Your kid's graduation party: Money for them, a nice yard for you

Tomorrow we're supposed to have Chloe's graduation party, and we're following the standard formula:

• Hold it on a summer Saturday afternoon? Check.
• Set up a canopy/tent in the backyard and invite people to come over any time they'd like throughout the day? Check.
• Work our fingers to the bone in the days leading up the party to make sure the house and the yard are semi-presentable? Yeah, check.

This is the second graduation party we've held in our family, and as was the case with Elissa's shindig back in 2012, I took a few days off work this week to help with the preparations.

We've been doing all sorts of things to get ready, most of which are intended not to enhance the experience and enjoyment of our guests, but to make it so that they don't laugh at us when they see what passes for our "landscaping."

Like mulching, for instance. From time to time we like to mulch our various flower beds. We should be doing this every year, but if I'm being honest, I'll tell you the last time we mulched before now was...Elissa's graduation party in 2012.

Give us a break, we're busy people!

We're also power-washing the deck, killing weeds, washing floors and bathrooms, running our string trimmer to the point of exhaustion, etc. Then there's the cooking and general food prep, which Terry is handling like a champ. She is fast becoming the Master Chef of grad parties.

As for the party itself, it will be a run-of-the-mill affair with food eaten off of (nice) paper plates, extended conversations with people we haven't seen in ages, and graceful acceptance of monetary gifts by Chloe.

Because that's what you do when it's high school graduation time, right? You celebrate the student's success (a relative term) by giving them money. I always thought this was a strange tradition until I had my own graduation party 27 years ago and walked away with armfuls of cash. Then I thought it was a GREAT tradition.

Oh, and she'll get cards, too. They'll essentially be the same four cards purchased from CVS at the last minute, but still, cards are nice.

Then, after it's all over and Chloe is sifting through her piles of checks and currency, I'll be outside cleaning up. Because that's my role: I get stuff ready, and then I put it all away when we're finished with it. I am Dad. Hear me roar.

If I'm extra good, Terry will let me have a piece of graduation cake, too, which is my favorite part. Well, that and the mulch. Those flower beds look awesome right now.