The last year of high school for a student means your nose is glued to the books, sleepless nights to cram a little more knowledge into your head, not enough hours spent trying to catch up on sleep.

For a mother, it consists of enduring stressful times with grace before the exams while trying to be there for her child without being too pushy or not enough encouraging. Tip-toeing around your off-spring as not to interrupt the flow of her work becomes your M.O. but hopefully the last sleep-deprived nights before graduation are close and you and your 18 years old, can finally breathe.

You rejoice in the knowledge that she got through it in one piece and want to thank her teachers for all they have done but then she doesn’t want to touch a book or see a teacher or have anything to do with school-related projects … even if it’s a party!

By now, I’m sure it’s obvious I’m talking about my experience, as a mother with graduation this last year.

My older daughter gave final exams in the beginning of June (last year) so, we collectively decided to give her some time off and than have a «Thank-you-for-all-the-help-and-support» party for and with all her teachers and not a graduation party. I know, it might sound weird, but this gesture was important to us because we wanted to honor the teachers, with the graduate’s blessings, of course.

Handmade invitations with «Thank You» belly-band

So, after we secured the date and the venue (Bohemia Restaurant in Ampelokhpoi - Athens, I can NOT say enough good things about this place, recommend it highly!) I took to the crafting table and chose a graffiti themed paper pad. My daughter’s character is as colorful and as all over the place and structured (in the best possible sense) as graffiti. I started with invitations that had a belly band which I stamped «Thank you» on and than I partially die-cut. The invitation itself was a simple gate-fold card, on the inside of which I inserted a printed panel with the wording of the invitation. The whole idea was to match every invitation, menu card and seating card personally to the recipient of the invitation. (I had to do some “advanced Math” to get everything out of two sheets of paper/person!) My daughter was a great help in deciding which pattern matched which teacher.

Than I made the seating cards, menu cards (with a half rosette as embellishment, tying in the rosette from the banner) and food labels and left the favors for later. I ordered Hungarian delicacies (chocolate and herbal liqueur) and made boxes for them, embellished them using leftover graffiti paper. Last but certainly not least, I made the banner with the name of the school and the years during which my daughter attended the school. Used my huge rosettes on the ends to hide my hanging points.

There was food and wine, laughter, stories and gifts, advice spoken and written (which my daughter keeps in a miniature book I made for this exact purpose) and good times were had by all.

I’m certain we managed to thank and honor the teachers who invested time and energy in our daughter’s progress through the years.

Now, it’s YOU I need to thank for spending some time with me.

See you soon in another blog post!

Your very own fairy,

Tünde-Nefeli