Graduation Announcements

[PrincessShmoo]

Generally, I like to know, for informational purposes only. I like receiving announcements. Just to keep tabs on what's going on.

But, if it's a person that I usually don't have any other contact with (like my BFF from camp's daughter) I won't send a gift.

Family that I am in contact with regularly, I'm likely to be aware of who's graduating and may (or may not) send a gift without an announcement being received.

I'm pretty tight on "extra" gifts I can buy, so my gift giving is a fairly small amount. I will send a congrats card, though.

 

[wvjules]

Yes, it is. The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC 20500

Ok. I thought it would be a special address for correspondence. Thanks.

 

[Tink888]

I was torn on whether to send announcements or not for my DS because I didn't want it to look like a gift grab. We sent to Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles and Great Aunts & Uncles on my side. I enclosed the announcement, his senior pic and a pic of him and the recipient when he was small.

Some of our family on DH's side, we haven't seen in ages. This lets them know he's graduating and where he's attending college.

He didn't want a party. His school only allows for 6 tickets to commencement so our celebration will be low-key. I"m am decorating the house and we'll have cake after the ceremony and go out to dinner over the weekend. For me, I'm proud of him and want everyone to know. It's a small way to celebrate him. I don't care one way or the other if people send money.

 

[GS for life]

I guess I view "gift grabs" as when you open up your Mom's address book and send these things out to people you haven't seen since you were two years old and probably don't even remember you exist.

We only sent these announcements to close friends and family. From what I remember most of them were at the graduation party and most of them gave a moderate gift to my kids .... $10 to $20 and a little more from Grandma. For High School I sent one to my Aunt (the kid's great Aunt) that we exchange Christmas cards with and lives States away. I don't recall her sending money back but I think I got an email from her saying that she was touched to see the cap and gown picture. It's really just keeping in touch.

I'm not sure how or why this is even a Controversy. Yes, graduating from High School is a rather mundane accomplishment but aren't Grandmas supposed to be delighted with this kind of stuff?

We got a gift gab announcement from my husband's cousin. BTW, he has over 100 first cousins, and this one he did grow up knowing BUT He didn't even recognize the name on the announcement or address. We have not seen this cousin for almost 20 years, did not know her married name, or that she had children. He then remembered his mother telling him that she gave our address to them. We both have great jobs with a good income, so that is likely the reason that the card was sent. Needless to say, no gift was sent. They aren't even on the Christmas card list! We won't be doing that for our kids.

As for the original question, I sent out HS announcements in 1989 to close family, but nothing for college or medical school. Husband did for HS but not college or grad school.

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[luvsJack]

We got a gift gab announcement from my husband's cousin. BTW, he has over 100 first cousins, and this one he did grow up knowing BUT He didn't even recognize the name on the announcement or address. We have not seen this cousin for almost 20 years, did not know her married name, or that she had children. He then remembered his mother telling him that she gave our address to them. We both have great jobs with a good income, so that is likely the reason that the card was sent. Needless to say, no gift was sent. They aren't even on the Christmas card list! We won't be doing that for our kids.

As for the original question, I sent out HS announcements in 1989 to close family, but nothing for college or medical school. Husband did for HS but not college or grad school.

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Because you have a good income it HAD to be a gift grab? A little egotistical don't you think? Do you even know if the cousin knows what you do for a living?

 

[scrapquitler]

Do you send them? If so, why?

What do you think about receiving them?

Discuss.

We never had them when I was in school. When I graduated from college, we were able to order announcements (they were pricey!) and I remember thinking, why would I send someone an announcement to tell them I am graduating? Everyone who needs to know, already knows!

I don't know of anyone in my area or social circle that sends them. At least I've never gotten one.

And here, there's no 'graduation invitations' either. Each graduate gets a certain number of tickets for graduation, and that's all the people that can attend. So no big extended family groups coming to graduation. Usually it's 4 or 6 people per family. Party invitations are a different matter... And where I live now, nobody has a graduation party on the day of graduation because all the kids get directly on a bus at the end of graduation and go to the all night grad party that is for the students only.

