Graduation announcements/invitations?

[Planogirl]

I was all set to just let close family know casually that DS was graduating. I wanted to avoid the money grab appearance that so many talk about. We've gotten announcements from some family members but not all and we've sent gifts to some family members not all. It depends on how close they are or in one case whether we even know them.

Now I'm told that DH's mother is wondering why she hasn't gotten her formal invitation yet. I do have some engraved announcements but had set them aside. DH tells me that she won't come but she just wants one. So do I send the announcements or not? I was reading some articles about graduation etiquette and they say that it's OK to write NO GIFTS PLEASE on announcements. Thoughts?

By the way, we have no plans to have a party since our family members live far away.

 

[daisyduck123]

I was all set to just let close family know casually that DS was graduating. I wanted to avoid the money grab appearance that so many talk about. We've gotten announcements from some family members but not all and we've sent gifts to some family members not all. It depends on how close they are or in one case whether we even know them.

Now I'm told that DH's mother is wondering why she hasn't gotten her formal invitation yet. I do have some engraved announcements but had set them aside. DH tells me that she won't come but she just wants one. So do I send the announcements or not? I was reading some articles about graduation etiquette and they say that it's OK to write NO GIFTS PLEASE on announcements. Thoughts?

By the way, we have no plans to have a party since our family members live far away.

If she wants one, I'd just send it to her.

Of course, in my case, that would not work. DD16 is graduating in a couple of weeks, & I didn't even order any announcements...so grandma would not be able to get one. We have no party plans either, but are taking her and her best friend to WDW and staying at BCV for a week.

Congrats to your DS!!

 

[golfgal]

There are regional differences with the sending of graduation "announcements". In our area everyone sends what is really an invitation to a graduation party but still calls them announcements. Is it a gift grab, no, it is a way to celebrate an occasion, much like a wedding. With an invitation to a wedding, most people that are invited bring a gift, but not all. Same with an invite to a grad party, most bring a gift, but not all. NO ONE is expected to bring a gift, however. Now, some areas of the country just sending an announcement letting people know you have a new graduate might be the norm.

 

[Rora]

I'd just sent one to her to keep the peace!

 

[Planogirl]

I can't invite anyone to a party because we're not having one. I guess that I could play it by ear though.

I'm a little concerned that if I send one to MIL then other family members will be offended that I didn't send one to them. I guess that I'm sending them out now, at least to DH's side!

As for invites, doesn't that infer invitation to the graduation itself? The school only allows 15 guests which is a decent number but way less than the number of people in DH's family. He assures me that they won't come but maybe they'll surprise us. The packages offered to us included announcements if I'm not mistaken so the announcement thing must be popular here.

Thanks. My parents never did a thing so I'm a little befuddled.

 

[Disney Doll]

In my neck of the woods, an announcement is just that...an announcement. i wouldn't think I was getting invited to anything. I'd just think "How nice. They wanted to let me know Junior is graduating". Sometimes I send a gift, sometimes I don't...depends on the person.

Usually an invitation says "You're invited" or "Please join us" or "We'd love for you to come" and includes information about where you're supposed to go and what time and so forth.

 

[cruisnfamily]

In my neck of the woods, an announcement is just that...an announcement. i wouldn't think I was getting invited to anything. I'd just think "How nice. They wanted to let me know Junior is graduating". Sometimes I send a gift, sometimes I don't...depends on the person.

Usually an invitation says "You're invited" or "Please join us" or "We'd love for you to come" and includes information about where you're supposed to go and what time and so forth.

Ours are "announcements" not invitations however the way they are worded is something along the lines of "the class of 2011 of Disney High School announces the commencement exercises on suchandsuch a day at suchandsuch a time at suchandsuch a place". So they are kinda worded like an invitation. I find it confusing but this is definitely how it is done around here as we've received them ourselves in the past and I've wondered if they were inviting us to the ceremony.

 

[Planogirl]

Back to the etiquette website, they say to include tickets to the ceremony in with the announcement for close relatives and friends. I don't like that because I know that MIL likely wouldn't come and including tickets would probably make her feel uncomfortable. Besides, we haven't received our allotment of tickets yet.

I think that I'll send the announcements and be done with it. I don't like writing NO GIFTS PLEASE on them either. That seems pushy too.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Plano, when I was a senior I had to pay for everything, and announcements are not cheap! I ended up getting 25 with some package deal with my cap and gown.

I sent them out to ONLY my closest relatives and friends - they went quick.

Come to find out that my grandfather's sisters threw back their heads and howled because I didn't send them anything... I had not seen ANY of these women since I was in elementary school.

It's hard to please everyone. Could you possibly make a small announcement and send it out? Just something on the computer or do a photo with some text on it?

ETA: our ticket allotment for the ceremony was 4 tickets per graduating senior... imagine how well THAT went over. My whole family (2 sets of grands, 2 parents, and brother) couldn't go because they didn't hand out any more than that.

 

[Disney Doll]

Ours are "announcements" not invitations however the way they are worded is something along the lines of "the class of 2011 of Disney High School announces the commencement exercises on suchandsuch a day at suchandsuch a time at suchandsuch a place". So they are kinda worded like an invitation. I find it confusing but this is definitely how it is done around here as we've received them ourselves in the past and I've wondered if they were inviting us to the ceremony.

In that case I'd probably do one of my own up on the computer so there would be no mistake that it was an announcement an not an invitation!

Kind of like this:

John Smith is graduating!
We are pleased to announce that our son
John Smith
is graduating as part of
the City High School
Class of 2011

Our family is very proud of him and he is looking forward to going to State College in the Fall​

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I was all set to just let close family know casually that DS was graduating. I wanted to avoid the money grab appearance that so many talk about. We've gotten announcements from some family members but not all and we've sent gifts to some family members not all. It depends on how close they are or in one case whether we even know them.

Now I'm told that DH's mother is wondering why she hasn't gotten her formal invitation yet. I do have some engraved announcements but had set them aside. DH tells me that she won't come but she just wants one. So do I send the announcements or not? I was reading some articles about graduation etiquette and they say that it's OK to write NO GIFTS PLEASE on announcements. Thoughts?

By the way, we have no plans to have a party since our family members live far away.

OMG, are we going to play WW3 over announcements here again.

OK...I did the same thing as you and my mother and family were upset that they did not get my dd's announcement.

So, it is common in certain circles to get announcements. My mom was very proud that her granddaughter was graduating and wanted to show that off to her brother and sister.

So use good judgement and send them to people who you know want them.

 

[Planogirl]

OMG, are we going to play WW3 over announcements here again.

OK...I did the same thing as you and my mother and family were upset that they did not get my dd's announcement.

So, it is common in certain circles to get announcements. My mom was very proud that her granddaughter was graduating and wanted to show that off to her brother and sister.

So use good judgement and send them to people who you know want them.

I know.

I was all set to avoid the whole issue but now family members are bringing it up.

Ours are worded in that confusing way that others have mentioned but they did put "tickets required" in tiny letters. I'm going to send them out as it and if someone wants to come I'm sure that they will ask about the tickets. We do get a total of 15 so unless the whole clan comes we'll be OK. However if the whole clan comes, I'll probably be elsewhere.