Naval Themed HS Grad Party (Yay or Nay?)

justdoit19 said:
Firstly and foremost, this is your event. A celebration of you. What do you want??

At the urging of others in his circle of friends, for our ‘22, we had a separate small party of the people that were part of his 18 month appointment process: coaches, admin, teachers, and all his buddies. A chance to celebrate the appointment, and thank those that helped. USNA modestly themed decorated. That was fun.

For his HS grad party, we incorporated HS and USNA together. A usna cake and HS colored cupcakes, for example. His appointment folder with navy balloons on an area of his table that had his other stuff (idk if that's only a thing in our area or not). Nothing at all for our 2024 HS grad of course - stupid Covid.

He (we) decided that this is a celebration of his 13yrs of k-12 career, with information about his next chapter. And then the entire navy-theme comes when he commissions.

On the tables, we sprinkled small anchors ⚓️ (instead of ‘confetti’ stuff). And had small 2x2 stock cards with envelopes with a plaquard requesting ‘words of encouragement’ to be sent to him through plebe summer (true story: he received them and kept them to open when he needed. He only opened a couple. He carries the rest with him as he moves on. Still unopened. Someday that will be fun as he is cleaning out his home!!).

Ahhhh the memories ☺️. Seriously, there is no right or wrong way. You know your community, your HS, your peers. Obviously you want to fit in and not come off as a braggart, but also want to celebrate your accomplishments. There are ways to do all of that, from zero to 💯. Do what feels right to you. And tell your mom she can go WHOLE HOG USNA in about 4 yrs if you aren’t feeling it, now. I mean, you aren’t graduating from USNA yet. Everyone intends to, but the reality is that some don’t.

You can also search the forum for past discussion about grad parties. Tons of ideas. It’s a discussion every year. And congrats!!
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Thank you for taking the time to respond! I definitely like the idea of a Navy-themed grad party, my mom is telling me and the rest of my family to keep my service academy appointments under wraps until May so I want to share it with my extended family through a a party. It will also be the last time I will see my extended family for almost six months so I like the idea of having cards for them to fill out so I can open them over PS :)
 
I'm generally a big fan of low key-ness when it comes to celebrating a future navy career as opposed to those big check presentations in front of the whole high school, only because, simply, not everyone makes it to commission and serve who starts at a SA or ROTC program, and I have empathy for those who take the standing ovation / thunderous applause, and then for years run into people and have to explain they didn't make it. Lots of examples where the big check moment was special and the person now is serving - you do you/ all good. In my town the one young woman acted like she was with my uncle for 3 tours in 'Nam once appointed to USMA - strutted around like a peacock. A USMA alum gave a 10 minute speech celebrating her appointment during a larger scholarship assembly where most awards were presented in 2 mins or less. She scrubbed out / didn't commission or graduate. imo, the peacock is now camera shy, avoids people with eyes averted in the grocery store etc. to me, that's avoidable awkwardness.

However, if this party is not the entire town/ class, but more friends and family, then I think a nautical/ Navy/ USNA themed party sounds fun. Search pinterest for "USNA theme party ideas" for decorations, cakes, place settings etc. and you'll see hundreds, some of which are pretty cool.
 
Herman_Snerd said:
I'm generally a big fan of low key-ness when it comes to celebrating a future navy career as opposed to those big check presentations in front of the whole high school, only because, simply, not everyone makes it to commission and serve who starts at a SA or ROTC program, and I have empathy for those who take the standing ovation / thunderous applause, and then for years run into people and have to explain they didn't make it. Lots of examples where the big check moment was special and the person now is serving - you do you/ all good. In my town the one young woman acted like she was with my uncle for 3 tours in 'Nam once appointed to USMA - strutted around like a peacock. A USMA alum gave a 10 minute speech celebrating her appointment during a larger scholarship assembly where most awards were presented in 2 mins or less. She scrubbed out / didn't commission or graduate. imo, the peacock is now camera shy, avoids people with eyes averted in the grocery store etc. to me, that's avoidable awkwardness.

However, if this party is not the entire town/ class, but more friends and family, then I think a nautical/ Navy/ USNA themed party sounds fun. Search pinterest for "USNA theme party ideas" for decorations, cakes, place settings etc. and you'll see hundreds, some of which are pretty cool.
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Definitely will just be friends and family. My mom wants my local news to run a story on me but I refuse because of what you said, what if I wash out? I also don't like the attention.
 
we did a Navy theme for DS. He had accepted his appt back in Dec, and his grad party was after HS graduation a few weeks before Iday. It was graduation/ going away party.
 
