What do kids bring to other kids graduation parties near you? any great gift ideas (big or small)?
If it’s a close friend, my older D made a photo collage. Otherwise, I don’t think many of the kids give the other kids gifts. There are just too many parties in our neck of the woods.
Like last time, I am getting invited to the parties of my D’s friends. I will give them a card with twenty dollars and 18 cents taped to the card. Too many kids to do much more and still pay for my kid to go to college! 
@suzy100 The $20.18 is a really cute idea!
We have 3 kids from our small church graduating this year, one is special ed and will stay at home maybe do a life skills or voc rehab program, one will stay at home and work - maybe go part time to the local CC, and my DS that is going away to school. I really don’t want to give cash and want to do the same gift each of the other two so I decided on a gift card to the new local new movie theater. I figure they’s both like a night out.
No grad party for DD. She opted for a foriegn trip instead. I dislike parties, so that makes me happy!
For those taking their first to college, ours went well for D16! I was sad the weeks leading up to it, and D was nervous but excited. When it came time to say goodbye at orientation, I thought I would have to try hard not to cry in front of her, but it didn’t happen! She headed off to an orientation meeting with a group, and I turned to my mom and said “you want to stop by the bookstore before we go?” It was fine!
@suzy100 - I am totally using that idea, thank you.
Dorm room selection today. DS still wanted to do it himself but the fates intervened when the school wifi had the website blocked. Mom pinched hit and got the building and floor he wanted!
D is done – she decided on UCSB. It’s funny that the kids (twins) had totally separate college lists, and S picked the southern-most school on her list and D the northern-most, so they’ll be only 1.5 hours apart.
No Grad party for S18. We had a big one (combined with 2 other kids) for S17 but S18 has NO interest. His gift for graduation was a Dell XPS 13 (which he already has). He will go with a friend to a few other parties but we are off the hook on this one.
We don’t have much family coming in for the grad party either. The bulk of invitations went to her friends, teachers, coaches, and neighbors.
Older kid didn’t want a grad party so we just went out to a nice lunch beforehand (it was an early evening ceremony, and then the all night grad party sponsored by school right after the ceremony.
@2014novamom we have early FFCounty Graduation time, followed by lunch out before ANGP. I am very grateful fo the ANGP as it gives the kids a place to be.
My twins were my first to go to college (they’re finishing their junior year.) One moved in on a Friday and the next on the Saturday. I was okay until we left the second and then I lost it. That first week was tough. Although I still had two at home, the house felt quiet and I was a little lost. However, I gave myself a couple of days to feel that way and then got busy. It helped. I was quickly surprised by how often we see and talk to them. I think I’ll react in a similar manner with D18. I’m prepared for it this time though.
I am a planner / budgeter. I can recall being frustrated last summer when everything was said and done, the tuition/fees/R&B cost for my 19-year-old at OSU was higher than I expected, because he was in a scholars program that was associated with a more expensive dorm. Fast forward to a few minutes ago when I was googling something that somebody had asked for on a University of South Carolina Facebook board. I never found what I was looking for, but I did discover that there is a $1209 fee per semester for engineering students there. Just when I was processing the joy associated with that discovery I read the footnotes and discovered that the fee is most likely increasing to $1500 in 2019. That’s about $10k, IF he finishes in 7 semesters (which on paper is possible, but any number of things could derail that).
@StrGzrMaryland I had sticker shock last year at Orientation when I learned of a $1300 per semester charge at USC Columbia Arnold School of Public Health for OOS. I was not alone. The fees are more visible this year on the internet pages than last year, but still hefty and not really understandable… I have posted all over the USCarolina Columbia threads to be wary of the fees. It’s a pretty common way for public universities to increase tuition (and I get why they need to) but transparency is key for planning purposes. BTW–it applies to credits transferred in from OOS as well post matriculation. So, my son is taking a Statistics class at CC this summer and we will have to pay an extra per credit hour college surcharge for him to get credit. At least the laundry is included in tuition!
Our S and three of his friends are going to the prom dressed as The Beatles on the Sgt. Pepper album. S is going as Paul (he is a bass player).
My DD took a duel credit course with a high school and a local college last year. Does anyone know the mechanism to getting the college credit transferred to the college she is attending next year. In other words does the High School send to college she is attending or does the local college send.
Somehow, the University of Cincinnati is not increasing tuition for the fifth year in a row. Of course, they didn’t say anything about room and board. And I’m already being nickled and dimed with a required ipad, orientation fee, upcoming lab fees, etc. But, it’s something.
Our graduation party has turned into a family and those who should be family get together. About 15 people including a gentle smaller lab who thinks she’s a person. I’m bringing in trays, borrowing tables and hoping it’s nice enough to eat on our screened in porch.
I can only think of one graduation party I personally would be invited to - the rest are word of mouth that the kids just show up to. I would give the girl a token gift if invited. The kids here don’t give each other gifts.
May is just CRAZY. I just wrote a bunch of stuff down on my (paper) calendar. It feels like a downhill race until graduation. Buckle up, folks. 8-}
@burghdad she needs to request that the local college send her college transcript to the school where she will be attending in the Fall.
@burghdad I agree, the CC needs to send the grades directly to Clemson. Also make sure to bring a copy with you for Orientation. Sometimes with all the paperwork coming in for new admissions in June, the credits don’t get applied before class registration. The paper copy will help the advisor see what prereq’s have already been met. This applies to AP credits as well.