This is exactly why I am skipping the party and giving my son the money to treat himself to whatever his heart desires. Needless to say the boy is over the moon to get $$$. We asked him if he wanted the party and with all the family drama, childish behavior, grandmother and aunt who starts grabbing take home trays and filling them up with food from the buffet table when half my guests haven’t even eaten yet! Yes they actually did this at my daughter’s graduation party last year! He said “heck no to the party, let’s hit the hibachi steak house, grab sixteen handles and rent Ford vs Ferrari”.
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Graduation Seats:
I get all sorts of looks but I totally think this is the next money maker.
There should be a graduation seat sales portal.
- If everyone gets 6 seats, and you have 1+ to spare, you put it up for sale.
- If you NEED 1+ seats, you can SECURE that seat by buying that ticket(s), thus reducing all the stress of hoping you’re successful in finding someone who doesn’t need all their tickets and willing to gift the ticket to you.
Yes, we usually have 2+ tickets to spare, so yes, we could make some money.
But if my inlaws decides to join us for graduation, I would gladly pay for someone’s extra tickets so that I can tell inlaws for sure that they will be attending (vs bumping grandma to the OTHER room)
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I read this as “sixteen handles” and thought, wow that’s a lot of vodka. Gonna be quite the celebration🤣
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Me too!
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Sorry your family is giving you so much grief, I know I wouldn’t have the mental energy to deal with it. I’m thankful the only people in attendance at my kids’ graduations were my husband and I, and my parents.
And somewhat strangely, none of my kids wanted a party, so the only celebration was a nice dinner out after the ceremony.
I hope you find a way to make it all work!
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Same in my neck of the woods. With the boys, I didn’t see them for at least a couple of days. Just occasional check-ins.
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We get 10.
Make sure you invite @NiceUnparticularMan !
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I’d probably lie and say you only get 4. I’m kidding, but only partly.
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There is a different way to read it? Huh.
I’ll bring popcorn . . . .
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Tito’s and popcorn, the ultimate combo.
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Come to think of it, I can also bring Combos. Seeing as how it is a fancy party.
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@sbinaz - this is my advice - would it be nice if all these people made the effort to come? Yes, it would be lovely. But in actuality, you might actually not want them there. For people with whom you have a relationship that is not optional, like family, I find it best to have very low expectations, and be pleasantly surprised when things work out.
ETA: try to change your perspective on this. How incredible that you have someone who is similar to an aunt and uncle for your kid, and that they are able to come and be there for the ceremony. That probably means the world to your family, and most people don’t have that kind of relationship with their lives!
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Extended family can be hard. Sorry for the trouble and drama.
In our case all the Grandparents are out of country and travel all the way here would be hard.
My brother had initially wanted to come and my S24 if close to him but we have now decided against it. Instead we decided our family and my brothers family and my parents would go to to vacation in Europe and after that go visit our in laws as they dont want to travel.
I think this would work out well as we would all meet and could be a celebrations for Son also.
Also our school only gives 4 tickets and anything more I think we have to buy.
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love this. thank you for this! 
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If at all humanly possible, put someone else in charge of herding the cats so you can fully enjoy and be present for the graduation.
When my D graduated we had just sold our house, were in the process of moving states, my mom had just been put in memory care, and my dad was reeling physically and emotionally and doing a lot of acting out. My step MIL was put in charge of the cats. It was a godsend.
Also recommend not killing yourself cooking or hosting. Make it as simple as you possibly can so you can enjoy and celebrate with your kid.
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lol! I wish! It’s an ice cream spot.
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Yeah, given the smaller group, I’m thinking that instead of us cooking a ton of food, we should go out to a restaurant instead.
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I read it as 16 Candles. I thought it was a bit of a weird movie pick but hey it was my favorite back in the day 
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D24’s graduation is daytime/weekday/weeks before before most other schools let out, so that knocks out a chunk of people with school-aged kids and/or inflexible jobs.
I am letting DH handle invitations for his side (distance and health may be problematic), and we are very low/no contact with the still-living grandparent-aged people on my side due to previous incidents, so they will not be invited.
Instead of parties, we are renting a big house in the mountains, so hopefully that will be less stress than hosting out of my house (plus all the fun stuff you can do in the mountains…hiking, kayaking, rafting, cute little mountain town shopping, fishing, etc.)
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