Tennis Graduation Party

by Jean Armour
(Scotland)

We are a sports mad family, and so mostly are our friends. Our main sport is tennis and that is the theme we chose for our son's University graduation party this year, it was really his idea.

We have booked our local tennis club for the night and are having a totally tennis evening. Everyone is required to wear tennis gear and be ready to play a little tennis. Our other son is going with a big wig and wants to be John McEnroe for the night. He has promised lots of tantrums. I hope other guests will come as a particular star.

Food is mainly healthy buffet style wih lots of fruit and veggie dips. However our son loves curry so we are having our local restaurant deliver a buffet with lots of different foods, tastes and spices.

Decorations are largely almost as we would want them We just need to add more tennis stuff and pictures. On top of that we have congratulations banners, graduation caps, balloons, streamers, bunting and confetti.

We are thinking of booking a caricaturist to draw everyone as a cartoon tennis player.

Games will be centred on tennis. We have a Wii with a tennis game on it too.

We hope to add detail to this one over the next 2 months.


What an amazing party for the sporting family and particularly for the tennis playing graduate. Hopefully you can get some ideas from the following:


Invitations

You could try and find cards from a famous tennis venue like Flushing Meadows or Wimbledon. You will need to use the official merchandise here. You might be able to find them on a web auction site.


For wording you could use:

Test your skills at the Graduation Open Tennis Party
Enter the Flushing Meadows (venue) tournament
First serve (time/date)
Let the Secretary know you are entering (RSVP details)


Come and play a few games at the Tennis Graduation Party
Wear your tennis attire and party the night away
Graduation tennis club (venue)
First serve (time/date)


There are lots of accessories you can add. You should be able to find tennis stickers and perhaps you could include tennis style confetti. A photo of the graduate playing tennis would be a good addition.


Venues for a tennis graduation party can clearly be at a sporting venue like a tennis club, sports centre, school gym or local park. A large backyard would be good too.


Games would benefit from being centred on tennis. To keep the tennis graduation party going you can have game s of skill like keeping a tennis ball in the air using a racket. You can have prizes for trick shots. You may have tennis trivia or use those unusual events in tennis to play what happened next.


Favors should again be tennis related. The tennis favors can be balls, sweat bands, t-shirts, socks and perhaps Wii tennis. You may also give tennis posters.


Some alternative decorating ideas could be:

• Photos of famous moments in tennis like tournament winning shots.



• Pay homage to some famous players by having an area dedicated to them with photos and facts.



• A fake trophy could be the table centrepiece



• Display the graduate‘s tennis equipment over the years.

A tennis graduation party can be quite brilliant and have lots of really interesting bits for each guest.