Graduation Barbecue - Way to Go Shane - Catawba College

Happy Graduation Shane! And kudos to the Family as Well. It Takes a Team Effort to Accomplish Big Things.

First, I have to give a shout out to Shane. He's a co-worker and friend, and he just finsihed up his degree at Catawba College. That takes a lot of time and effort, and he did it at night.

To celebrate this big occasion, Shane hosted a huge cook out at his house. I must say that he knows how to throw a party. When there's a live band and a port-o-pot, then you know that someone knows what they're doing. This guy can put on a cook out!


A Thumbs Up to the Grill Guy!

Grill girl says this fellow knows his way around a grill. It's hard to crank out huge numbers of hot dogs and hamburgers. If he got any wrong, I sure didn't see them. Spot on with the grilling.

Great mega grill too. This one had two gas tanks. Yep. Two. And, as you can see, this grill is road ready with wheels also.


Was it Mom Who Hand Patted the Burgers?

I'm thinking Shane said that his Mom hand patted all those burgers. That's really the key to having yummy grilled hamburgers. It's not that much work for a family, but when you're doing it for a party, whew. Lots of patting. But, these were fabulous burgers.


I May Be Easily Amused, but I Thought the Night Light in the Port-o-John was Just Really Cool.

Shane and his family thought of everything for this big cook out. First, I don't know many people who remember that an extra bathroom really comes in handy. Second, I never did see a nightlight in the john. One tap - instant light. Very good for guys who may not have good aim I must say as the mother of boys.


Cyndi and the Boys Having a Super Time at the Cook Out.

I'm usually doing the grilling, so it was a treat to kick back and relax at Shane's party. We enjoyed the food, the band, and especially the company.

Enjoy more party photos at my Facebook page.

Barbecue Luau - Graduation Party for My Son

My Brother Found Some Real Cool Luau Decorations Up in Dayton, Ohio.


Here's a Wide Shot of the Luau Barbecue As Things Are Starting to Crank Up.


I Told My Son He Could Lei Everhyone, Since It Was His Big Day.


The Big Kids Like The Kiddie Pool Too.


My Aunt Decided to Be a Swinger at the Barbecue Luau.

I was up and about around 6:30 a.m. - marinating hamburgers, making dip, and getting things together. We kept the menu simple - burgers, hot dogs, grilled pineapple and then a lot of finger foods, but it still took some juggling to get everything ready by lunch time.

My brother came over and got things decorated. He had all kinds of great blow up toys with tropical themes and garlands plus the poster pictured above. I got some leis from Oriental Trading Company as well as those little umbrella picks to stick in the cheese and rub on glitter tattoos.

The kids had fun playing basketball, splashing in the wader pool, and shooting each other with water guns. They also made bubbles with some big wands from Wal-Mart and with flyswatters. If you dip the old type flyswatters in the bubble stuff, you can make millions of tiny bubbles. Everyone thought that was cool.

Graduation Assembly Line - Why Bother?

It was the big graduation weekend for my oldest son as I've mentioned. We only had 5 tickets for the graduation ceremony and 2 overflow tickets to watch the graduation on the TV in a small theatre room off to the side of where the real thing was taking place.

OK. We have 20 or so out-of-town relatives in plus the ones who live around here. Some of us are automatically getting tickets like me (Mom) and the Dad person and a Grandma. The rest kind of rock, paper, scissors to share the other tickets. But, we have a big luau barbecue planned for the day after, so it's all good - or I think so.

There are close 300 kids graduating, so I assume this is going to take a while.

Boy was I wrong!

These kids go to school for 13 years and more if in a pre-K program, and they run them through in 25 minutes flat. Maybe less. Huh? How is that possible? I know I would ask how it could go that fast if I had not been there to see how they streamline the whole graduation thing these days.

Graduation in Hyper Drive

Color guard puts up the flags. Two kids speak like really fast - 2 minutes each or so. I didn't time. But, it was quick. No biggie. Longwinded speakers can be a bad thing at such events. Still, that's not much time to sum up an education.

A school official says to hold the appluase and not to hoot and carry on. We want to honor the kids he explains and in a mannerly fashion. Then, he reads the names of the graduates. Boom. Boom. Boom. The reading is so fast that the kids can't even walk a few steps and get a diploma before the next kid or two gets called. Your kid's name is called. Lord only knows who's kid is grabbing the diploma at that moment. This is way too fast to match things up.

Someone Didn't Catch the No Hooting Part

The very first kid called had a Dad or male relative who hooted. It was like, "You go girl" or some very cliche thing yelled out. This, of course, set the stage for everyone (or some anyway) to try to outdo the first yeller. There were a few stretches with polite clapping but many party hard family groups were yelling mundane comments and drowning out the the names of the next kid or two called.

I watch for my kid, but they got that line of chairs turned wrong with the last name first and the first name last. So, that back row could not get out fast enough to match up with names and diplomas.

The last kid on the back row had to cross down the row over top of the other kids and no pause at all to get out and around to where the diplomas were sitting. Things were already backed up but even worse there at the end.

We heard our kid's name called, at least, as he did not follow a major yelling family. We kind of saw him maybe. I don't know. We clapped for some fine young man - ours or another. Hard to tell.

That's a Wrap Folks

The whole thing was done - boom like that. Folks started filing out. The police were there and saying, "Move it on. Clear the lobby." They looked like SWAT police with pants tucked in the boots. Everyone tried to smash out the doors and hoped for no cattle prods or tazers. Lord help the old, infirm or the hard of hearing. This was serious business. "Get out and do it fast. Move it. Get on out."

