<p>You can always add a little personal note that says how much you appreciate their love and that’s all the gift you need :)</p>
<p>My S seemed to want them when he graduated college – but he seemed to want it more as a keepsake than anything else (I figured it was a lot cheaper than a class ring!). We just sent it to grandparents and a couple of other close relatives who were coming to the graduation.</p>
<p>That’s what FB is for. I wouldn’t send out an announcement unless we are inviting them to a graduation party.</p>
<p>I would never send them out. Did receive some from friends of my son’s and sent them a little cash, but I think its pretty tacky, too.</p>
<p>I am struck by Belle315’s comment: “We also have a graduating senior, and we will be sending out invitations (don’t like announcements) to only those that we would actually want to be at the graduation.”</p>
<p>I have to be honest - it wouldn’t occur to me to invite anyone other than my kids’ grandparents and their favorite aunt / uncle to their high school graduation - and the only people that I’m thinking of inviting to their college graduations would be the grandparents who are still physically able to travel. I love my girlfriends but it wouldn’t occur to me that I “should” be at their kids’ graduations, and vice versa. Happy to see the pictures and hear all about it, of course, and happy to go to a party if invited, but the actual graduation doesn’t seem like something that “just friends” show up for. Maybe this is regional, of course. And I totally get that some friends are like family.</p>
<p>Don’t count on announcements to help fund the financial gap. Keep in mind that some folks will send actual gifts, rather than money.</p>
<p>We did not send high school graduation announcements. Everyone who really KNEW our kids already knew they were graduating. Ditto college graduation announcements. The only ones who got the announcements were the grandparents, because they specifically asked for them. </p>
<p>I would never consider receiving an announcement as tacky. I’m in the South. Sent them to family as a photo card/collage of pics of S as a toddler up thru the years with a pic of him in his chosen College Tee 3 yrs ago and will do something similar for D this year. We don’t live near extended family and this is seen as a courtesy. I don’t do Facebook so that is not an option. I never would expect a gift. </p>
<p>I bought ten and sent them to grandma/grandpa, the babysitter who basically raised my kids and my siblings. That was it. We had a party for each kid and specified “no gifts please” on the invites. </p>
<p>Not done where I live/my social circle. I have received a couple from friends and relatives who live in other areas of the country, and on the one hand, I did feel compelled to send a check, but on the other I was happy to do it because it seemed like such a momentous occasion for them.</p>
<p>Invitations/announcements are the norm for HS in my area. People would wonder more about you if you weren’t having a graduation party than if you were. Most somewhat informal but some pretty large, hog-roast type events. Most held outside under tents and /or in the decorated garage and yard. Either actual gifts or a card/check are given. Kids go to many of each other’s parties and they do not give each other gifts. Most people here don’t go to the actual graduation unless it’s a relative or close friend. </p>
<p>Every woman I know uses it as a great excuse to get big things done in the house and yard for a year or two beforehand. Right now I am gleefully having the inside of my garage finished because I said I would never have another graduation party without that being done. Husbands here are pretty conditioned to this :)</p>
<p>I have received a few announcements for college but didn’t send them. I did buy them and they were pricey, but decided against sending them. S1 kind of wanted a party, but I didn’t want it to be seen as a gift grab. His graduation was a 3-day affair and I was pooped!</p>
<p>I live in New England and I have never received an announcement. If I did, I wouldn’t necessarily think the sender was looking for a gift. I might view it much the way I view holiday letters.</p>
<p>Finnlet- I would consider allowing your parents to do whatever they want. It sounds like your graduation is bringing your entire family much joy and I believe the announcements will be received in much the way they are sent. Congrats to you!</p>
<p>Announcements were the norm in my area (Southern California.) I sent some again for college graduation, but got much less of a response–which was fine.</p>
<p>I will probably make a facebook announcement or maybe send an online announcement to those I want to know this year with the note that gifts are not necessary–just sharing the joy. Especially since I just graduated from undergrad 2 years ago. </p>
<p>I agree that it’s regional. A lot of the students at the institution I currently work for (in the Midwest) have never even thought about sending announcements.</p>
<p>Definitely on the no side. If people know you then they know your child is graduating. It’s definitely asking for a gift.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl, I’m not on Facebook, so my friends and family far and near would not know the date and time of daughter’s graduation unless I used another medium. A graduation invitation is simply a way to do that. We do have several good friends who have known our children all their lives and would like to be at their graduations. We go to their childrens’ too, depending on the type of school they attend. It seems like the larger public high schools have graduations that are set up more for immediate family only, so we don’t get invited to those. Maybe inviting friends is just a weird idiosyncrasy of my community. 8-} </p>
<p>goskid 2 is graduating college, across the country from any family. Grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, god parents and a few special people will be getting announcements and picture.</p>
