Coming Full Circle: Grad Party Season

College graduation season has been good to the SquadUP team. Planning graduation parties can be a pain. It’s one of those rare times for college students when they’re inviting both their friends and their parents. They want the event to be a rowdy celebration amongst their class but also up to the normal adult event standards. More shrimp cocktails and tucked in shirts means less questions when swiping the credit card. Yikes, too far?

Either way, we get it. In fact, the four SquadUP co-founders were inspired to build SquadUP because of the experience our friend Rusty had when planning our own college graduation party. While everyone else was enjoying the festivities, Rusty was tracking down kids and parents for payments. He bounced back and forth between Facebook, email, and text to track who had been invited and who had RSVP-ed. He ended up fronting money and not getting paid back in full. With SquadUP, guests know exactly where to go for all event details and discussion, and hosts can track all RSVPs and funding from that very same event page.

We reached out to Katherine Day, one of the students hosting a graduation party using SquadUP. Congrats on the Elon degree! Here’s what she had to say about the experience:

“As a college student, planning a big event is hard. When I agreed to plan my sorority’s graduation party, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Collecting money on behalf of 40 girls and their families, maintaining a guest list and not losing my sanity seemed unlikely. However, after being introduced to SquadUP by a friend, I found I was able to do all of those things. And do them well. SquadUP helped me to organize my funds, track who was going to be able to come, and send messages to the group. It worked wonders and helped me to focus on the other parts of the party (like partying). I was able to actually celebrate what this whole things was all about. Graduation! I couldn’t ask for a better way to end four years with good friends, good drinks, and memories that will last a lifetime. SquadUP helped me to end it all on the right note!”

It’s pretty cool that a year ago SquadUP was more of an idea than a company and now college students across the country are using it for the very same event that inspired it’s creation. We’d love to hear about your graduation party (SquadUP or not). What worked well? What didn’t? We’re in the event planning space to take the burden off of hosts. Help us help you by commenting or tweeting @squadup.