All About Parenting Blog Carnival: Graduation!

We’re just days away from the end of school, and with it, the mortarboards, diplomas and charming hoopla of graduation. So here’s a round-up of great graduation ideas from around the blogosphere. Enjoy!

Looking for the perfect, whimsical graduation gift book? There's always Dr. Seuss’ classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go, but Elizabeth Kennedy, About’s guide to children’s books, has five other great suggestions too.

Planning a fabulous graduation party? This site has an assortment of party planning tips and graduation gift ideas, from Kindles to luggage and cooking lessons. But don't stop there. Denise Witmer, About’s guide to parenting teens, offers up a graduation party planner for teen festivities. And Examiner.com's Boston Party Planner Danielle Brown gives you the lowdown on "How to Plan a Graduation Party."

Need ideas for centerpieces or other graduation crafts? About’s guide to family crafts, Sherri Osborne, has suggestions for tiny mortarboards and floral décor, and the Contra Costa Times’ aParently Speaking blog has an easy-to-make paper fan, complete with graduation tassel, to keep you cool during those long commencement speeches.

And if you’re looking for the perfect music to go with your graduation festivities, Bill Lamb, About’s guide to Top 40 Music has some suggestions.

It’s not just high school and college kids who graduate, of course. Katherine Lewis, About’s guide to working moms, talks about her daughter’s graduation from preschool to kindergarten and what that rite of passage means to her in “Graduation Overload.” StrollerDerby’s Jeanne Sager talks about preschool ceremonies and waxes indignant over kindergarten class rings. And Jennifer O’Donnell, About’s guide to parenting tweens, suggests ways to mark the transition from elementary to middle school, and middle to high in “Honoring the Tween Graduate.”