<p>Some older grads in the extended family sent them, starting the tradition…and I’ll be the bad relative if I don’t follow suit! (Or they will wonder if goskid 2 didn’t graduate–which 4 years ago even I thought might have been a distinct possibility!) All told, 21 announcements. NBD. With the exception of grandparents and godparents, there will be no gifts…again, following tradition.</p>
<p>srystress-- my mom got a new garage door, new living room carpet, and a new sofa for my HS graduation! On the subject of “a great excuse to get big things done in the house.” We did have a party for my college graduation, but it was just my parents, grandparents, an aunt, a couple of my close cousins, and a handful of my friends. Quiet low key barbecue at my parents house, my mom and her friends sat around the kitchen table chatting and us kids played board games. I didn’t even need to say no gifts, because it is assumed. We did do the HS graduation blowout in the backyard, but that’s something everyone around here does-- there are a couple gifts from the family for that, but these are people that would send a gift either way, the point of the party isn’t so much for the gifts as it is fun for the kids to go to each others parties all summer and see everyone and their families before heading to college. Most people do not bring a gift and it’s not an expected part of the party, it’s extra.</p>
<p>Perhaps my family dynamic is just weird. I have a lot of great aunts, second cousins, etc who like to know what we are doing because they were at one point really close with my dad and they’re curious, but they are not close enough these days that we chat on the phone or see each other more than once every few years. They still cared and wanted to know, but no, they probably wouldn’t have realized I was graduating that year had they not gotten the cute little card. Almost no one in my family is on facebook. So, they like getting the announcements. Perhaps some people don’t care at all to know about relations they don’t hear from very often, but not all families are like that. Some of the relatives that come to mind are really close with my grandma, and would have heard from her, but the point wasn’t for them to know so much as it was for them to know that WE cared to share it with them even if they couldn’t come to the party-- only acknowledging people that would come to the party might seem like a gift grab, in fact!</p>
<p>I am just becoming aware of how interested these “distant” relatives are now that I am seeing how many are excited to be coming to my wedding, I would have assumed they weren’t interested being that I’ve probably only ever seen them twice and I don’t know who some of them are, but I am realizing they are really excited to see me and have been following along with my major accomplishments and big happenings all along even though we don’t see them or talk to them regularly. It’s nice that, despite the distance, we didn’t just completely let these people fall off the face of the earth, if you ask me… My great aunt is coming all the way to MI from AK for the wedding, and her daughter from NM is coming, too. I have all these older relatives my parents knew when they were kids that they haven’t managed to keep in touch with very well, but they have still followed my life-- and they want to know stuff even if they are too far away for things like grad parties!</p>
<p>Belle…we only got six tickets to the high school,AND college graduations. We took the parents and grandparents only to the high school events. For college, DS had a recital, and family and close friends only were invited to attend. We hosted a reception. For DD, we were able to have more at the college graduation, and we had six family members who attended with us. We did not invite a gaggle of friends to either graduation. We couldn’t. </p>
<p>We did have HS open house parties for our kids, but invited only our local friends and family. All of these folks KNEW our kids well, and knew they were graduating, and when. No need for an announcement.</p>
<p>After the graduation, I took a photo of the kiddo in their cap and gown and sent it in an email. I have a large address book on my computer. It includes my family and friends. If you don’t do FB, you could send an email with a picture.</p>
<p>I think folks like to see pictures of these kids. I’m not so sure just an announcement of the day, time and place of a graduation that they really can’t attend anyway is essential. </p>
<p>But that is my opinion.</p>
<p>We sent a REALLY small number to people who we either thought would expect it (grandparents, aunts, uncles) and a few people who we KNEW would give gifts to our kids anyway (godparents, really close family friends). I think maybe 8 in total…</p>
<p>We did have a graduation party, and sent an invitation designed around one of her grad photos (purchased permission from the photographer for our favorite to use there, post online, etc.).</p>
<p>Ema, your family sounds lovely. </p>
<p>I think the milestones in a lifetime can bring distant members back together to celebrate and reconnect. Anything done to make that happen, even just a photo postcard of the special person, is fine by me. I love getting grad announcements, baby announcements, wedding announcements…joy should be shared. All to soon the milestones that bring a family together become less joyous, with sick parents, funerals, memorial services.</p>
<p>Syrstress, I painted last summer in anticipation of the party. Last year, I swear, my neighbors were cleaning up the new siding almost as guests were arriving. Your area sounds a lot like mine. Everybody has a party/reception. Nobody sends announcements, just invitations. Come. Eat. Celebrate with the grad. But it’ sustained for high school. Very few folks do anything for a college graduation. </p>