When mothers Renee Bychinski and Janelle Rizzardi were faced with the pressure of throwing a backyard bash for their graduating high school seniors, longtime friends Julie Walfoort, Peggy Dolan, Laurie Beebe, Mary Pat Oien, Julie Harreld, Cindy Kim, Judy Hall and Mary Lavelle were there to help. Advance party planning was left to the hosts, but the “Grad Girls” (as the group of 10 Woodbury women would come to call themselves) took care of all day-of administration. While their friends handled setup, food service, bartending and cleanup, Bychinski and Rizzardi were free to socialize, kick back, or blubber loudly into party napkins as they saw fit. Ten years and 24 grad parties later, this engine of reciprocal support shows no sign of losing steam.
When Peter Dolan celebrated his June 2012 graduation, the Grad Girls planned and executed the entire party, with their husbands on hand for running errands and heavy lifting. “It took a lot of stress off my mom for sure,” Dolan says. “Parents try to make it the best party, but [they also want to] enjoy it and socialize. I don’t know how it would have worked with just my parents doing the party.”
In general, the menu is traditional, with typical buffet-style fare including pulled pork, hot roast beef sandwiches, tacos and spaghetti, as well as catered orders from Angelina’s Kitchen, Panda Express and Von Hanson’s Meats. Consideration of each child’s personality, interests and tastes is rudimentary to menu planning, and has led to some fanciful variations over the years, such as a self-serve candy bar at Ashley Lavelle’s grad party, a Subway-inspired build-your-own sandwich counter at Peter Dolan’s and a chocolate fountain at Andy Walfoort’s. Julie Walfoort’s salted nut roll bars, a shareable, party-sized adaptation of the popular caramel-peanut confection, are an essential dessert item, along with Rizzardi’s “monster cookies,” oatmeal cookies studded with chocolate chips and coconut flakes.
There are just three more graduation parties on the horizon for the Grad Girls, but as their children grow, so do the occasions for celebration. And their families, as well. Four of the 10 Grad Girls could now properly be termed “Grand Girls,” with seven grandchildren between them. In 2011, the Girls acquired a new uniform, trading their blue Grad Girls aprons for black and white polka dot ones, which Bychinski, the seamstress of the group, emblazoned with their latest collective title: The Wedding Bells.
Last summer, they celebrated five weddings. This July, the Girls will throw a rehearsal dinner and wedding reception for Walfoort’s son, Andy. Looking ahead, Walfoort says: “We’re just going to keep going. The ones who got married this summer, they’ll be having kids soon enough.”
The Grad Girls remain indivisible and have been so since the group first formed, back when most of them were just seeing their children off to kindergarten. One major factor in this group’s remarkable cohesion is the regularity with which they come together. In addition to standing Thursday night “gab sessions” at Applebee’s and frequent Friday evenings on the town, they have a weekly post-church brunch at Panera, where, according to Walfoort, “everything goes down.” It’s the occasion for the friends to dish on their children’s latest successes and struggles, share insight and advice, and make major announcements. Many engagements, career moves, sports victories and triumphs large and small have been toasted over pastries and mugs of Panera coffee.
The Grad Girls have taken Segway and Pedal Pub tours together, and recently, an Alaskan cruise. Perhaps more importantly, these 10 party-planners and partners in adventure come through for one another in times of hardship and tragedy. The unremitting support they’ve shown in the face of personal injury and loss is a crucial ingredient in the Grad Girls’ most successful recipe: a close-knit bond with an all but infinite shelf life.
