Graduation party invitation advice needed

[tcufrog]

Since we're iced in I decided to use the time to start planning my kid's high school graduation party. I've tentatively scheduled it for Sunday, May 17th. I was originally planning to put a cap and gown photo on the graduation announcements or party invitations but the photography company won't tell the school when they'll be available. How far in advance should we send them out.

I'm also trying to decide how to send out the invitations. Normally I send out party invitations using Paperless Post. They look nice and are great for tracking RSVPS. I'm debating whether or not to send paper invitations in the same envelope as the announcements. I thought it would be more special and would be a nice memento.

 

[clh2]

I voted “other”. An invitation to a high school grad party “is” an announcement, therefore, in my opinion, a formal announcement is not necessary, and a waste of money. (Although, when my daughter graduated, we bought 2 or 3 actual announcements, kept one, and gave one to her grandparents.)

As far as paper invite or online invite, I would just do the online option, as long there was a benefit, Ie easier/less expensive!

Please do not take this opinion personally, there may be a few people who would consider the invite/announcement as a momento. Regardless who a paper invite is from, I will just toss it when the event is over.

I loved the whole planning process for my daughter’s grad party! We had ~100 people throughout the day-it was so much fun!

 

[barkley]

I was originally planning to put a cap and gown photo on the graduation announcements or party invitations but the photography company won't tell the school when they'll be available

high schools are still doing these? curious-is this what is put in for their senior yearbook photos as well? I ask b/c by the time my oldest graduated ('13) the schools in our area just did the standard yearly school photos and let seniors submit (with an EARLY submission cut-off date) a photo of their choosing. most went with something reflecting their interests or future plans. caps and gowns weren't available for ordering until well into spring quarter so nothing to wear with their grad year on the tassle.

it was pretty amusing to see the senior's student id cards-b/c they knew their photo was only going to be used for that purpose (noone bought their kid's senior year photos from the company the school used) they would make outrageous faces/do outrageous stuff with their hair I still have my oldest's-i said 'if you ever end up famous-this is the photo i'm selling to the tabloids'

(Although, when my daughter graduated, we bought 2 or 3 actual announcements, kept one, and gave one to her grandparents.)

yeah, we only sent out a handful as well to people who lived out of the area that we would not be extending an invite to.

there may be a few people who would consider the invite/announcement as a momento.

even my mom who was very sentimental tended to toss the announcements-she DID hold on to those photos though (much to one cousin's delight when I mentioned needed to go through and toss when mom passed/cousin's mom apparently NEVER kept any of their school/graduation photos b/c she sent them all to relatives so it was a windfall for my cousin to recoup these).



op-i think on timing it kind of depends on if you will be holding in the time frame to be competing with other celebrations vs. after the fact. I know when my kids graduated there was allot of 'which one will I go to' for the parties held grad day so the earlier invites sometimes yielded more guests (we had a party the day after and got a nice turn-out).

 

[_19disnA]

I would think 1-2 months prior to the party is plenty of notification for those you are inviting. Typically for a h.s. graduation, the main people invited are relatives/friends and classmates. Unless you have a lot of out of town/state relatives who you think would attend, I don't see why they would need months of advance notice. Classmates all live in the area and typically graduation parties occur on a Sat/Sun shortly after the graduation has taken place. You can't really plan your event around what other graduates are planning to do, since virtually all of them will be having parties at about the same time and there will be some overlap regardless of the date you choose. I agree as someone else mentioned that a graduation 'announcement' in addition to a party invite seems redundant. Sending an announcement to those out of state seems mostly like a gift solicitation. Whether you choose to send the party invite online or in the mail probably depends on personal preference and how you formal you want to be. If the party is more of an 'open house' event, then you don't really need to know exact numbers ahead of time and people will come/go during the time indicated.

Your graduate may invite classmates using social media or simply by letting them know at school. It is fairly common for his/her friends to rotate between the different parties taking place the same day as yours.

 

[focusondisney]

Please do not take this opinion personally, there may be a few people who would consider the invite/announcement as a momento. Regardless who a paper invite is from, I will just toss it when the event is over.

Same. I didn’t even save any invitations from my own kids parties. We didn’t get announcements. I haven’t seen one of those since the 70s. I also toss wedding & shower invitations, along with thank you notes or holiday cards with the senders’ pictures.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I understand wanting some kind of save the dates to go out early, it might help prevent competing parties on the same day and time so friends can adjust a little bit and out of town guests can plan.

For the photo, we had the same dilemma but when my kids graduated. I showed up at the desk of the photo studio and asked nicely and you know what, the clerks at the front can be very chatty. If you say you are only looking for a general idea, then you can ask them how things have gone in the past and you might walk away with a good guess.

 

[Skippy918]

I would do an electronic invite. Much easier to track rsvps.

 

[Allison]

Respectfully, these won't be mementos to the people you invite.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

My older one graduated HS in 2024. While I know there was an option for paper announcements from the school with the cap and gown photo, most people we know opted for a more creative photo shoot to do their announcements and invites IF they were having a party.

