<p>I had the opposite problem. EVERYONE in my family wanted to come and I only received 7 tickets. That meant having to scalp 7 more tickets from various other classmates because 14 people ended up showing up at my house. Not even just family, but some close family friends too. LOL. It worked out though. I got lots of money and gifts out of it too :p</p>
<p>PS We are a Caribbean family so usually everyone is very close and wants to be involved in everything. That could be the difference in culture.</p>
<p>Teenmom55, I get it. Our only child is graduating and I am praying his two cousins will travel from NYC to Phila. to attend. Otherwise it is just the 3 of us.</p>
<p>My sister is driving my mother up to go to my D’s graduation, but my sister may not go, and that’s OK with us–she may go shopping instead. We don’t really have a tradition in our family of attending nieces and nephews graduations, from HS or college. I wanted my mother to come, though, because she may not be able to come to many more big events.</p>
<p>My 80-something mom drove 4 hours to attend HS & MS graduations last year. </p>
<p>One issue for our HS is that each grad is limited to 4 tickets, so the scrambling begins in late May to get extras for the out of town relatives or siblings. (people tend to seek out twins as their first step). </p>
<p>H’s parents didn’t even bother to come to his college graduation, His mom was not healthy enough to consider attending last year.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the stories! I like the idea of a separate party when it is convenient for everyone. I think we’ll record as much of the ceremony as possible and edit it to 10 minutes for showing at a later date. The problem in our family is that I’m 10 years younger than my oldest sister, and everyone seems to have a ‘been there done that’ attitude about graduations. They seem to forget that it is all new to us and that we think our son is just as important as the first grandchild to graduate. Anyway, it made me feel better to hear we aren’t the only ones going it alone.</p>
<p>I attended my niece’s high school graduation locally - good thing as I was the only person with a camera. My mother attended too. Didn’t attend the graduations of our nieces and nephews on the other coast. Our kids didn’t graduate from high-school (not formally anyways) so nothing for anyone else to attend.</p>
<p>My sister’s husband threw a separate party for his daughter afterwards.</p>
<p>Our relatives (H & my siblings, cousins, etc) are either 1000 or 2500 miles away.
For us, it turned into 2 great parties (our D & S graduated one year apart).
We had the problem of needing extra tickets, but were able to scrounge some up from kids who didn’t have so many guests. In the end, we had a crowd of 12-14 at each one.
For HS, we had a big party at home and took everyone to brunch the next day. </p>
<p>Ditto for both D & S’s college graduations…both in cities many miles away. It made for a great family get-together every time. We had a blast and I’m really glad we did it.
I will say that when I invited everyone, I sent out fun invitations, along with the graduation announcements, to get everyone in the spirit…ie mardi gras beads for a graduation in New Orleans, dark glasses Blue Bros style for a doctorate celebration in Chicago, etc. Maybe everybody came because WE made a big deal out of it. I’m not so sure the kids necessarily wanted it that way at first, but later admitted to really enjoying having a cheering section all their own. And I think it enerated alot of long term goodwill from our kids towards relatives we don’t get to spend much time with.</p>
<p>Needless to say, there’s no way I’d miss my nieces’ graduations, also 2500 miles away. We don’t see each other much and what a happy occasion to celebrate together.
