If you’re middle-aged or older, the idea of making a big deal out of
graduating from something other than high school, college or
graduate school may seem to be a relatively recent one.

It’s not.

Rhyme University Inc. began selling diplomas for kinder-
garteners in 1954. The St. Paul, Minn., company has since
expanded its product line to include caps and gowns, among other
things. It also has increased the occasions for which it makes
products; those now include graduations from preschool and
Head Start programs.

With many elementary and middle schools also having
jumped on the graduation-ceremony bandwagon, parents who
like throwing parties to celebrate their children’s academic rites of
passage now have more rites of passage than ever to choose from.

How many they choose to celebrate is an economic indicator of
sorts, according to Adam Weitz, who started Southampton, Pa.-
based A Sharp Production 20 years ago as a disc jockey and live
entertainment company.

“The milestone events will always be there, but the fun little
parties that people like to have, like fifth-grade graduations,
depend on the economy,” Weitz said.

Even when people feel economically secure enough to throw
non-milestone graduation parties for their children, they don’t
spend too much money on them.

“I haven’t really had a crazy under-high school graduation,”
said Jennifer Lawn, who has been in the event business since 1996
and had her own company, JL Original Designs, since 2011.

For preschool or kindergarten graduations, Lawn said, parents
might hire her company, which does decorations, and a caterer,
get a bounce house for their backyard and have a picnic.

22 MARCH 23, 2017
SIMCHAS The idea of making a big deal out
of graduating from something
other than high school, college
or graduate school may seem
to be a relatively recent one.

Rhyme University Inc. began selling
diplomas for kindergarteners in 1954.

Top: Wavebreakmedia; diploma: hmell_c4; facing page: SanneBerg/iStock/Thinkstock.com
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



“Parents just really want to
do something that fits their
child’s personality,” she said.

They also want to do something that’s
family-oriented. Celebrations of graduations prior to
high school typically feature the gradu-
ate’s immediate family, perhaps a few
members of their extended family and then
their closest friends, said Karen Pecora of
Philadelphia Events.

Elementary and middle school graduations, she
said, are typically thrown at the graduate’s home and
are casual, fun events. Since the graduations occur in
late spring, they’re usually outdoors and often around a
pool, if the graduate’s parents have one.

Preschool and kindergarten graduation celebrations, she
said, are often lunches with parents, grandparents and other
relatives, and can be more formal.

“You see preschool graduations and kindergarten gradua-
tions where everybody’s dressed to the nines,” she said.

That can make for memorable occasions, but the adults likely
will be the ones who remember them best.

“Are [the children] going to remember them 20 years from
now? Probably not,” Pecora said. “It’s more for the family
than it is for the child.”
Graduations aren’t the only events featuring kinder-
garteners in their best.

Graduations aren’t the
only events featuring
kindergarteners in their
best. Some kindergartens
are holding proms.

Randi Martin, the chief event planner for
Hatboro-based Trilogy Event Design, said some
kindergartens are holding proms.

“It’s just like a little high school prom, but it’s for
the little kids,” she said. “They get dressed up and
everything.” That may seem like overkill, as may a party to cele-
brate children graduating from preschool or kinder-
garten, which is why not everyone does it.

EBE will help with any party that anyone is willing
to throw, but Tara Buchanan, its lighting and produc-
tion director/event planner, said no one has hired it
for preschool or kindergarten graduations as far as she
knows. The Philadelphia company has worked on elementary
and middle school graduation parties. For those,
Buchanan suggests getting such games as foosball or
arcade basketball and/or hiring a disc jockey.

Brian Smith, whose Platinum Disc Jockeys & Photo
Booths is based in Collegeville, hasn’t worked a party
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