<p>My sister and I are having a joint graduation party for our kids. How should we word the invitations that are not for shared family and friends. Should we simply send an invitation with just our child’s name or should we let people know that this is a joint celebration.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you can’t say “Mary & Bob Smith and Sue & Dale Jones invite you to XXX in honor of their children, Kathy Smith and William Jones.” Well, unless your names aren’t Smith and Jones, of course. People will figure out that it’s obviously someone close to your family and then they’re on their own as to whether they want to get the other person a card or not.</p>
<p>I received an invitation to a joint party last year. We didn’t know the other grad. But that was fine with us. We just figured it was a friends’ combo party. Turned out we were wrong. It was a cousins’ party, like yours! </p>
<p>Still no issues. However, we did wonder what to do about gifts. I think we ended up giving to just the grad whom we knew.</p>
<p>Do you think it would be okay to have our childs name on the invite and then say that they would be celebrating the day along with their cousin, or something like that. This way people wouldn’t be surprised when they arrived.</p>
<p>We just held a joint celebration for our son with two other boys and all three families sent the same invitation with all three names on it. The invitation simply said “Please join us to celebrate the graduation of boy 1, boy 2 and boy 3 at the park pavilion at 1pm etc.” Guests simply came for whichever boy they knew, and gave that boy a gift, not all three. No one seemed confused - they knew it was a joint celebration. We had a photo of the three of them on the invitation - it worked out fine! Hope this helps!</p>
<p>If the cousin angle is important to you just amend what pizzagirl wrote:</p>
<p>“Mary & Bob Smith and Sue & Dale Jones invite you to XXX in honor of their children, cousins Kathy Smith and William Jones.”</p>
<p>What about just saying something like the parents of Mary Smith and Jon Jones, invite you to celebrate their graduation on XXX date, time, place… yada, yada.</p>
<p>Then for RSVP in the lower corner have Mary and Bob SMith and 555-1212, and Sue and Dale Jones with 555-1313 underneath it. People will quickly figure out who to call, and if they have questions about the other child you can explain it then. This allows the recognition of the child, and solves the issue of placing names. By putting all of those names in the body of the invite it could be overload to the guests you are inviting, plus it really is about the graduate, so they should be personally named in the invite.</p>
<p>Are you trying to use just one invitation for your “shared family and friends,” and also for individuals who know only of the graduates? I think that is what you are saying you want to do, right? In that case, I would feature their names, not the parents who are hosting. </p>
<p>You are warmly welcomed to</p>
<p>A Graduation Party</p>
<p>For Child A</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>Child B</p>
<p>On Date, Time, Place</p>
<p>Please RSVP by next Friday to one of the following parents:</p>
<p>Mr. & Mrs. Child A, 555-1212</p>
<p>Mr. & Mrs. Child B, 555-1212</p>