A Simple Pre-K Moving Up Party Without Feeding the Masses

I wanted my daughter to feel celebrated without turning her Pre-K Moving Up Ceremony into a catered event. So I made one fun dessert, put out easy food, used a few cheap decorations, and called it enough.

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. I only share items that made sense for our real family life, helped make this day easier, or are similar to what we used.

My daughter had her Pre-K Moving Up Ceremony today at 1 PM. She was so excited to have her ceremony and even more excited to have a party after.

Which left me thinking: how can we make this fun, memorable, and worthy of the day without putting more pressure on ourselves to cook, clean, and prep in the middle of a busy work week in June?

When “The Works” Just Means More Work

My husband, as always, suggested a full-on BBQ. Burgers, hot dogs, side salads, the works.

And “the works” translates in my head to: work.

When that was vetoed, he suggested a hero from our go-to local deli. Order the sides, pick it up, and be done with it. I brought up the cost. He brought up our time constraint. He suggested a three-foot hero instead of a six-foot hero for our small party of nine.

And then I had this thought: why do we have to feed the masses a full meal?

It was a 1 PM ceremony. We would be home by 2 PM. Not quite lunch, not quite dinner.

The final verdict: snacks, appetizers, fruit, cake, and ice cream.

This was not a no-food party. It was a no-full-meal party.

My husband was still conflicted and was worried that people would show up hungry and wanting to eat–and we want to take care of those who take care of and support us.

But the people who love us most weren’t coming for a catered meal. They were coming to celebrate her.

Our celebration was relaxed with our daughter’s favorite foods (snackie-foods, as she says). It wasn’t curated for Pinterest with over-the-top decorations, but rather touches of summer vibes and simple joys.

Simple summer decorations were enough to make the day feel special.

In a world that feels so curated and created for social media, I often have to take a step back to see the bigger picture. Ten, twenty years from now, my daughter won’t care that the Amazon decorations were cheap or that there wasn’t a perfect balloon display or a $500 catered lunch spread.

I firmly believe she will remember that “the people” showed up to share her day. The rest? Fun, but not vital.

Related: If you’re in a season of trying to make family life feel easier without buying, prepping, or overthinking everything, I also wrote about how I made old toys feel new again without buying anything.

The Goal: Prep But Not Cook

As a morning person, I knew I needed to sleep last night rather than stay up to clean and prep. At 5:45am, my feet hit the floor as they do every work morning.

After the dining room table was cleared and set with a fresh tablecloth (my favorite indoor/outdoor Martha Stewart tablecloth has survived years of dining room table dinners and backyard BBQs), I hit the kitchen.

The goal: prep but not cook. Minimal dishes, finger foods only, both savory and sweet. Something for everyone.

I might have failed the blogger test because I did not take a single photo of the finished tablescape with charcuterie and fruit platters. Most of the plates were clean by the time people left, which is a great sign, but doesn’t allow for photos!

Grocery store sale napkins, a tablecloth we already owned, and regular plates. Simple and done.

What I Served Instead of a Full Meal

Fruit Platter

Fruit platter: I used a large serving dish with separate sections for each fruit (raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, and blueberries). The kids love fruit and the leftovers are prepped and ready for our next snackle box use.

Related: This is exactly why I love the art of the snackle box for pool days, beach days, and busy family afternoons.

Charcuterie

Charcuterie: Super simple without the fuss. I sliced cheddar cheese and apples very thin this morning ahead of time and assembled as much as possible on a large, multipurpose white platter.

Pro tip: peel the apples with a veggie peeler, slice thin, and then soak them for a minute in cold water that has a tablespoon of honey dissolved. This keeps the apples from turning brown and I could cut them this morning and they looked fresh and perfect at 2:30pm.

I also sliced pepperoni, peeled a few clementines, and washed bunches of grapes. In a small ramekin, I added some chocolate covered pretzels for a little sweet-and-salty bite. I assembled the platter with everything but the crackers– I added those as soon as we got home to keep them from getting soggy.

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomatoes

Fresh mozzarella balls and sweet cherry tomatoes with some balsamic glaze on simple toothpicks = refreshingly delicious.

Pigs-in-a-Blanket

Pigs-in-a-blanket: a crowd favorite. I bought a box in the frozen section and tossed them in the air fryer as soon as we got home.

