Amy's and Andrea's Graduation Bash

Finally, it was the day of the party that was the culmination of months of planning by my uncle Rich, my aunt Rena and myself.

I have to say that I was pleased overall by our choice of the Braintree VFW Hall for the graduation party - it was cheap; the space itself was big with a kitchen, a huge dance floor and room for 90 people; and everyone that worked there was very pleasant. Ditto for Fasano's catering - everyone kept raving about the food, so it's worth getting it catered and I recommend the stuffed chicken/sirloin combo that Rena picked.

This is what the centerpieces ended up looking like:

Each table had a bucket of a different type of candy, surrounded by small Chinese food takeout boxes with ribbons in Andrea's and Amy's school colors, 2009 buttermint packages and special graduation fortune cookies. The sand buckets and the pinwheels were purchased at a dollar store, the candy (including Starbursts, Ghiradelli chocolates, Swedish Fish and Hershey's Miniatures) from BJ's and everything else from Oriental Trading. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't do the takeout boxes because no one used them - guests just ended up munching on the candy at their table, rather than visiting each table to fill their boxes as the notes urged them to do.

First to arrive at the party were obviously family members - this is a shot of my cousin Janel, co-guest of honor Andrea, Rena, me and my cousin Andrew:

This party was also important because it was the first time that Andrew's parents met my Mom - here's a shot of me with Andrew's mom Charlotte and my mom Koom.

Here's co-guest of honor Amy, my Dad and me:


Amy and Andrea take a break from chatting with their guest to pose for a picture:

This what I call the BC shot - Andrew's sister Amanda, me and Jen - all members of '02:


I can't remember what was so funny but obviously Jen, Pete, Andrew, Phu and Joe are having a good time:

Shot of me and Andrew, one of my biggest helpers for the event:

Andrea enjoys some of Fasano's great food:

Both sets of parents get up to give a toast to the new grads:


Finally, it was time for cake!


Andrea and Amy shared cake-cutting duties, with my mom hovering to the right with advice:


Perhaps due to the open bar, there was also a lot of dancing (that would be Betty and my Uncle Rich on the dance floor):

Andrew taking his sister Andrea for a spin:

Did I mention that there was A LOT of dancing? Andrea pulls her dad Rich onto the dance floor and Amy and my Dad join after to demonstrate that our family's collective lack of rhythm.

The money shot at the end of the night - a rare shot of me, Amy and my parents - we're usually only in the same place once a year:


The party was considered a rousing success by everyone who attended and most importantly, Amy and Andrea had a blast. Congrats to them both!