12 Easy DIY Graduation Party Centerpieces to Complete Your Table Decor
This blog post is about DIY graduation party centerpieces to recreate for your graduation celebration!
So you’re partying to celebrate graduating college. First of all, congratulations! This is such a huge achievement and you should be really proud of yourself! Secondly, I hope this blog post can do its part in helping you plan your big graduation party!
Centerpieces aren’t just decor to put on tables. They’re a huge focal point in the overall theme for any celebratory occasion, especially for a graduation. And yeah, you can buy centerpieces, but there’s something about DIYing them that makes the celebration more thoughtful and sentimental.
If you’re wondering how the heck you’re gonna DIY your graduation party centerpiece, I’ve got you covered! Here are 12 DIY graduation party centerpieces to recreate for your celebration!
Ready to DIY your graduation party centerpiece? Here are a few must-haves:
📷 Graduation photos – You can’t have a graduation party without having at least one graduation photo! Whether it’s from your actual graduation day or if you got your graduation photos professionally taken, including them in your centerpiece is a lovely way to show how far you’ve come!
🎓 Graduation-themed decor – From confetti to toppers, having graduation-themed decorative pieces is a fun and exciting part of DIYing your centerpiece! The most common choices to go for are graduation cap and graduate certificate toppers as well as confetti with your graduation year!
💐 Flowers – Flowers always add a lovely touch to centerpieces. They look pretty, smell amazing, and make any centerpiece look vibrant! Stuck on choice? Well, since your graduation party will be about you, go for your favorite type of flower!
12 DIY Graduation Party Centerpieces to Recreate
1. Memories and Mason jars
This graduate party centrepiece is a wholesome way to celebrate your academic achievements over the years, from graduating kindergarten all the way to graduating college! Make sure you find a picture of you from your kindergarten graduation, as you’re gonna need it for this graduation party centrepiece!
Get mason jars and fill them with colorful shredded paper. Then photocopy and print out pictures of you graduating from kindergarten and college. These will be your toppers.
For each jar, have one picture of your kindergarten graduation and one picture of your college graduation. Attach these photos to bamboo skewers or metal card holders, and you’ve made DIY toppers! Place them inside the mason jars. Next, use any kind of sticker that you can to write down your name and college graduation year!
6 Pack Jar Containers
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Shredded Filler Paper
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Amazon
Metal Card Holders
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2. Graduate symbol toppers
This graduation party centerpiece is a lovely piece of decor to add to your graduation party tables! It has the two main symbols associated with graduating: the graduation cap and the graduation certificate scroll. For this centerpiece, adding star toppers is a really cute idea because, as cheesy as it sounds, every graduate is a star! You can also add a few graduation-related toppers too!
Next, decorate your cylinder vase. In this idea, stickers and gemstones are used, which gives it a fun vibe! As the theme is graduation, don’t forget to include your graduation year when decorating the cylinder.
After decorating the cylinder, fill it with confetti and add the toppers to complete the celebratory look!
Ceramic Vase
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Graduation Stickers
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Star Toppers
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Graduation Toppers
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3. Sparkly toppers
If you’re looking for a graduation party centrepiece that sparkles, then this is the perfect idea! The main focus of this centerpiece is, of course, the toppers. One with the graduation year, one saying “Congrats grad” with a graduation cap, and, if you’re looking for a personalized topper, one stating the graduation class and name (e.g., Class of 2019 // Angie).
The next thing to complete this centerpiece is something to place the toppers into. For this, you can grab a glass vase, add decorative confetti inside, and then place the toppers inside too!
Glass Cylinder Vase Set
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Graduation Toppers
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Amazon
Shredded Filler Paper
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4. Graduate letter block
This is one of the easiest graduation centerpieces you can do! Simply get a letter block with your initial, decorate it how you like (in this example, it’s covered in sprinkles), and then add a bottle topper in the shape of a graduation cap!
Letter Centerpiece
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Mini Graduation Caps
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5. Golden accents
Gold is a great color palette for a graduation party. So here’s a gold centerpiece idea to match it! Or even if your color scheme isn’t gold, this centerpiece will certainly stand out!
Grab a mason jar and tie a gold bow around it. Next, add some gold and sparkly toppers inside! For this idea, they’ve used star toppers, as well as a graduation year sign that has a graduation cap and gold tassel!
6 Pack Jar Containers
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Star Toppers
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Amazon
Gold Ribbon
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6. Floral treat
This graduation centrepiece is pretty common, but what makes it a creative treat is the cutout paper coaster that lies underneath it, as well as the Hershey’s Kisses!
For this centerpiece, you’ll need to get a bouquet and a topper with a photo of the graduate! Grab a vase and add some Hershey’s Kisses inside before adding the floral and topper.
Remember in school when you made the paper doll chains? The coaster for this topper is quite similar. But instead of a paper doll chain, you’re cutting out letters spelling “Happy graduation!” at the edge of the paper.
Place the centerpiece on top of the coaster and add some more Hershey’s Kisses around the base of the vase to complete your floral treat graduation centerpiece!
Glass Cylinder Vase Set
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Artificial Flower Bundles
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7. Floral decorative piece
This floral graduation centerpiece is perfect for showing off your best graduation photo! You’re gonna need frames with your best graduation photo (obviously), wooden log slices, origami graduation caps, a vase, a bouquet, and graduate-themed toppers.
With all of these items, it’s very easy to assemble this centerpiece together. Lay the wooden log slice in the middle of the table, this is going to be the base. Then, place the photo frame facing out on one side. Behind the frame, add one origami graduation cap on each side. Then, on the opposite side of the photo frame, add a vase with the bouquet and graduation-themed toppers inside!
Wood Slices
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Graduation Toppers
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8. Book and scroll
This centerpiece is quick and easy and incorporates flowers. Roll up a piece of paper and tie a ribbon around it to look like a graduation certificate scroll. Next, grab a vase and add some flowers inside and a paper sign with the graduation class year.
Grab any book (preferably one without a decorative cover) and use this as a base. Put the vase and DIY scroll on top, and you’ve completed the centerpiece!
9. Decorative lights
For this graduation centerpiece, you’re gonna need lots of mason jars, mini battery-powered fairy lights, and graduation cap decorations, depending on how many tables you’ll have at your party!
Simply get a mason jar, put the fairy lights inside, close the lid, and place the graduation cap decoration on top. It’s that easy!
Jar Containers
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Mini Fairy Lights
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10. Graduate photo in a jar
This is another graduation party centerpiece that’s very easy to do! All you need is graduation pictures, flowers, a mason jar, and a cutout of the graduating year!
Get a mason jar, put the graduation pictures inside facing outwards (make sure it covers up the inside of the mason jar), place the flowers in, stick the cut-out on the jar, then it’s complete!
11. Balloon decor
It’s not a graduation party without balloons, and this centerpiece is a cool way to use balloons for table decor! Add four balloons in a bucket with decorative pieces and a “congrats grad” topper in the middle!
Bucket
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Black, White + Gold Balloons
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12. Family memories
This DIY graduation centerpiece is such a wholesome idea to celebrate your huge achievement and honor the loved ones who have been with you throughout your journey.
For this centerpiece, print out photos of yourself and your graduation photos with your family and make them into toppers.
Grab a mason jar, fill the inside with confetti, and add a “GRAD” tag to the rim. Then place one topper with a photo of you and another with you and your family to complete this wholesome DIY graduation party centerpiece.
This blog post showed you 12 DIY graduation party centerpieces to copy!
Enjoyed this article? Here are some other graduation planning posts you may like:
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- 34 Graduation Photoshoot Ideas to Recreate For Your Grad Photo Session
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