<p>If the issue is a keepsake for those who can’t attend, how about picking up a few of the graduation programs for grandparents, etc? I’d think those would be more meaningful.</p>
<p>Assuming that the issue is more one of tradition that graduation announcements are sent, my take is that they’re more important to you than to your graduate. In that case, I’d say that you should take responsibility.</p>
<p>Never received 'em, never sent 'em.</p>
<p>I think they’re ridiculously gift-grubby and overkill. If somebody sent me one, I’d say “How come I didn’t know about this already? Oh yeah, I haven’t spoken to them in the past 13 years.”</p>
<p>Why do people have to “announce” everything? If you’re thinking “keepsake”, take a nice picture, and e-mail it or snail mail it. That would be so much more personal than a Crane “announcement” card. Send a copy of the graduation program. Heck, send a tuft of grass from the quad. Send the tassel from the cap. Cut out a square from the graduation gown and attach a tassel thread.</p>
<p>Now those are keepsakes. ;)</p>
<p>I agree with MM on this one:</p>
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<p>I have received graduation announcements for both high school and college grads. </p>
<p>In my opinion they should have just sent a note that said ‘please send a gift’… </p>
<p>If I know the child well enough to send a gift - I would know they are graduating and would decide to send a gift (or not).</p>
<p>DD is graduating next Saturday…we didn’t send grad announcements to ANYONE…and we won’t. Didn’t do it with DS either. The family and close friends who know us well enough already KNOW about these events. No need to send anything to them. Anyone else…well…if they don’t already know…they don’t NEED to know.</p>
<p>I never sent announcements for my kids for high school graduation, though I have received them from others. I know I’m strange, but I think this whole announcement of graduation is kind of bizarre. Doesn’t pretty much everyone graduate from high school? I mean, why does this require an announcement? And as for college, if you aren’t close enough to a person to know they are graduating from college, then why would you even care?</p>
<p>An opposite opinion: I love receiving announcements for college or HS graduation. Many of them include a photo of the grad, which is always welcomed, and the HS cards have the typical but entertaining class motos and songs. It is interesting to get an idea of the senior’s school’s tone. </p>
<p>I’m never offended or think they are only gift requests. The announcements are mileposts on the student’s life, I’m delighted to write them good luck on the future. </p>
<p>If the student is a distant relative, well, how terrible is it to send a congratulations card ? You can always send a low-dollar gift card to Borders is you’re strapped.</p>
<p>There’s something wonderful about receiving a nice heavy-stock paper announcement, with the college crest, but then I’m crazy for old-fashioned snail mail. It is a compliment to the receiver to be remembered by the student or family. I’m disappointed when out of town friends refrain from sending them, fearing their motive will be seen as mercenary.</p>
<p>The true scandal, I believe, is when the grads forego the necessary thank you notes after they receive the checks. If parents support the sending of announcements then they must enforce the prompt sending of thank yous, BEFORE the checks are cashed. </p>
<p>Nothing like a pile of hot checks, just waiting to be cashed and spent, to inspire enthusiastic missives of gratitude!</p>
<p>I will be sending out college grad announcements. Have never sent hs announcements. Mostly sending them to old teachers, GC and some family. My kids did not want the HS announcements- did not feel it was a huge achievement for them and felt like it was gift solicitation. I am sure no one will send a gift as a result of the announcement. They will find it sweet (I hope).</p>
<p>I’ve never received a college grad announcement, and I have a laaarge extended family. (Nieces and nephews and cousins all over the place.) It seems like such a . . . high-schoolish thing to do.</p>
<p>We never sent out high school graduation announcements and I was surprised that son only received gifts from a couple of relatives when other very close relatives didn’t give anything. Now those relatives that didn’t send anything are asking when will he graduate from college. I am thinking they were waiting for him to graduate from college to give gifts. I don’t know what to expect so maybe I will send announcements. He graduates next spring.</p>