Until all the weddings, that is :)</p>
<p>My sibs have come to our Ds’ high school graduations…one flew in from Houston, the other drove 4 hours. But we don’t see each other much, so we always make it a big family party. They don’t have kids. Grandparents, who lived out of state and aren’t in the greatest health, did not attend.</p>
<p>Sibs showed up for D1’s college graduation across the country 4 years ago. Grandparent also showed up. Once again, time for a little family vacation. D2 graduates from college across the country next June. We’re starting to plan another family vacation already! Grandparent may not be in good enough health to come…I’d just as soon see him stay home. The last thing he needs is a medical emergency that far from home.</p>
<p>On my H’s side of the family–he’s gone to none of the graduations, although he’s attended every wedding of the nieces and nephews (first AND second ones)…and none of his sibs have attended any of our graduations.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m happy to see my sibs, but I wouldn’t be sad if they could not make the high school or college graduations of my kids.</p>
<p>No one came to the high school graduations. My husband’s sister and her son came to my son’s graduation and we went to her son’s graduation. She was the only aunt/uncle who came though. We live 4 hours from the closest relatives and the colleges involved were even further away.</p>
<p>My son’s godfather came to his HS graduation. My parents were going to come, but couldn’t for health reasons. For their benefit, I bought the official video, and they enjoyed watching it. (Brag alert: Especially since the principal mentioned S’s “piercing intellect” in his address. ) I vowed to get my mother, his sole surviving grandparent, to his college graduation, and it appears I will succeed, although it involves a lot of multistate driving. His godfather has moved to our region and will be there too. Oh, and my BIL has moved in with us and will be there too. I’m looking forward to the weekend.</p>
<p>DH and I were the only ones at HS graduations, and will be the only ones at college graduations. Would not ask others to go to the expense and hassle of travel, hotels and heat. I haven’t gotten to nieces/nephews graduations either, since we have generally been moving our own kids back at the same time. We are all far-flung, and the economics do not permit the expense for my sibs, so it is what it is. We don’t expect much turnout from my side of the family when S1 gets married, either.</p>
<p>My S did not attend his own HS graduation last Sunday.
No party. Did not want to celebrate. We did take the family (8 of us with one sib missing) out to dinner.
All extended family live far away. 2 relatives sent cards (S didn’t send announcements, but they knew he was graduating.) We have big extended families and they usually go to graduations if it is not too far, or if it is their godchild.
The school secretary called to see why S was not attending and asked if I could talk him into it. (There were 2 kids of 400+ not attending, and they were trying to get 100%) S just didn’t want to go. No protest. Just “boring” and “didn’t see the point.”
Picked up his diploma today.</p>
<p>We’re attending my nephew’s HS graduation this weekend, 2 1/2 hours away. My other brother, who would have to fly, won’t be there. Everyone is fine with that. </p>
<p>I don’t get the resistance to HS graduation, if it’s a reasonable travel distance. I understand that for college-bound kids, it’s not the pinnacle of achievement. Still, it’s a milestone. And it’s a festive family get-together. And, let’s face it, none of us knows where we will be in four years. Why not celebrate?</p>
<p>I was the salutatorian at my high school gratuation many, many years ago. The point of my speech was that this was not the most important day of your life. It was the beginning of the rest of your life. So, no, I wouldn’t care who comes to the ceremony. It’s not that important. Get it over with and get on with what’s really important.</p>
<p>I’m always surprised by people who say that a graduation ceremony is “boring.” I don’t find them boring at all. Perhaps the interest level would be higher if students consider that this will probably be the last time–for good or ill–that they will see many of these people, ever.</p>
<p>^ Maybe at a small high school. We had over 1500 in my graduating class. I didn’t know the vast, vast majority of people graduating. The people that I care about I’m still in touch with. The wonders of facebook. Plus, again, we didn’t DO anything during the graduation except sit and listen. It’s the PARTY (both personal parties and the senior party put on by the school) that are for saying good bye and whatnot.</p>
<p>Just immediate family attends graduation for my kids. If grandparents were still alive, they would be invited and likely feel compelled to attend. No aunts/uncles/cousins are invited…everyone has their own family stuff going on.</p>
<p>The six of us go out to dinner afterward, to celebrate - no graduation party. It’s expected that they will graduate…so not a big deal, in our house.</p>
<p>Just got the graduation announcement for my nephew’s graduation yesterday. Originally I had planned to fly out (CT to northern MI) when my sister was planning a graduation party. But Dnephew qualified for the state track meet which will be held the day before graduation about 3 hours away and is leaving for a 10 day canoe trip the day after graduation. He’ll just receive a nice check and I’ll see him later in the summer when the whole family is together.</p>
<p>When my kids graduated, their local grandparents came to graduation (and sat in overflow seating in the air-conditioned auditorium) while my parents flew in for the going-away party late in the summer. We have not ever attended hs graduation ceremonies for local nephews, but have always enjoyed the family parties.</p>
) I vowed to get my mother, his sole surviving grandparent, to his college graduation, and it appears I will succeed, although it involves a lot of multistate driving.