Buying baby ads in a senior yearbook - is this something everybody does who can spare $50, or just a few sentimental helicopter parents?
Depends on the school, but it’s definitely not something “everybody” does.
Very few parents bought ads in our high school yearbook. Nobody paid attention to them except the parents who bought them 
I didn’t/won’t purchase any ads for either of my kids. This may sound super PC, but because the yearbook sells everything from full page adds to business card-sized ads, I refuse to buy into it. I just think it’s a great way to show who has the most money. I always feel sad for the kids who only get a tiny ad and some other kids have a huge page. Of course, I am sure I am just reading too much into it.
At my kids’ high school, almost every parent bought an ad. You forked over your money, sent in some childhood pics and a message or quotation (lots of Bible verses, because it was a Christian high school) and the yearbook staff figured out the placement. The kids loved seeing one another’s dorky childhood pictures when the book came out.
I do have mixed feelings about these ads because on the one hand, it really did help pay for the book, but on the other, I’m sure there were some parents who really couldn’t afford an ad, but felt obligated to because they didn’t want their kid to be left out. The one thing I did notice in both kids’ yearbooks was the marked absence of braggy commentary. At the school where they would have graduated had they stayed in public school, the ads were frequently obnoxious, and I definitely wouldn’t have taken an ad out for either kid there.
I lived in a middle to upper-middle class district and lots of people did. My parents couldn’t afford it and even if they could, they wouldn’t have bought it. No big deal.
My kids were in a class of about 800. Just a handful of graduating seniors were in there. It might have to do with the size. Look at lasts years YB if you can.
Some parents did. I didn’t because I didn’t want to embarrass my kids. Also I would rather spend the money on a family dinner or a present for them.
I did what other parents did, not because it was right or wrong.
As a fellow immigrant, I say ‘there is no right or wrong; do what feels right to you.’ regardless of your immigrant status! Frankly, I’ve never viewed other parents’ contributions, be it yearbook, bake-sale or any other type of fundraising, as anything but fundraising - and EVERY member of the community benefits from fundraising, regardless of whether they contributed or not! Personally, I love looking at the pics in the yearbook…
Our senior classes were around 250. About 10-20 kids had yearbook ads each year.
Most parents bought them at our school. Most bought one page, and most were cute and just congratulatory. One family bought a 16 page ad for their D. I kid you not.
My kids didn’t even buy the yearbook! I offered to pay, they said no. Fine by me.
I bought an ad for my daughter’s elementary school 8th grade yearbook, because I had always liked the ads that included all of a kid’s K-8 school pictures. It was a fun project for me, and the original “sparks joy” to this day. Not all families participated and I don’t recall anything similar for high school.
Customs can vary from HS to HS. You may want to ask another parent in town what is done and/or ask you child if he/she would like you to put an ad in the yearbook.
I’m also an immigrant and not familiar with high school customs. I bought an AD for my sons year book because I thought I had to. But I’ve now just looked at it, he had a graduating class of 97 and 28 kids had AD’s in the book. (Mostly half page AD’s)
They are pretty popular at our hs, although the options are 1/4, 1/2, or 1 whole page and 1/4 is the most common and what we did for our oldest.
My son didn’t buy yearbook, and I didn’t buy an ad. He also graduated a year early, so he wasn’t included . At least I don’t think so.
In elementary school, we did a small ad, but that was a private religious school. The ad wasn’t expensive at all
We got one for each girl, not pix, but lines from a song I though represented each. NO pressure. Very inexpensive. Frankly, they liked the lyrics but never looked back at them.
It isn’t so much how many parents do this, but how many ignore it. Totally up to each family.
Yes, see what’s typical at your child’s school regarding how many participates and also what the tone and content of the messages.
My kids’ school was kind of like @Massmomm although this was a public HS with about 300 per class. There were no ads, per se, but there was a section where you could pay for a baby pic and a short message to your graduate. I think it cost $20 or $25 and I’d estimate that participation was about 85%.
One thing that was nice was that the messages had to be sent in by parents before Thanksgiving so they did not reference any specific college plans, as only a handful of kids (athletic commits) knew where that were going that early, and those parents heeded the advice of the yearbook staff not to be too specific as plans can change. So it was mainly sweet messages about each student’s personal qualities with good wishes for the future—not braggy at all. I am a cheapskate but was delighted to join in.