Our family got on out pretty quick as we did not have any infirm - at least who came. And, we even found the graduating kid in the parking lot for a couple of fast photos. Smile. Click. Let's get on out of here before we get arrested for some random thing. The cops seem most intent on clearing the crowd even though the car line out of the parking lot was at a dead standstill.

Mail Them or Whatever

Frankly I think they ought to just mail the diplomas or have all the grads stand up en mass and just say, "Here is the class of 2008. Clap. Yell. Get lost. We can't be bothered to make this thing special, so don't get your hopes up."

They did not even mention honor grads at graduation. They did have them stand up first thing and ask us to clap. As they were called up, nope. Just the names. Move it on. Who really cares about grades? Who cares about having worked extra hard in high school?

Glad We Planned a Barbecue

Good thing we had the barbecue scheduled for the next day for all those who could not get tickets and those who did and got a 25 minute assembly line. Seating started one hour prior - more than twice as long as the ceremony. Glad we did not go and stand in line for ages on top of the ceremony that was a real let down.

They were selling DVDs of this graduation mess. I was going to get one, since my Mom (grandmother of the graduate) got sick and was in the hospital. I just told her that she really didn't miss anything. And, she didn't. I don't know how they could make a special day any less special.

They sure charged a heck of a lot for all the graduation frills and then had the most awful celebration I've ever seen.

Really now, they should have paid folks to come to this train wreck. I can't imagine that any kid felt honored or that any family member with a ticket to get in was glad. The lucky ones were the ones who did not score a spot on that list of five guests.

No Honor in This

I'm still thinking, "How the heck do you honor almost 300 kids in under less a half an hour?" You don't. They didn't. Why bother? We should have cranked up the grill on Friday night and skipped that stupid graduation. I can't think of one good thing to say about it, and I did try. If they can't do any better than that, they ought to just forget it. I'll try to forget. But, it's hard to forget something that bad.Thumbs down on the graduation ceremony - but the barbecue turned out great.

Gradutaion Party - Barbecue Luau

My kid is graduating from high school which is a wonderful excuse for a party - like an excuse is needed. Yes! We must celebrate this monumental occasion.

The young grad is not big on crowds. Never has been. Probably never will be. He cried through his entire first birthday party. It was not joyous - not a bit. I've kept his parties small since then and relaxed.

At last count, I think we have 20 relatives coming in from out-of-state. There are eight of us here around town. Then, of course, the kid-o has a few close friends who are always invited to our parties.

Hum. We're looking more at a medium sized party than a small party.

A Cook Out - Of Course

Since I'm Grill Girl, a cook out certainly seems the logical choice. Most of our home parties are on the barbecue no matter what time of year.

My brother suggested a luau theme. He found some cool stuff in Ohio on sale so picked up a blow up flamingo and palm tree plus some plates, cups, and napkins. Sounds like a plan to me.

I got in touch with some of my internet party buddies to get some more ideas. The funniest one was a coconut bra. Teehee. My net buddies have not seen me in person. I am a 34G. Coconuts do not come that big. Nope. They sure don't. So - scratch that idea.

Some Cool Luau Ideas

My lady friends who write about cooking and entertaining and such did give me some super ideas.

We, of course, needs leis and grass skirts. Someone suggested flowered shirts and said to check Good Will where folks often drop off such impulse purchases after a trip to the Islands.

The little drink umbrellas to go in the cups will be festive. Most of the party folks aren't drinkers, but those are fun regardless of what's in the cups. Those are for sure on the list.

Hula hoops. Yes. Those are always a blast. I'll have to swing by Wal-Mart and pick up a few of those. I used to be good a hula-hooping. Today? Not sure. Guess we'll find out.

While I'm at Wal-Mart I'll get a couple of wading pools - either plastic or blow up. I know the big kids (the graduates) may not want to wade, but we have little kid relatives. The bigger kids can use the pools to fill up water guns and also some little squirt toys that they have at Oriental Trading Company. They have all sorts of cute things at Oriental Trading Company. The prices are low. And, they even have an entire luau section.

The Barbecue Luau Menu

I considered a pit cooked pig, but the group size is really too small to go whole hog (pun intended). Pork shoulders on the smoker would be an idea, but graduation weekend will be a whirlwind with so many relatives in. I'm taking my own advice and keeping it simple and flexible.

So, it's hot dogs plus grilled pineapple. Those all cook fast, and no one is stuck manning a grill for hours and hours. If we have extra folks come, then it's really easy to toss on some more burgers and hot dogs, so I feel comfortable with that.

We'll have some of the typical fixings like chips and probably potato salad, slaw and chili. One of my friend's mentioned goldfish crackers. Oh yes. That's a cute idea. Maybe served in fish bowls (clean new ones of course).

The grilled pineapple is super for dessert, and I think ice cream would also be good. Most everyone loves ice cream.

Other Luau Ideas I'm Thinking/Working On

Music - We are Jimmy Buffett fans, so I know we'll play some Buffett at the party.

Games - My kids don't like too much structure. We have a basketball goal and will have the wading pools. I may try to get some horseshoe pits made and ready. Volleyball might be fun. Would need to figure out what to do about poles for that.

Lights - I thought I might string some of the Christmas lights around the porch. Oh? Is that tacky? Teehee. That's OK. Some of the camper lights might be good. Need to check prices on those.

Any Ideas From My Fabulous Readers?

There are the plans - so far. Please feel free to add any ideas. This is my first kid to graduate. I want this cook out luau to be extra special.

And Finally . . .

Congratulations to all members of the class of 2008!