6th Grade Graduation

[StephMK]

Wow, I hadn't even thought of getting my DD a gift and don't plan to get her one. Her school is having a "recognition" ceremony for 6th graders. They (parent committee) are planning a bowling party & fun day/lunch for the classes so I think that's plenty. Her Scout troop is leaving for Williamsburg right after so that'll distract her anyway.

Flowers or an i-tunes card would work, or maybe some balloons? Or how about a charm bracelet with something to remind her of her school?

 

[dudspizza]

I think we as a society are going overboard with gifts. By giving something everytime we turn around, we trivialize the really important days. Then, if you do something big for 6th grade graduation, you have to go bigger for 8th grade, then really bigger for high school . . . it builds up excessive expectations.

I'd vote for marking the occasion with a bouquet of flowers, then taking her to dinner at the restaurant of her choice (or let her choose a favorite dinner at home).

Very well stated! It is pathetic to see parents or grandparents buying their kids a cell phone, ipod, or other expensive gifts for doing something they are expected to do, move on to the next grade!

Go out to dinner, their choice, and call it that. This should not be that big a deal folks.

Duds

 

[Goofy22]

I'm with those of you who don't feel this is a great big thing to celebrate! Maybe it is because I grew up in the city and we went from grade school to high school then college so we had a kindergarten grad and 8th grade grad then high school! Here where I live our children goto a new school every two years! Pre-K and Kindergarten 1 school and 1st grade and 2nd grade another school and 3rd grade and 4th grade another school and 5th grade and 6th grade another school then an actual graduation cap and gowns and all! The transition from Grade school to Middle School! Then 7th and 8th which is middle school and then graduate 8th then onto H.S. for 4 years! and graduate! I truely did not feel it was a big deal i was really going to do nothing! And she told me how all her friends were having a party so we are having a little party with immediate family and a few friends! And get this she told me she wanted a razor cell phone as her gift! I laughed and said yeah ok! that's not happening! So at least I'm happy to see that I'm not crazy and alone on this!

 

[Hannathy]

I totally agree that all these ceremonies are crazy.We did nothing special other than going to the school presentation for 6th grade and had not planned on getting her anything or going anywhere for her 8th grade in 2 weeks. Though a bunch of flowers from Aldis ($3.99) may be nice. I can see having a party but not extravagant for High School but that is it. My parents and family did nothing for graduations although in the dark ages we only did High school graduations no other ceremonies,the only gift I got was a dictionary!From a family friend. We ran into the same thing with confirmation this year, some people got their kids really big gifts. We went out to lunch after church to her choice and she picked Red Lobster and we bought her a cross necklace to wear at the service. I truly believe we need to keep the actual important milestones in life important and quit elevating all the trivial things to an equal importance or nothing is going to be special.

 

[daisyduck123]

Haven't read all of the posts but...

when my DD11 graduated from the 5th grade, we presented her with a "graduating Minnie" I'd ordered from Disneyshopping.com. She loves Minnie Mouse & they had one dressed in a cap/gown with a little diploma.

This was 2 years ago but I would guess that Disneyshopping.com still has it or something similar.

 

[Karel]

I truly believe we need to keep the actual important milestones in life important and quit elevating all the trivial things to an equal importance or nothing is going to be special.

So what are the actual milestones of life? Wedding, baby...

In my town, my daughter will change schools, if she goes the normal route, one time.

I think that graduating sixth grade is an important milestone in her life. She has 23 other kids in the sixth grade with her, most she's known from Kindergarten, and a few from preschool. Up to this last year, she started school every year with her best friend since they were 3 years old.

Now she's moving onto middle school/high school and her class size will jump to 150. She will probably not see most of the people she is in school with now.

She is moving from being a child to being a teenager. We will have a small bbq for her and we are talking about getting a cell phone. She will have more independence next year and will have to ride a school bus, so the phone is a useful item. It's a good time to get her one. There's a nice ceremony at school and it will be the kids' first official school dance.

So yeah, I think it's pretty special.

 

[tar heel]

No preschool, fifth grade, sixth grade, eighth grade, etc., gifts at my house. My youngest son finished elementary school last year, and he got exactly what he wanted -- a summer off from school! It never crossed my mind to get him a gift, and I don't have one iota of guilt about it.

