South Tampa Seniors Invited to Tampa's Grad Bash

On March 20, the seniors will munch on goodies from Doormet, sample graduation party fashion from Juxtapose and listen to the sounds of DJ's Jimmy and Cody Cazin.

The not-quite-graduation-party is being thrown by Invitation Consultants, a south Tampa company hoping to attract clientele by throwing Tampa's Grad Bash from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the parking lot of their business, 4062 Henderson Boulevard.

All graduating seniors and their parents are invited to attend. (Bonus: Invitations or announcements purchased at the bash receive a 15 percent discount).

The company, which operates online while opening a design studio in the Henderson Boulevard space, provides VIP credentials for awards shows in addition to graduation party invitations for seniors. Clients hail from as far away as Australia, according to founder and CEO Allison De Meulder.

We recently talked to De Meulder about Grad Bash and what Invitation Consultants does.

On what Invitation Consultants does: "We are an online company, but now we are opening up a design studio where local people can come in and order from us as well. We are fixing it up right now. It’s not set up like your traditional store you walk into and buy something off the shelf. Someone will meet with you and ask questions about what you're looking for and pull samples to try to get you in the right direction.

"We design about 70 percent of invitations we sell. Others come from small designers around the country. Someone will find us online or hear about us through a friend or family. They go to our website and pick out what we’re interested in."

On their place in the graduation goods market: "Not everyone wants to buy a package. What we do is, we are an alternative to that. We find that parents love to have photos on there, so very popular ones feature before and after. When they were a little kid under 10 and then as a senior. We do college announcements, too. Medical school, nursing, law schools."

How Grad Bash came about: "Grad Bash is something we wanted to do locally because there are so many high schools in the area. We decided to have a bash in the parking lot and get together vendors to help them if they're having a graduation party. Well have a catering company called Doormet. They are a hip place. We’re going to have Juxtapose, a retail store in Hyde Park. They sell a number of things. They’ll bring dresses girls can consider for graduation parties. Then we’re going to have DJs here, too."

What parents and seniors should take away from the event: "That they have what they need for the party. A lot of times, parents wait until the last minute. It's okay to start planning in March. It's easy to pull it together. Also, they don't need a tradtional announcement."

 For more information, call 813-879-3748.