This past weekend we hosted our daughter’s middle school graduation party. The plan was to have the party outside but with a 80% chance of rain and trying to keep it low key, I didn’t do much for decorations. I considered this a test run and in another four years, I’ll up the decor and menu when we do this again. Luckily the weather held out and it didn’t rain until late evening. Our daughter and her friends were able to enjoy the beach and the family was able to hang out and enjoy the sunshine. Today I’m sharing the two quick and easy projects I did for the party.

Graduation Photo Board –

I covered foam board with green and black glitter paper to represent the school colors and mounted her school portraits from each year. The banner was made with with chalk board paper, twine and a few paw print stickers. One of the photos was accidentally out of order so the family had fun guessing which one.

Graduation Cap Pops – 

Cake pops are always a favorite and I loved the twist on them by making graduation cap pops. This was easy to do. I found the recipehere.

Supplies –

• Mini peanut butter cups
• Mini M&M’s
• Small Ghirardelli dark chocolates
• Airheads candy
• Dark chocolate to melt for “glue”
• Floral foam block
• Wrapping paper
• Pop sticks

Directions –

1. Wrap the floral foam with wrapping paper and decorate it as desired.
2. Unwrap the peanut butter cups and Ghirardelli chocolates.
3. Cut the Airheads into strips. I only used green for the school color.
4. Melt the dark chocolate and dip a pop stick into the melted chocolate and insert into the center of the peanut butter cup. Allow to dry a minute and then insert into the floral foam.
5. Using a small spoon, add a dab of chocolate on the printed side of the chocolate square and place on top of the peanut butter cup. Do the same for the Airhead strip and M&M. Allow to dry between steps.

Voila! Your done!

The Hubs smoked a pork shoulder on his Big Green Egg and grilled burgers. There is nothing better than a pulled pork sandwich topped with mac and cheese on a pretzel roll! To balance out the heavy food, we served a quinoa salad, greek salad and fruit. My sister-in-law usually makes all of our cakes but because of our already busy summer and her writing schedule (check out her latest book here), we ordered from a bakery.

Several of our family members are gluten free and I was lucky to receive some samples of Daiya Cheezecakes that were recently launched in Whole Foods. Daiya is the leader in dairy-free cheese products, and they recently launched the first ever dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free cheesecake. Daiya’s Cheezecakes offers 4 deliciously dairy-free flavors, including New York, Key Lime, Chocolate and Strawberry.

We tried the chocolate and New York Cheezecakes and found them both to be rich, creamy and delicious! For more information go to Daiya Foods and click here for a $1 off coupon.

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