My middle son graduates from high school in two weeks, and he'll get a modest gift from us (probably a practice amplifier and good headphones since his college doesn't allow regular amps in dorms) followed by four years of tuition, fees, room and board -- not a bad gift IMO. He also did Disney grad night, so he got to do something very special.

 

[gopherit]

I stumbled onto this thread a year late, LOL, but still timely for me as my DS12 makes his "graduation" from 6th grade in a few mos.

I think I agree with all of you. On the one hand - society is out of control. We reward kids on EVERY sport team, for example, starting at the pre-K level - until they have a whole wall of meaningless trophies. Gifts become the focus instead of the event, passage, or milestone. I have never understood making a big gifting-hoopla out of religious passages, such as 1st communion or confirmation. To me, a card recoginizing the sacramental honor is enough. For each of our boys, they receved the outfit they wore, a small picture frame (which we then put a pic of themselves in) to mark the occasion, and then the Church gave them a gift that contained a rosary, mass book ,etc. My dd makes her 1st Comm next year and we will do much the same for her.

Ascension into the next grade does seem like a silly thing to reward someone for - like asking fora reward for being a good citizen, there are some things ou're just supposed to do, LOL. HOWEVER - my DS12 has worked extremely hard the past 7 yrs, he's a top student in his class, and will likely garner many awards at the ceremony in May. For that kind of sweat equity, I feel a reward is definitely in order. DH and I have been pondering many ideas and I for one lean towards memories rather than "stuff" in cases like this. We are thinking of taking him on a surprise wkend trip - nowhere really fancy or distant like Mexico, LOL - perhaps only as far as a few hrs away. Just something "fun" to say, you've worked very hard, we recognize it, you deserve to take a break and enjoy yourself! Granted - by the time we pay for a hotel room for a night or two, and perhaps tickets to something (like an amusemet park or a ballgame or whatever we decide to try for) I suppose we could have bought an iPod or stereo (perhaps both!)... but my thoughts are that technology eventually wears out, but memories last forever. Besides... soon he will be in jr high and probably won't want to be caught dead or alive having fun anymore with his geeky PARENTS, right? So we gotta seize the moment!!

 

[daisyduck123]

Wow! I remember this thread from last spring!

My DD12 will be "graduating" from 8th grade in middle school this May.
We will probably just go out to lunch afterwards.
I don't think families around here make that big a deal out of it.

If she wants to do something else fun that day, we'll do that too.

 

[disykat]

I must have missed this one last year. We went out to dinner, that was it. Even that was a big deal because my son choose Outback. He chose ribs, which were 18.95 plus a soda. His dinner cost more than mine and he still finished it and then ate about 1/2 of my dinner!

It never even occured to us that people considered it a gift occasion until ds told us all about the gifts his friends received.

If I had a dd, I would NOT be giving her a bouquet of flowers AT the ceremony. I think that should be reserved for times when someone is "star of the show", not for when they share that honor with a bunch of other girls, most of whom will not be receiving flowers.

 

[dandelion]

I might have a hard time letting DD choose where to have dinner the night of her 5th grade graduation - it's also our wedding anniversary.

We already bought her dress (on clearance at Limited Too) and shoes because I had a 10% off discount at Target. She is not the up-do hair-do type anyway.

She attends a parochial school and I know the "graduation" is a very nice ceremony in the church, followed by a cake and punch reception. We will attend all that and call it done - especially since her younger DS has school the next day.

I hadn't thought of flowers, but disykat makes a good point. Maybe if dh brings me an anniversary bouquet I'll give her one of the flowers.

 

[CPM]

Thank you. I am so pleased to see that I am not the only ones that feels this way.

You can still mark the event but why does it have to so elaborate. We used to celebrate with a home dinner of honoree's favorites or their favorite cake. I still remember those celebrations and they were the best times.

I couldn't agree more!!

 

[TZMOM]

I don't get all these celebrations anymore. I've 'graduated' about 15 times for various things in my life to date w/o any gifts, hoo-ha's, dinners, flowers, etc. In life, you don't get 'something' all the time. I agree w/previous posters - what are these kids gonna have to look forward to when they're having Sweet 16 parties that cost more than some people's homes, getting cars before they have their license, etc. Enough already