If you’re attending a morning graduation ceremony, bring together family and friends to celebrate the graduation at a post-ceremony brunch. Choose a venue that is convenient to the graduation ceremony location, and design a menu that will satisfy your guests. You can even choose a theme for your graduation brunch to reflect the graduate’s achievements. Take time to decorate your venue for an added, celebratory touch.

If you’re celebrating a college graduation, host your brunch on campus to keep with the theme of your graduation. Find an on-campus restaurant or a room in the student union that can host your event. You can have the on-campus caterer take care of the food, or you can bring it in yourself. Find an elegant restaurant to host a high school graduation brunch, or simply select the graduate’s favorite restaurant. Set up a banquet room for privacy. Or, host your teen’s eighth-grade graduation party with an at-home celebration. You can decorate your home in pictures of your graduate’s middle school years and play her favorite music. The advantage of a home graduation brunch is that you can invite more guests because you won’t be paying a caterer or a restaurant a per-person fee for food and beverages.

Choose from a number of themes to inspire your graduation brunch décor. Decorate the venue in the graduate’s high school or college colors. Choose linens in the school colors, and top the table with fresh flowers in a vase. Use a breakfast pastry, like a wrapped muffin or scone, as place settings on your brunch table—simply attach a tag to the wrapped treat that features each guest’s name. Add framed pictures of the graduate to the buffet table and banquet tables. For favors, send guests home with a printed coffee mug that says the name and date of your event, like “Tim’s College Graduation Brunch, December 10, 2010.”

Create a menu for your graduation brunch that will adequately satisfy your guests. Brunch, unlike a continental breakfast, calls for a full meal, so offer hearty casseroles to your guests. You can bake a quiche, sausage and egg casserole, hash brown casserole—or all three. Offer fresh fruit and muffins and pastries as well as staples like bagels, English muffins and toast. Also, consider providing a few lunch items like finger sandwiches and deviled eggs for your guests to enjoy. If the graduate is over 21, you can offer bloody marys or mimosas for adult guests. Also, set up a juice and coffee bar, where guests can choose from everything from orange juice to freshly ground coffee.