Updated on: Feb 10, 2024
Graduating from middle school is a big deal in most people’s lives. It’s a time for leaving behind childhood and taking those first few steps toward being an adult. To celebrate, it’s important to keep in mind the fact that your guests of honor are still on the edge between childhood and adulthood, and to keep the activities age-appropriate. Keeping them busy is a must! Below is a list of some amazing middle school graduation party ideas!
Middle School Graduation Party Decorations
1. Balloons
Balloons! Balloons! Balloons! Whether you're having a backyard graduation party or hosting it at an indoor venue, blow up a bunch of balloons and hang them around your venue. Whether they are multicolored or in your school colors, balloons add a celebratory mood to any party. You could also get numbered balloons for the graduation year.
2. Decorative Doorways
Buy some metallic fringe and hang it from the top of the doorway entrance so from the moment your guests walk in they'll be in the celebratory mood! You could even place some balloons and congratulations posters next to the doorway to give it that extra flair!
3. Photo Stand
Middle school graduation is a big deal. Everyone will want to take lots of pictures to remember the moment. Create a cool backdrop for your guests to take some good pics by decorating your backdrop in school colors and streamers. Don't forget the props!
4. Lawn Signs
Lawn signs or banners are great for celebrating your middle schooler's graduation. It's wonderful to do something that your neighborhood can see so you can spread your joy. Use school-colored streamers and balloons. Make signs to hang up. If you use lawn signs, you could employ local businesses to make stunning displays.
5. Scrap Books
Put together a scrapbook of all the school memories your child has made throughout their time in middle school. This is a fun way for your child and their friends to look back and cherish the memories they made. The scrapbook can be saved for years to come and can be added to when they graduate from high school and college.
Middle School Graduation Party Favors
6. Favor Boxes
A no-fail favor is a personalized graduation candy box. It can be personalized in the school name and colors or the honoree’s favorite colors and their name. To bring in the school a little more, tie a ribbon with school colors around the box.
7. Picture This
A great way to preserve middle school memories is to give each of your guests a DIY photo frame with a picture of themselves and the graduate. You can choose pictures that are significant to them from their years together in middle school, or you can set up a photo booth with fun props so that each guest can get their picture taken with the grad. Be sure to print the pictures before the guests leave.
8. Themed Cookies
A great favor that is almost always a hit is themed cookies. Simply cut classic sugar cookies using graduation-themed cookie cutters and frost them in the school colors. Place several cookies together in a graduation gift bag or decorative box as giveaways for your guests. Brownies or cupcakes also work if you decorate them in a graduation theme with small graduation candies and frosting in the school colors. These homemade graduation party favors will be a sweet ending to the perfect party.
9. Customized String Bags
These favors are practical and super cute. You can customize the string bag to be in a party color theme. Printing the school name and the class onto the bag is a simple way to mark the occasion. String bags are lightweight, easily portable, and a trendy gift option right now! You can even stuff the string bags with the other party favors. Turn your string bag into a unique swag bag!
10. Class Ring-Pops
In higher education, it is a tradition for graduates and alumni to receive class rings to commemorate their graduation. You can do a fun spin on this idea by giving your middle school graduates class ring-pops as a party favor! A cheap, celebratory, and far more yummy take on class rings!
11. Custom Key Chains
A fun way to celebrate the middle school grad and their friends are to provide custom key chains as party favors. Key chains can be made in the school's colors and have the school name printed on them. Grads can use it to hold their keys and show their school spirit.
Middle School Graduation Games
12. Guess Who!
Ask your guests (or their parents) to provide you with pictures of when they were a baby. Show these pictures to the whole group and have them guess whose picture belongs to whom! The guest who makes the most correct guesses wins! When this game is over, ask your guests to write their names below their picture and use them as name tags for the remainder of the party!
13. High School Cheer
Here’s a way to celebrate moving onward and upward! Divide the guests into teams and give them fifteen minutes to create a high school cheer. They can also create their own clever high school fight song if they wish. After fifteen minutes have the teams perform and pick a winner. This is a fun and engaging way to celebrate graduation.
14. Emoji Picture Stations
This fun activity draws on the guest’s creativity. Set social media stations around your house and outside with backdrops and emoji picture props for guests to post content on Instagram and Tik Tok. Make it a contest to see who can come up with the best post to impress their followers! The parents might even join in and let out their crazy inner child! This 8th-grade graduation party game will be a hit!
15. Yearbook Station
Have all of your 8th-grade graduates bring their yearbooks. Set up a yearbook decorating station, filled with different stickers, markers, pens, glitter, and paint! This yearbook station is a perfect opportunity for your guests to personalize their yearbooks by decorating them however they like. Make sure to have lots of markers so they can write in each other's yearbooks and share their favorite middle-school memories!
16. Graduation Piñata
Celebrate the middle school graduation with a festive piñata! All the supplies you need for this easy DIY are some paper-mâché, some cardboard, scissors, a bat, a blindfold, and a bunch of your favorite candy! Guests will have a great time taking having a go at hitting the piñata. If you want, you can make four separate piñata's that spell out the graduation year. They'll stick with the graduation theme and the more piñata's the longer the fun will last!
17. Where’s Waldo…In Your Yearbook
For this activity idea, be sure everyone brings a copy of their middle school yearbook. Someone yells out a name and the players must try to find that student in the yearbook. This can be played with both the first and last name of a junior high student or just a first name to make it more difficult. If you are playing with just a first name, the player to find any student with that first name first will earn a point.
18. Superlatives
For this game, you'll need pictures of the graduates, a bulletin board, sticky notes, and some markers. Create a graduation photo board by posting pictures of all the graduates onto the bulletin board. . Throughout the night have people place sticky notes on the graduates' pictures with a superlative that best describes them. At the end of the night, read out all of the superlatives! Encourage your friends to get super creative and funny with the adjectives they choose!
19. Glow-in-the-Dark Dance Party
Consider a glow-in-the-dark graduation dance party as an alternative to a regular dance party. This theme is simple to execute and requires little effort. A black-light, dancing music, and a few items are required. You can even ask your party guests to wear neon colors so they can glow as they dance!
20. Slip 'N Slide
A fun activity for a middle school graduation party on a hot summer day is to buy a slip 'n slide for guests to cool off. Ask your guests to bring swimsuits if they would like. You can even make one at home with a tarp, soap, and water.
Middle School Graduation Food ideas
21. Donuts
22. Cupcakes
23. Cotton Candy
24. Chocolate Truffles
25. Brownies
Middle School Graduation Party ideas: Conclusion
These are all the middle school graduation party ideas! 8th-grade graduation is a big deal for any middle schooler. Leaving middle school symbolizes their achievement and their transition to high school and full adolescence. We know you will make your 8th-grade celebration a happy event to remember and hopefully, these party ideas gave you some inspiration!
Written by Annie Replogle, Lauren Sastre and Jessica Bundy; Contributors: Becky Smith, Marianne Vanderbeke, Hannah Lindenberg and Maggie Betros