It’s the final countdown… That song has been playing on loop in my head since August. In just a few weeks, the countdown will be over and my high school senior will be a high school graduate. To celebrate her big day, and to keep her focused on finishing her last days of school – even with Senioritis coming on strong, I made her a special graduation countdown Now I am offering this graduation countdown door decoration free cut file for you. (If you don’t have a cutting machine, keep reading I have a solution for you at the bottom of this post!)
Around here we don’t have formal graduations with caps and gowns for Kindergarten or eighth grade, but this could obviously be used to celebrate those as well. You could even use it to celebrate a college graduate, maybe sneak in their apartment and decorate their bed room door.
Now, the original file is for a 2026 graduate, but I am going to go ahead and include a file for 2027, 2028 and 2029 as well. My next daughter graduates in 2030, so hopefully I’ll come back and update the file then 😉 How is it that the tiny baby I held in my arms is 2008 graduating high school and leaving the nest and going off to college?!
How To Make Graduation Countdown Door Decoration
After designing the file, I used my Cricut to cut out all of the graduation caps. My initial idea was to use a Silver Sharpie to write numbers on each cap. But at the last minute, it dawned on me that I could let the Cricut do all of the work and the white door showing through would be perfect for the countdown.
Materials
- 3 sheets of 12 x 12 black cardstock paper
- Painter’s tape (you can use any tape, but I like painter’s so it doesn’t ruin the door!)
The file is saved as a PNG with a transparent background, including the numbers, so all you have to do is upload the file to Cricut Design Space and you will be ready to go. It will import in as a larger file, just scape each image down to 11.5 on the biggest side and you will be set. Two pieces of paper for the little graduation caps and one piece of paper for the big one.
I started her graduation countdown on the Monday after Senior Week and Prom, but you could start it any time you want. The numbers go up to 42 (I only needed 36).
The idea is for this to be a countdown, so each date the graduate is intended to take of the largest number until they are simply left with the giant graduation cap with their graduation year on graduation day.
Get your free graduation countdown cut file by entering your email address in the box below. There is no need to download anything special, just enter your email address and the file will automatically be sent to your inbox in a few minutes.
What If I Don’t Have A Cricut?
Don’t worry, if you feel in love with the idea and don’t have a Cricut, I have a solution for you! You can buy graduation cap die cuts from Amazon and simply write the numbers on them like my original plan. In fact, the pack of graduation caps comes with 200 die cuts so you could start the countdown much sooner or share with a friend or use them as graduation party decor.
Materials
Either way you create your countdown, I hope you and your graduate enjoy it as much as we are enjoying ours!
