Celebrating in 2020 proved to be unconventional and non-traditional in so many ways. It was a hard year for most of our students, their families, faculty, and staff not having the momentous, traditional celebrations that we all look forward to.
All school functions were canceled from proms, awards banquets, sports games, and, of course, graduations. While the close of the 2020 school year was hard for all students, for our seniors and graduates, it offered little in the way of closure and fanfare.
Graduation season began only 2 months after the first schools in our areas closed so it left little time for orchestrating never-before, all-new, mandatory health safety policies and procedures that were still evolving over this early time when the coronavirus was first reported in our area.
However, school staff, administrators, and parents got to work on coming up with creative ideas and plans for graduation ceremonies that worked with the constantly emerging new health information and government restrictions with respect to our new "social distancing" lives of 6 feet apart or more. As schools got creative, we were right there with them!
Flexibility, understanding, and compassion was (and really always) key to our working relationships with schools. We understood whole-heartedly that their best-made, well-intentioned, hopeful plans could be altered in a single moment with news of a case. Personally, I'm proud that we eased a lot of stress for administrators and parents working with us by being flexible, cooperative, and patient during their planning period.
When graduation season started, there was very little to celebrate, but slowly, schools were able to get plans together and we were ready to help everyone celebrate in any way possible. We created so much school spirit, including:
drive-through balloon arches for extra festive flair
fun parade wavers for individuals in cars to celebrate the graduates as they drove by
stage decor for the backdrops for broadcasted ceremonies as well as a few live in-person, very spread out, outdoor ceremonies
balloon arches of all kinds for outdoor graduates to walk through, drive-through, drive-by, and take pictures in front of.
We were part of Kindergarten ceremonies all the way up to College Graduations from Hudson to Laconia and as far East as the Maine Seacoast.
Some of the schools we worked with for graduation included:
Child Guidance Early Learning Center
Presentation of Mary Academy
Dunbarton Elementary School
Trinity Christian School
Berwick Academy
Lakes Region Community College
You can view some of our fun school photos here.
For at-home celebrations and graduation balloon gift deliveries, we represented dozens of school colors for those graduates, some included:
Bedford High School
Bow High School
Southern New Hampshire University
Berwick Academy
Pinkerton Academy
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Allenstown Elementary
Proctor Academy
University of New Hampshire
Franklin Pierce University
Central Catholic High School
Check out our instagram for all kind of school-inspired photos as well as all the other balloon decor and balloon gifts we get to create! Scroll down and you can see many of the graduation deliveries from
This year remains uncertain and, no doubt, will be filled with non-traditional, creative graduation celebrations across our state. We've started to get the first inquiries in from schools, with the full understanding that there are no final plans at this point and flexibility is key. It's a wait and see kind of event planning. It's not what we're used to in the event industry, however, it's what 2021 requires. No one person is in charge and everyone is doing their best to make wise, safe decisions for all involved.
As you start planning your school's graduation events, please think of us. We want to help make your school celebrations as vibrant and festive as possible to let the students know they are special, they are seen, they are worthy of our attention and efforts and that their education milestone (at any level) is important and worthwhile.
We're putting together a Graduation Guide in hopes it helps you understand how to work with us, what we offer, our process, etc. It's currently in the works and as soon as we have it completed, you can access it. Please email us to let us know you're interested. hello@eyecandyballoons.com
We are looking forward to working with you through your graduation planning, from the unknowns and tentative plans to the final, official commencement moment.
All my best, Amanda
Eye Candy Balloons
Based Goffstown, NH