<p>We received a lovely college graduation announcement recently from my cousin’s daughter. We sent her a card and small check. Frankly I don’t think they were looking for a gift, and we would have felt comfortable just sending a card, but she’s a really sweet girl who is struggling to find a job (no one is hiring elementary teachers right now) so we sent a small check because we wanted to.</p>
<p>I think announcements are more of a Southern thing. I don’t think of them as a request for a gift if it’s someone I know pretty well - it’s more of a formal way of sharing good news. I send a card, or a card and a check, depending how well I know the person. If it’s a distant relative I’ve barely met, they just get a card.</p>
<p>My in laws stated they would not be giving a university graduation gift unless and until they got an announcement- and they were trying to use this as a teaching moment to encourage my DD to send announcements! This was two months before her graduation, I am not sure why they were so upset about it, but they nattered on at me for weeks about it.</p>
<p>I enjoy receiving graduation announcements. One of my very good friends, who lives out of state, did not send out announcements for her D, so I had to go on the high school’s website to get the date of the ceremony to send her D a card and gift. I wish she’d sent announcements!</p>
<p>We are on the opposite side of the country from most of my mom’s family and my H’s family are all out of the country. D decided to send a photo announcement that had her high school graduation date along with the college she is attending and her major. She has a picture of her now and one when she was little. They turned out really nice. We received two announcements yesterday and I love seeing how the kids have grown up. I will send a card with a giftcard to the graduates.</p>
<p>Interesting. I have lived all of my 47 years in New England. Although I have received and personally sent birth announcements (with no expectation for a gift)… and regularly read engagement/wedding announcements in the newspaper; I have never seen or heard of a student or his or her family sending a graduation announcement - for HS or college/grad school?</p>
<p>Someone speaking at Michigan State a few years ago said that graduation parties must be a regional thing because they didn’t have them where he grew up so graduation announcement may be a regional thing too.</p>
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Same here, MaryOC – and I’m also a native New Englander. Graduation parties, OTOH, are quite common.</p>
<p>Bumping this for announcement input…</p>
<p>Announcements are definitely more common in the South. I live in New England, but have many relatives in the Carolinas. I have received many hs and college grad announcements from my cousins’ kids in SC and NC. But for kids we know around here, the only thing we receive is invitations to grad parties. </p>
<p>When I attended hs in NJ, I had to go to a stationery shop and design my own hs grad announcements, because our hs didn’t do them - but all my southern relatives expected them and would have been offended if we didn’t send them one! (per my mom, raised in SC).</p>
<p>When my daughter was graduating from hs here in New England and I was the president of the parent council, I received an email from a woman who had moved here 2 years earlier from Atlanta. She wanted to know when and how to order the graduation announcements - she hadn’t seen anything from our hs and assumed she had missed it. Well, here in New England our hs didn’t do announcements - they just handed out tickets. I told her what I had done for both of my kids: made up a lovely announcement with their photo on Shutterfly, and mailed it to my southern relatives.</p>
<p>Now S is graduating from college in PA. They send out info on how to order announcements. I ordered them and will send them out myself, and for the nearby relatives who we are inviting to a graduation party I will include the announcement with the party invitation. Since H and I are the ones organizing and paying for the party (lunch at a restaurant the Sunday after Saturday’s graduation ceremony, pretty much a family party) I think it’s appropriate for us to be the ones to send them.</p>
<p>Glad to see this thread. One mom I know was just talking about how to word her announcements. Said she didn’t want to buy them from the school because of the large quantity required. She’ll just do some for a few relatives at a local printer. her question was how to word her son’s honors—Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude…her kid is awesome BTW. She vacillated about whether to list either honor. Co-workers convinced her to include them, but she was a bit uncomfortable with the whole ‘bragging’ thing…Comments? </p>
<p>If any of you know the proper way to do this, I’ll pass it along to her. These honors won’t be an issue at my house…LOL!</p>