Graduation Party Question

[grinningghost]

Since this is DD's Senior year and she'll be graduating and going to lots of parties - including her own - is she supposed to bring a gift to every party? I mean, it sounds like the right thing to do, but jeez, we could be talking a few parties every weekend.

That's alot of gifts!

 

[LBAK]

Yes, she should bring a gift. My DD and her friends would go in on a gift together and get the person either something from Tiffany or Coach, etc. It would come to about $20 a girl. Some invitations did say not to bring anything in which case she bought something smaller or made a scrapbook. She didn't feel right not bringing anything.

 

[grinningghost]

Yes, she should bring a gift. My DD and her friends would go in on a gift together and get the person either something from Tiffany or Coach, etc. It would come to about $20 a girl. Some invitations did say not to bring anything in which case she bought something smaller or made a scrapbook. She didn't feel right not bringing anything.

That's a good idea - chipping in for gifts. I think it would be wrong to go without a gift too.

 

[pfishgirl]

Yes, I'd say bring a gift..

You could always do something like Gift Cards to Barns and Nobel or something.

 

[MAKmom]

Yes. She does not need to spend what you would if you & your family were invited. Students are not expected to have much cash flow. I agree with the $20.00 range.

 

[NMAmy]

Hmm...it must be different in our area. Just about every kid graduating has an open house. Teens may go to 3 or 4 a day in June. No gift is expected from classmates.

 

[ktglads]

It really depended on how good of a friend the person was. The less friendly I was with the hostess, the smaller the gift. Most were about $20, though. Picture frames are good gifts since everyone can use them and you can find those pretty cheap at AC Moore or Michaels. You could do them for less than $10 a person and still have something that would be both sentimental and functional. I did a lot with pictures from prom in them since that was the most recent event and we had just gotten those pictures developed

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I will be the dissenter here.

DD graduated in 2004 and DS in 2006. They each had a party. Some of DD's close friends brought gifts like picture frames and a necklace. A few of DS's friends gave him cash or gift cards. But overall, not all kids brought gifts nor did my kids take gifts to all of their friends' parties. They just wanted to celebrate together. Any party that DH and I were invited to, we took a gift (check) from the whole family.

These kids would go broke if they had to buy a gift for every party. They just wanted to be together to party.

 

[northcapemaymom]

If they are all graduating together and celebrating the same thing, I say they make a deal and that no one exchanges gifts. They can just enjoy each other's company. For a close friend, a gift could be exchanged, but in a more private setting. If the parents are invited then they can bring a gift from the family. When I graduated my friends and I didn't give gifts - we were all flat broke and needed any summer job money for college.

 

[Rachie0507]

If they are all graduating together and celebrating the same thing, I say they make a deal and that no one exchanges gifts. They can just enjoy each other's company. For a close friend, a gift could be exchanged, but in a more private setting. If the parents are invited then they can bring a gift from the family. When I graduated my friends and I didn't give gifts - we were all flat broke and needed any summer job money for college.

I agree. When I graduated, I bought a gift for my closest friend only. I had about 20 friends come to my graduation party--I'm pretty certain no one brought a gift and I didn't expect them to. We just wanted to have a good time and banana:

 

[crzyred]

we just do open houses around here too. i did do gifts for my close friends, during highschool they were my lifelines. i did a small basket filled with random things, such as small coloring books (disney of course) each person's favorite candy, a couple 10 minute calling cards. i also bought a box of envelopes and put my address on them all and gave them each some of them, that way they had no excuse not to send me letters.

but i would say it is not expected to get presents for everyone. that could get very costly. maybe she could just do some nice cards for them. home made ones are so fun people to get. good luck

 

[Blueeyes101817]

When i graduated from high school--there was a close group of 5 of us--we decided to make gifts for each other...that ended up working out really well..The rest, i bought little gifts for..

In May, im graduating from college (YAY!) and i have 4 friends that i am exchanging with

 

[powellrj]

I asked the same question last year when DS was invited to many open houses and he was only a freshman. I was told then that most kids don't exchange gifts, that a card was enough.

Since he was only 15 and didn't drive, he only went to a couple and he only took a card to those and he said that was fine.

 

[nsyncraider17]

I graduated 2 years ago. I've been to about a million grad parties in the years before and after that, and I hardly ever take gifts... actually, I think the only person I've given a gift to was my ex boyfriend. Sometimes I take cards, sometimes I take nothing. At my party, a few of my friends bought cheap gifts and several gave me cards, but I certainly didn't expect it. Most people go to at least 10 or so grad parties a year - it would be ridiculous if they were obligated to buy even something cheap for each one.

 

[Pam]

Hmm...it must be different in our area. Just about every kid graduating has an open house. Teens may go to 3 or 4 a day in June. No gift is expected from classmates.

I'm from Western PA and that's the norm for around here, too, Amy!

The kids go to each other's parties but bring no gifts.

 

[MrsPete]

Graduates giving gifts to other graduates? I've never heard of that, and I teach high school seniors!

On the other hand, my seniors are just ravenous to get their hands on the graduation announcements so they can send them out to family members and start collecting cash!

 

[Chipperdini]

It's been quite a few years ago now (1988), but I don't recall that there were any expectations concerning giving gifts to, or receiving gifts from, teenaged friends. I imagine what is considered appropriate may vary regionally or socially, though. I did make "88" cut-out cookies frosted in their school colors for my friends just for anyhow. One of my best friends (she was a year younger, so not graduating at the time) gave me a painted grapevine wreath embellished with a fabric bow and little cross-stitched pillows that she'd made, and I still cherish it.