If I got an announcement from someone, I'd assume that it was a suggestion that I send a gift. If they are having a party, I'd bring a gift regardless of an announcement or not. If there's no party, I probably wouldn't send a gift unless it was a close family member (niece, nephew).

 

[Julylady]

I typically get 3-4 high school graduation announcements per year. Most include a senior picture. Typically these are children of friends or relatives that I don't see very often. I usually send a card back, but no gift. I enjoy getting them and don't view an announcement as a gift grab.

If I get open house invitations I will try to attend if its someone I know well ( or at least know the parents). If I attend the open house, I always bring a gift. Sometimes it's an actual gift I have picked out, other times a gift card. I never give cash for graduation gifts. I have never been invited to a party on Facebook. But I do think kids invite their friends that way.

There have been times when I have been invited to graduation open houses for kids and parents I barely know. I often think these are gift grabs but who knows? I don't attend these or send a gift, but will send a card with regrets just to be polite.

College graduations in my circle are not announced and are usually only celebrated with close family. I have also attended several MA and PhD parties. These are usually hosted by either the graduate himself/herself or their spouse/ sig other.

 

[ford family]

We got a gift gab announcement from my husband's cousin. BTW, he has over 100 first cousins, and this one he did grow up knowing BUT He didn't even recognize the name on the announcement or address. We have not seen this cousin for almost 20 years, did not know her married name, or that she had children. He then remembered his mother telling him that she gave our address to them. We both have great jobs with a good income, so that is likely the reason that the card was sent. Needless to say, no gift was sent. They aren't even on the Christmas card list! We won't be doing that for our kids.

As for the original question, I sent out HS announcements in 1989 to close family, but nothing for college or medical school. Husband did for HS but not college or grad school.

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Wow!. So you and your husband have brothers and sisters who, between them, have over a hundred children? Amazing.

ford family

 

[Hedy]

Yes, I sent them. It is something that is *done* here. I sent them out for my graduation in 1981 and it was very common then.

I only sent them to close family members and my son's godmother.

When I receive them (which I only EVER get them from family members), I interpret them as an announcement of an accomplishment and and, if I usually send a card with some money. I never feel forced to do it. I want to do it.

Leaping lizards...I knew I'd been away from the DIS a long time, but your son graduated? Congrats!

I read this thread with interest. The Mom's view was that sending them out to those not invited to the party/graduation was a gift grab, so we didn't for my high school or college ones. However, we then had a few questions when talking to the extended family who were surprised they didn't get a announcement.

 

[Arkansan]

Dang, I wasn't arguing! I was asking for clarification because I didn't understand. I started this thread as a discussion, not a debate!

You said if you didn't a gift if you didn't get an annoucement. So as an example, if your nephew or niece graduated and you didn't receive an announcement, would you send them a gift. I'm assuming that you would know they graduated without an announcement.

Part of the reason I'm wondering about this is that I have received announcements from kids that I wouldn't ordinary plan to send a gift to. Once I get the announcement, I feel obligated to send something.

It's not big deal, I was just wondering what other people's thought process was.

Three of my nieces/nephews have graduated and we have yet to receive an announcement or party invitation (or thank you note, but that is another topic) for any of them. Actually, we did receive an email for one. We haven't lived in the same state and my husband is not really close to his sister (they're her children) so we knew they were Seniors, but didn't know any other details--date, time, etc. We did send a gift in response to the email "announcement," but not to the others. Even though we knew they were Seniors, we had heard through the grapevine that both of the others had some problems their Senior year and graduation was not a given. As such, we weren't going to send a gift until it was a sure thing--something an announcement would have told us. I plan to send announcements when my kids graduate--if only to out of town family. We live far away from family and several (including myself) are not on Facebook.