I am in agreement with @Allison that the vast majority of the people on your list will not hold onto these things. So, for that reason, I skipped anything printed altogether and just did digital. I HATED DDs cap and gown pictures, so we weighed out options for where to do her senior pics and decided we'd pick from those what we'd use for digital announcements. We wound up selecting the zoo for hers since they have amazing greenery/landscaping/water spaces to serve as backdrops and animal stuff would make for fun shots. Her first outfit involved her letterman jacket and a pennant that said Class of 2024 in HS colors. Her next two outfits were animal themed (tropical leaves and feathers, a print mimicking a blend of giraffe and maybe alligator). Her last outfit was a sequined little red dress with white cowboy boots, since she was going to University of Oklahoma for college.

We did not do a party since we don't have much local family and the kids just weren't that into it, even noting that they'd rather just hang out on their own. In general, invites can go out 3-4 weeks for local guests and 6-8 weeks for out of town guests. I know some people perceive the announcement to be an invite, but anyone that we know who had a party sent us a separate digital invitation via email or some online service comparable to Evite. The digital invitation also included pictures.

 

[mjkacmom]

high schools are still doing these? curious-is this what is put in for their senior yearbook photos as well? I ask b/c by the time my oldest graduated ('13) the schools in our area just did the standard yearly school photos and let seniors submit (with an EARLY submission cut-off date) a photo of their choosing. most went with something reflecting their interests or future plans. caps and gowns weren't available for ordering until well into spring quarter so nothing to wear with their grad year on the tassle.

it was pretty amusing to see the senior's student id cards-b/c they knew their photo was only going to be used for that purpose (noone bought their kid's senior year photos from the company the school used) they would make outrageous faces/do outrageous stuff with their hair I still have my oldest's-i said 'if you ever end up famous-this is the photo i'm selling to the tabloids'


yeah, we only sent out a handful as well to people who lived out of the area that we would not be extending an invite to.


even my mom who was very sentimental tended to toss the announcements-she DID hold on to those photos though (much to one cousin's delight when I mentioned needed to go through and toss when mom passed/cousin's mom apparently NEVER kept any of their school/graduation photos b/c she sent them all to relatives so it was a windfall for my cousin to recoup these).



op-i think on timing it kind of depends on if you will be holding in the time frame to be competing with other celebrations vs. after the fact. I know when my kids graduated there was allot of 'which one will I go to' for the parties held grad day so the earlier invites sometimes yielded more guests (we had a party the day after and got a nice turn-out).

Here graduation photos get 8 shots, drape for girls, tux for boys, that are used in the yearbook (not their OD photos). No one does announcements or has photo sessions

 

[hardcorestitch]

Since we're iced in I decided to use the time to start planning my kid's high school graduation party. I've tentatively scheduled it for Sunday, May 17th. I was originally planning to put a cap and gown photo on the graduation announcements or party invitations but the photography company won't tell the school when they'll be available. How far in advance should we send them out.

I'm also trying to decide how to send out the invitations. Normally I send out party invitations using Paperless Post. They look nice and are great for tracking RSVPS. I'm debating whether or not to send paper invitations in the same envelope as the announcements. I thought it would be more special and would be a nice memento.

Most kids especially of that grade are digitally engrossed. Perhaps set up a QR code with a link to all of the party deets?

 

[HannaBelle]

I save the graduation announcements from my niece and nephews: HS and college.

I keep them as mementos and put them under my clear desktop mat. I get to look at them every time I sit down at my desk. I have tons of stuff under there, including cards my children made for me when they were little.

 

[barkley]

Here graduation photos get 8 shots, drape for girls, tux for boys, that are used in the yearbook (not their OD photos). No one does announcements or has photo sessions

I remember the drape photos from when I graduated in the 70's but that wasn't even offered where my kids graduated from.

 

[mjkacmom]

I remember the drape photos from when I graduated in the 70's but that wasn't even offered where my kids graduated from.

I live in a town where folks come back, our kids are 4th generation (my husband and I graduated high school together and still see our HS friends in a regular basis). The yearbook is still titled the same as my dad’s, same poses. Our graduation photos were in one of our son’s yearbook, they did a section on graduates’ parents who graduated from our high school. Tradition is very strong here.

 

[disneychrista]

Respectfully, these won't be mementos to the people you invite.

I can see it possibly being special for a grandparent but that is about it.

 

[Mle8308]

Online invites and maybe paper/mail to relatives who may not be as computer savvy??? My nephews both graduated in the past two years from different high schools and neither had formal photos. Most of their classmates hired photographers and did beach pictures or had some sort of scenic background. A few did studio photos. No cap and gown, as they had to do their pictures in the late summer/early fall so they would make it into the yearbook, no graduation hats/robes at that time.

 

[barkley]

I live in a town where folks come back, our kids are 4th generation (my husband and I graduated high school together and still see our HS friends in a regular basis). The yearbook is still titled the same as my dad’s, same poses. Our graduation photos were in one of our son’s yearbook, they did a section on graduates’ parents who graduated from our high school. Tradition is very strong here.

that is too cool! my kids graduated from a school district that spans 300 square miles but only serves just over 400 students grades k-12 with both the k-8th and high school campuses on the same piece of property. lots of generational grads (first graduating class I think was 1960). the high school graduating classes are small and they joke that they hold informal class reunions every time 3 or more of them run into each other at the local convenience store