, the ability to refrigerate the dishes aids in being ready for guests' arrival!

Use disposable tableware. This creates a headache-free clean-up for the hosts and it now comes in so many colors it adds to the décor.

Serve simple, but inviting foods. Foods don't have to require a lot of time to look like a work of art or be tasty and inviting.

"Just because a food is easily prepared doesn't mean it has to be boring and tasteless," said Siler. "Our recipes for the graduation buffet are both easy and exciting." The Wilton buffet features a variety of spicy "sun cuisine' dishes inspired by the cooking of the Mediterranean and Latin America.

Graduation Menu

The centerpiece of the graduation menu is a light and lively Molded Couscous Vegetable Salad, shaped like the proud grad's mortarboard cap. Complimenting the couscous are Southwestern Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Salsa, Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Sandwiches on Olive Bread and Moroccan Chicken.