This crafty home decor idea from Martha Stewart arrived in my inbox yesterday – and it immediately looked like the perfect concept for a graduation party centerpiece! You could even recover the stacked books with cool, modern gift wrap in various prints & colors to coordinate with your party’s color scheme – and then decorate the sides with designs and the guest of honor’s name using rubber stamps like they’ve shown here. If you really want to get into the "school" theme – try recovering the books "high school style" with brown paper bags or kraft paper and ink-pen doodles (you know – the kind you used to draw when you were really supposed to be paying attention in class!).

For a thoughtful touch, designate one special keepsake book and ask party guests to sign messages to the graduate on it "yearbook-style" (on the outside and inside covers). If you use a photo album as the covered keepsake "book" – you can even fill the album at a later date with actual pictures from the party!

{image from marthastewart.com}