I don't consider announcements a gift grab. I view them as a nice way to communicate to family and VERY close family friends that a graduation has actually occurred. I hope that others see it the same way when it is my kids' turn.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

We sent announcements to family and close friends for our DS's graduation from high school. We invited all to a BBQ the next day at our home since seating for the actual ceremony was limited. When he graduated college we did the same and specifically said no gifts. He was one of the few in DH family to graduate from college. We just wanted to share with everyone what a great job he had done. Our younger DS will graduate high school next year. We will most likely do the same thing for him. It's very common here that everyone does a party of some kind to celebrate.

 

[tinatark]

Announcement =
$25 check from us if friends (we are active in our church youth group, so get several of these - 3 this year)
$50 for 1st cousin's kids (have many first cousins, I have 25, my dh has 4, but many of of them send announcements) Shhh!
$100 for nieces/nephews - 2 down, 2 to go

My family is mostly out of town - I loosely used my Christmas card labels for my sons' announcements. Sent 40-50 each. Included a senior pic in each.

I think HS graduation IS a big deal. Required, yes, but the end of childhood, per se.

 

[java]

I'm from NY and have never seen "announcements".

 

[aprilgail2]

I had never heard of them til I saw it here.

I think it is a dumb idea. Why let people know something that should be a given. Yes, your kid graduated high school. And?

I see it as a huge gift grab. It's funny, I'm sure some of the people here who throw out the word tacky so quickly at everything have no problem sending these out.

.

I will send them only to people invited to the party. Other than that its a money grab.

I sent them, but included in the INVITATION to the Graduation party!! A Senior picture was also included in the envelope.

College graduation? Yes, HS? No.

DD got her bachelors in 2.5 years, held a 30 hour per week job, and an internship and she was vice president of her sorority and still maintained a 3.8+ and graduated Magna Cum Laude! I wanted to shout it from the rooftops so yes I sent out announcements/party invites. She's attending law school in September.

I have never ever gotten one from a college graduation, nor have I ever been invited to a college graduation party- its the exact OPPOSITE- High school graduation parties yes, announcements from people out of my state yes---they don't seem to be something that people in NY do and I certainly won't be doing them no matter how high her average is when she graduates high school!

 

[marcyinPA]

My oldest graduates from HS on Tuesday. We didn't purchase announcements and won't be sending them. We only get 6 tickets to graduation, which will go to our immediate family members. No need for an invite for them. They know they are going.

When I receive an announcement, I look at it and think "oh, that's nice." And that's about it. I end up tossing it in the garbage after it sits on my counter for a week collecting dust.

I find them to be a waste of money and a waste of paper. With social networking as it is these days, the people we want to know about him graduating know through Facebook. Faster and cheaper!

ETA: we are having a party for him in July- we will send invitations. An invitation and an announcement are two different things.

 

[crashbb]

Wow!. So you and your husband have brothers and sisters who, between them, have over a hundred children? Amazing.

ford family

Those would be nieces and nephews.

I've never actually received a graduation announcement - nor have I ever sent one (for high school, undergraduate or graduate school). Just not done around here, I guess.

 

[leebee]

Let me clarify my question a little bit more.


In my view, announcements were a way to share information with far way friends and relatives before social media, electronic communication and super cheap phone rates.

So for some I'm sure, announcements are simply tradition.

But in this day and age when everyone knows everything about everyone, every second of the day, have announcements become antiquated?

Actually, not everyone has facebook, twitter, cell phones, etc., and not everyone chooses to use such even if they have the ability. DH has a large family spread from Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, and although we get together every 4th of July, there are always folks who can't make it, whose vacations don't overlap, etc. As the number of nieces and nephews increased, and then grand nieces and grand nephews, it's become more and more difficult to keep track of everyone's ages, where they are in school, etc. I enjoy getting graduation announcements- especially with a photo in them- to keep track of what all the kids are up to. We never send money, and nobody sent money to DD when she sent her HS grad announcement. Still, they are nice to have, and I have a hefty collection in the bottom of my sock drawer... I'm not too good about photo albums and scrapbooking, but I know where all the grad, wedding, and baby announcements are!