Pro tip: The air fryer keeps the house from getting hot- no oven, no heat. Today was super muggy and humid, so I didn’t want to tax the AC any further by turning on the oven. After about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, they were crispy and delish.

Drinks

Fresh coffee, seltzer, soda

Related: For more of the simple summer systems keeping us moving right now, I also shared what I pack the night before for pool days and the bag system that changed outings with kids.

Simple Decorations, Simple Joy

A few streamers under the umbrella for some simple joy.

The decorations were cheap from Amazon and are NOT over the top. We used everything we have. Leftover Solo cups, regular glass plates, and some fun napkins I got on sale at the grocery store for $1.99. I hung some streamers on the umbrella for some simple joy… and that’s it.

Everyone had a nice time and while I did have to spend money on groceries, they’re now prepped and ready for the snackle box. Cheese, crackers, tons of fruit.

Shop the Simple Party Setup

These are the kinds of simple party items that made this feel fun without turning it into a full production. Some are the exact items we used and some are similar options that would work for the same kind of easy summer setup.

You do not need all of this. That was the whole point of this party. A few small things made it feel festive enough, and the rest came from using what we already had.

The Summer Shark Cake

We continued our tradition of baking a cake for her special day, just as we do for birthdays and other celebrations. She will always remember her summer shark cake.

She had seen this no-bake shark week cheesecake as we looked on Pinterest for cake ideas for my husband’s birthday a few weeks ago. She was so excited and determined to make it.

If I had done this a few years ago, I would have done the entire thing from scratch. The dishes would have been piled high in the sink and it would have been stressful.

As a full-time teacher-mom in June, I couldn’t have added the box of No Bake Jell-O Cheesecake to my Stop and Shop cart fast enough. Because it was “good enough” to make the memory and keep my sanity.

Well, full disclosure: this was a multi-step cake assembly that really had my sanity hanging in the balance there for a minute but only because I was trying to do all of the other life things at the same time.

Don’t sleep on the no-bake Jell-O cheesecake, by the way. Each box has 2 packages inside: one for the crust mixture and one for the cheesecake mixture. You only need butter and milk. Yes, please.

The crust was simple enough for her to help make, which was the whole point.

Last night, my daughter plopped her step stool at the kitchen counter and made the crust: melted butter and the crust mixture pressed into the bottom and up the sides of a regular springform cheesecake pan.

Then we beat the milk and cheesecake mix and spooned it over the crust. Into the fridge it went overnight (only because it was bedtime–the box says chill time is 2 hours).

This morning, it was time for her favorite part: adding (and tasting) the Swedish Fish, turtles, and dolphins.

Adding the Swedish Fish, turtles, and dolphins was her favorite part.

This is the part that had my eye twitching because I had to stop prepping to make 2 rounds of Jell-O. Just keepin’ it real.

First, she added the fish gummies on top of the cheesecake layer. At this point we realized we were supposed to add blue food dye to the cheesecake to make it look like the ocean… Oops. Moving on.

Then we made a box of berry Jell-O (blue!) and poured it over the gummies and cheesecake layer.

Everything seemed fine until I noticed the slow drip… drip… drip of blue Jell-O out the bottom of the pan and gelling on the fridge floor.

Enter eye twitch and a jerry-rigged rim of aluminum foil around the bottom of the pan to keep my fridge safe from blue goo.

Two hours later and we were ready to add the gummy sharks (my daughter’s favorite part). She added them to the top of the blue Jell-O and fish layer.

Since we used a springform pan instead of a pie dish as the Jell-O box instructed, I wound up having to make a second batch of berry Jell-O to cover the sharks just enough so their fins stuck out. Dun-dun.

Back into the fridge to set until after the ceremony!

The finished summer shark cake. Not bakery-perfect, but completely memorable.

It came out jaw-some.

My aluminum foil layer under the bottom of the pan worked perfectly.

Just one recommendation: slide a knife around the edges of the springform pan before you release the spring. The Jell-O was stuck to the metal side and tore a bit, but we just said it looked like ocean waves. Movin’ on.

The cake was delicious–much better than I expected a few boxes of Jell-O to turn out. By making the cake ourselves, we saved around $40 that we would have spent in the best local bakery.

More than that, we made a memory.

Related: If you are also trying to make summer easier without making every moment more complicated, you may like Teacher Mom’s Summer Survival Guide, the backyard shade setup that saved our summers, and 5 things I’m restocking for summer this year.