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Graduation Party Dessert Ideas

 Need some easy ideas for your upcoming graduation celebration (or really any party for that matter)? I am sharing some Graduation Party Dessert Ideas that we will be snacking on for my daughter’s graduation celebration.

It is graduation season and with graduations come graduation parties and graduation celebrations…they go hand in hand. And while I love throwing a good party, I’m also about keeping it simple on the day of.

We will be having a small graduation celebration, mostly family traveling from out of town and a few of Kate’s friends. But we did feel like we needed to organize something to celebrate the grad and give the opportunity for friends and family to mingle and catch up.

We are having a local deli provide some basic savory food, but I figured I could handle putting together a small dessert bar. I did a little baking and a little shopping and am happy with the graduation party dessert ideas that feature her school colors of Carolina Blue and White.

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Graduation Party Dessert Ideas:

Carolina Blue and White Macarons can be made ahead.

I’m still all about macarons, which can be colored for a festive touch. In this case, I used my go-to macaron recipe which I colored with Wilton’s Cornflower Blue, Sky Blue and White in a 2:1:1 ratio to get close to the Carolina Blue color. I used a little less than 1/8 tsp of the Cornflower Blue to color the macarons and based the other two off of that.  A simple, vanilla buttercream fills the blue shells, perfecting the blue/white combo. Macarons are something that can be made ahead and actually get better with a little age, as the filling melds with the shells. 

If you’d rather purchase your macarons, I am sure you will be able to order them in colors that you need for your dessert bar from your local bakery

Carolina Blue and White Macarons

I found these plastic containers at Paper Mart which are perfect for guests to take some macarons home with them. These tubes come in a variety of diameters and lengths and are perfect for sending your guests home with wee party favors containing any number of treats.

And holy cow, if you are planning a party of any type, you really need to make a stop at Paper Mart, they seem everything you need for a party, gift giving or packaging. 

Dyed Sprinkles and Jimmies add school colors to our dessert bar

Did you know you could dye sprinkles, jimmies, and decorative sugar? 

Put your white sprinkles in a ziplock bag, add some gel food coloring and ‘massage’ the food coloring into the sprinkles. Once you get the color you like, put them on a paper towel and let them dry. I also put mine in my Breville Smart Oven on the dehydrator setting, at the lowest temp, which helped to speed the drying process. 

Dyed jimmies and sprinkles

Fancy Sweet and Salty Popcorn is an easy, but oh-so-addictive addition to our party desserts!

scoop in the popcorn

I popped some grocery store brand salted popcorn, tossed it with some melted white chocolate and then sprinkled my newly dyed blue sprinkles and jimmies over for this crazy addictive sweet/salty treat. I hate to call this a ‘recipe’ because it is so incredibly simple, but nevertheless, here it is. For best results, toss this together quickly the day of.

containers with popcorn, labels and ribbon on dessert bar

Fancy Sweet and Salty Popcorn

Lynn
Grocery store brand popcorn, white chocolate chips and sprinkles create an entirely binge-worthy but incredibly easy sweet and salty treat.
5
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Cook Time 5 minutes
Additional Time 1 minute
Total Time 6 minutes
Course Appetizer Recipes
Cuisine American
Servings 13 cups
Calories 129 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 3 popped bags of 3.5-ounce packets of popcorn
  • 1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips
  • 3 teaspoons shortening or coconut oil
  • Sprinkles and jimmies

Instructions
 

  • Pop the popcorn according to the package directions
  • Melt the white chocolate in the microwave at 30-second intervals. Once the chocolate is melted, add the shortening and stir until combined.
  • Place the popcorn into a wide bowl and pour the white chocolate over, stirring to distribute the white chocolate over most of the popcorn.
  • While the white chocolate is still liquid and sticky, add the jimmies/sprinkles and toss to distribute over all the popcorn.
  • When cool, place popcorn into airtight containers and store at room temperature until needed.

Notes

Best eaten within 24 hours

Nutrition

Serving: 1/2 cupCalories: 129kcalCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 1gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 22mgSugar: 12g
Keyword dessert, easy, popcorn, white chocolate
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Also on Paper Mart, I found these clear round plastic containers (2.5″ diameter by 3″ deep) and this blue and white polka dot grosgrain ribbon. I simply glued the ribbon to the side of the lids and used these Avery labels to make these ‘class of 2019’ labels. Paper Mart has a huge variety of ribbons in all colors, so you should easily be able to find one to suit your color needs.

M & Ms add more color to our dessert bar

pouring m&ms into containers from Paper Mart

Finally blue and white M & Ms fill an apothecary jar on the dessert bar;  guests can enjoy the treat at the party or put some in one of the plastic containers to take home.

Gluing the ribbon on the lids and applying the labels is a great, mindless, sit in front of the TV task!

Blue and White M&Ms in an apothecary jar.

This simple, yet colorful ‘petite’ dessert bar is the perfect sweet ending to our Graduation Celebration.

popcorn and macarons
Pin showing some graduation party dessert ideas

To refer back to these Graduation Party Dessert Ideas, bookmark this page or pin the following image for your future reference.

Need gift ideas for the High School graduate?

Want more ideas for your Graduation Party? Graduation Party Food and Decor Ideas Here.

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Until next time…

Hugs,

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11 Comments

  1. Wow I love the way you colored everything to match exactly. It’s all so pretty. Those containers a perfect size and shape. I find it hard to find containers that aren’t too large or really tiny. Good to know that Paper Mart carries them. Congratulations. I’m sure everyone is going to love the celebration and make many wonderful memories.

    1. Hi Patti…they have so many fantastic sizes…truly something for every need. We are looking forward to a fun, but relaxed celebration! I’ll take pics.

      Hugs,

      Lynn

  2. I just love those tubes! Especially the macaron tubes. I clicked over to take a look and I am astounded at the prices and the selection! Bookmarked their page!

    1. I know! A real deal! I am excited to have them on hand for other food items as well…noodling all sorts of ways to use them.

    1. Aw thanks. Something like this is really simple and luckily she has ‘good colors. 😊 But yeah, the macarons are where it is at!

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