There will likely be LOTS of requests over the coming years, especially your first year, to do "Navy" stuff. Wear your uniform to special events. Have Navy-themed parties or trees or flags on the flagpole or house decorations, etc. Some parents / family members wear USNA stuff EVERYWHERE. People will buy you USNA / Navy stuff. Some do it b/c they want to and some b/c they think it will make you happy / honor you.

My view is this. First, agree if it's something YOU want. Second, agree if you know it's really important to the other person / people involved and making them happy is super-important to you. If you're really opposed, say something such as, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I live USNA / Navy every minute of every day. I'd just like to have a break."

A close friend asked me to wear my uniform to an event over winter break plebe year. It was close to the last thing I wanted to do. But it was only for about an hour and I knew it would mean the world to her. Later in life, she hosted my wedding shower. She died a couple of years later -- to this day, I'm glad I did that for her.
 
Understand that there is no norm by any means for this. Some families do big graduation parties from high school, college, etc and others do not. Between my USNA grad son, and I, we had a total of zero high school and USNA graduation parties. Its just not how our family rolls.
One of the favorites that I attended was the grad week party that was thrown by my son's (and my) USNA varsity team. Among the parents in attendance were a number of my own teammates who like me, had double reasons to be proud and give thanks.
 
Gonna leave it up to the dude to let us know if he wants to have a party. Since we are "local," but still 40 minutes from DTA, I doubt a lot of his shipmates would roll out to a party at our home. Especially since we won't have space to crash 20+ mids in our house when they get drunk, and there is no way I will let anyone drive back. I don't need any ruined careers on my conscience. :p
 
High School Colors and USNA were both Blue and Gold for my ‘24. So we were able to double down. Celebrate being the best of the best of the best for the next few months. Because then there is plebe summer.

But you could always bring in an ice cream truck and let everyone have whatever they want. That is always fun. Mr Softee!
 
Herman_Snerd said:
I'm generally a big fan of low key-ness when it comes to celebrating a future navy career as opposed to those big check presentations in front of the whole high school, only because, simply, not everyone makes it to commission and serve who starts at a SA or ROTC program, .
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Friend of mine has a son who is a USAFA grad. His roommate was from a small town and they held a parade in his honor before he reported for his plebe summer (or whatever USAFA calls it). The poor fellow went academically unsat during his fall semester and was separated. I cannot imagine how difficult that was to be sent home.
 
Echoing the above. At a BGO training, we were told of a similar story (except plebe-to-be was female and it was for USNA). Parade, articles in the paper, interviews on local TV. Quit during PS. During her exit interviews, the young woman said she'd realized she didn't want to attend USNA well before arriving. However, she felt couldn't say anything b/c of all that was going on, couldn't let everyone down, etc.

The cautions are not directed at the OP and family -- just general "warnings" about making too much of something before it even happens as it can have unintended consequences.
 
Appears being singled out for "accomplishments" doesn't bode well for a Plebe's prospects.

I got yanked out of two evolutions during PS to get interviewed by some kind of press people because of my unlikely path to get into the Academy (how anyone even knew about that at the time, I will never know!!). My detailers were not impressed ........ :bleh2:
 
LA rockymnt hi said:
We did a send off party, USNA themed. Had a bunch of cards for friends and family to fill out and then every week of plebe summer I included a handful for her to read when she needed a pick me up and a reminder that everyone back home was cheering her on. She mentioned multiple times, it helped get her through the darkest moments. Also had a bunch of disposable cameras around the party. Had them developed and included them in plebe summer packages too. Highly recommend!
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I did this too! Family and friends had a special table of notecards to fill out during the graduation/USNA send off party for my DS. My DS said reading some of these notes of encouragement each night during Plebe Summer helped him survive.
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
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Our daughters Naval Academy send off had the following events:

1. Pig roast/barbeque
2. Skeet shooting, target practice
3. Naval Academy themed Cake
4. Multiple Bonfires at dusk/nightfall
5. Illegal Fireworks

A lot of other stuff too … daughters friends got to ride 4-wheelers & dirt bikes

Nobody got hurt …. No ambulance
.
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Address? and upcoming events?
 
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