Creative College Bed Party Ideas to Celebrate Your Graduate in Style
This post is all about college bed party ideas.
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If you spend a lot of time on TikTok, Instagram, or Pinterest, you might already be familiar with one of the hottest graduation trends of the past few seasons, college bed parties!
If not, here’s a brief primer:
College bed parties are a really fun, creative, and exciting way to celebrate the milestone of graduating high school and moving onto college!
To throw a college bed party for the high school graduate in your life, whether they be your son or daughter, your best friend, or your boyfriend or your girlfriend, it’ll take a little bit of planning and logistical work, but the payoff is definitely worth it.
Find a time when your graduate is out of the house at school, work, or running errands.
If you want to coordinate planning a college bed party with your friends, you can also delegate tasks, so one person can be in charge of snacks, another can be in charge of balloons, and another can be in charge of gathering up college-themed swag.
Then, to pull it all off on the day of, you need to secretly decorate your graduate’s bed with blankets, hats, sweatshirts, balloons, cards, stuffed animals, candy, and snacks, all themed around the college they’ll be attending in the fall.
Finally, when your graduate comes home and goes up to their bedroom, they’ll see a sweet surprise—their bed decorated beautifully and surrounded by all of their friends, family, and other loved ones!
From here, you can transition into a really fun and festive surprise college graduation party!
Not only is this a really fun and exciting way to celebrate one of the biggest milestones in your loved one’s life, you can also have a photo shoot around the decorated bed, so it’s additionally a really excellent Instagram or TikTok content creation opportunity.
If that sounds like fun to you, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite college bed party ideas in this list, with inspiration for a wide variety of different universities! And even if your college wasn’t included, you can totally take inspiration from any of the below ideas and apply them to a different university bed party.
Here are 13 Exciting and Celebratory College Bed Party Ideas
College Bed Party Ideas
Penn State Bed Party
The cool thing about this Penn State-themed bed party is that it extends beyond the bed to encompass the entire room.
The entire bed is covered with Penn State memorabilia, from t-shirts to crewnecks to slippers, but there are also streamers covering the walls, a custom PSU lamp on the bedside table, and Penn State balloons everywhere!
But to us, the coolest item on the bed is definitely the custom-made Penn State sneakers that say “We are Penn State.”
Tulane Bed Party
Our favorite thing about this Tulane-themed bed party is the blue and green balloons covering the floor, walls, and ceiling.
We also love the custom Tulane bedspread covering the entire bed, which perfectly matches all of the custom Tulane t-shirts and hats that help decorate the bed!
For an extra touch of school spirit, try buying balloons that spell out your graduate’s upcoming graduation year and upcoming school motto, like these ones that say “2025” and “Roll tide.”
Ohio State University Bed Party
This Ohio State University-themed bed party is a perfect example of a way of packing the maximum amount of college merch into a small space.
If you’re planning on hosting a small graduation party in your bedroom in addition to doing the college bed party photo shoot, we love the idea of having a table in the bedroom that’s full of college-themed snacks.
We also really love the Ohio State-themed bedazzled champagne bottles featured in this photo!
University of Michigan Bed Party
To us, the coolest thing about this University of Michigan-themed bed party is the Block M-shaped balloon decorations hanging over the bed.
Some more of our favorite details include the blue and yellow basketball, the Michigan-themed teddy bear, and the blue and yellow Nike sneakers!
This bed party also features those cool school color bedazzled champagne bottles, with one on each bedpost for symmetry!
Northwestern University Bed Party
This Northwestern University-themed bed party is a slightly simpler, less extravagant, but no less festive and celebratory bed party.
Of course, the purple tinsel and purple and white balloons are an easy way to add an extra burst of school spirit to the space.
We also love the Northwestern-themed throw pillows on the bed, which will definitely double as great dorm room decorations when they eventually head over to campus!
Indiana University Bed Party
This Indiana University-themed bed party is another great piece of inspiration for a combination photo shoot and graduation party.
The table on the front of the bed is covered in delicious Indiana-themed goodies, from an Indiana-themed charcuterie board to a Hoosiers cake.
Then, the bed is covered in additional snacks and Indiana swag, from t-shirts to sweatshirts to sneakers.
Emory University Bed Party
This Emory University-themed bed party is a super cute example of a bed party photo shoot.
The bed party decorations in this picture are super classic, from the streamers on the wall to the Emory balloons to the pile of Emory-themed sweatshirts and pajamas at the head of the bed.
Finally, we also really love the Emory-themed duvet covering the bed, which you can also bring to college and use as your duvet cover in your dorm room!
Dartmouth College Bed Party
If streamers and sparkles aren’t really for you, this more minimalist and understated version of a college bed party might serve as inspiration!
The centerpiece of this bed party is definitely the green and white balloon arch.
It perfectly complements the Dartmouth flag hanging from the wall, the pennant attached to the foot of the bed, and the sweatshirts covering the bed!
Louisiana State University Bed Party
We’re obsessed with the neon accents that are part of this Louisiana State University-themed bed party.
The purple neon lights strewn over the top of the bedspread offer the perfect amount of contrast to the rest of the purple and gold decor covering the room.
We also love the fun, quirky accents on the bed, like the gold cowboy hat and the purple slippers!
University of Miami Bed Party
This University of Miami-themed bed party is super fun and extravagant, just like the University of Miami itself!
We love that this bed party has green and orange streamers covering all four walls, not just one.
We’re also obsessed with the green and orange cupcakes in a U-shape, as well as the blow-up palm tree on the side of the bed that gives the whole room a tropical vibe.
University of South Carolina Bed Party
Our favorite thing about this University of South Carolina-themed bed is the super cool red mood lighting!
It reflects beautifully off of the red and black streamers on the walls, the gigantic USC balloons, and even the USC balloon cubes on the bedside table.
We also love how extravagant the bed is—it’s absolutely covered in South Carolina merch, plus extra swag like black and red Converse sneakers, slippers, and snacks like chips and candy.
Spelman College Bed Party
Our favorite thing about this Spelman College-themed bed party is the way it’s personalized especially for the graduate, with their name and graduation year spelled out in decals on the back wall.
It also features some great, extra sparkly streamers and decorations, like stars, spirals, and metallic confetti balloons.
Finally, the swag on this college bed party is extra special, like the letterman jacket, personalized socks, scarf, and water bottle!
University of Oregon Bed Party
This University of Oregon-themed bed party is extra adorable, with extra special details that make it unique.
We’re especially impressed with the University of Oregon-themed Monopoly game on the bed, which coordinates perfectly with the giant “DUCKS” balloons floating above the bedspread.
We also really love the fun Oregon-themed throw pillows that are covered in fun school spirit sayings like “Quack Attack” and “Go Ducks!”
If you’re looking for a fun, exciting, and surprising way to celebrate the new college student in your life, a college bed party is definitely the way to go.
No matter whether they’re going to a big state school, an Ivy League, or a small liberal arts college, there’s definitely some college bed party inspiration out there for them.
Go all out with wall-to-wall streamers and balloons, or keep it more low key and simple with some college merch and snacks.
Either way, this is a celebratory surprise that your graduate is sure to remember and cherish for the rest of their life!
