Yes! Us too. So it’s like, eat at… 3pm???
Thanks! We’re all excited and glad to hear of such great past experiences! 
Our graduation is at 2:00 on a Monday so easy enough to make dinner plans afterward. I’m sure they’ll all go do something after that.
2 Likes
We’re in the same boat. 5:30-7:30 graduation. No plans for after. I’m not sure if I should just plan a small family dinner after. Seems kind of a let down - I would think kids would want to do something after but I haven’t heard of anything happening.
Right? It’s just not something that is easy to work around. I seriously think we’re going to have like some kind of heavy appetizer thing at home at 4:15, make sure we’re in the car by 5:15 so we can get there by 6:00, then it’s back to when they were little and I travelled with the Giant Bag Of All The Snacks. I won’t be able to give any to my graduate, but for me/my family, at least we won’t be starving. I think it ends at 9:00ish, so maybe we go out for late food or dessert?
and @coffeeat3 - I mean, * I * think I’m fun 
but sadly, my son really does not. We’ve got a great house for hanging out - there’s a huge room with couches, foosball, gaming console, and it’s attached to the TV room with more space and places to sit. And I ALWAYS have at least frozen pizzas in the house so there’s always food. And yet both of my children have told me we are not an acceptable hang out house. But I like the idea of offer to support the friends’ potential gatherings. He’s also in a weird spot, he basically has two distinct groups of friends, and he’s not really central to either. There’s the kids from his classes who sort of formed a group because they have just always been together (that’s who he’s going to the beach with - all guys, all pretty nerdy, have not really done much if any social gatherings) and then there’s the track kids (less nerdy, includes girls, have done occasional social gatherings at one kid’s house). He’s included in both groups, but not super close with any (and I hardly know any parents - in both groups it seems like most of the kids were friendly in elementary school and the parents all already knew each other. For my kid, he was in totally different groups with different people in elementary, and I just never really met or bonded with these parents.)
6 Likes
Congrats! We have good friends in here in TX who are sending their S25 to W&M this fall despite some “more prestigious” admittances - it’s a special place. Go Tribe!
3 Likes
Our community has an all-night grad party for students (10pm-5am). They hold it at our local community college, and they have food, casino games, music, and lots of other fun activities for the graduates. Parent and community volunteers donate the $ to fund and run it every year. It started in the 80s after a tragic grad night accident as a way to provide a safe place for students to celebrate. I would say that a majority of the senior class each year chooses to attend.
14 Likes
And here I was thinking that a school sponsoring a post- (or pre-) graduation event seemed like the weird option.
{insert something about local norms varying wildly here}
4 Likes
This has been the norm in our area at least since I went to HS in the dark ages. When I went the events were at the local community center or rec center and they had silly things like a velcro suit jumping wall (somewhere there is a lovely picture of me in the velcro suit, stuck to the wall, long curly hair REALLY stuck to the wall, demonstrating my awesome vertical leap of like 6 inches…), a mini-recording studio, space for yearbook signing, poker and blackjack and other stuff that I clearly don’t remember. For the kids pre-COVID, the PTA partially subsidized the renting of a “dinner cruise” type boat and the kids would ride for a few hours, have a DJ, play some games (again poker and blackjack plus other stuff) and generally hang out.
Back in the late 80’s early 90’s there was a huge spate of drunk driving deaths on graduation night, so the all-night grad parties were an effort to give kids something to do that wouldn’t entail drinking. I remember it mostly as a really fun way to close out HS and a good time to say goodbye to a lot of people.
5 Likes
I mean yeah, we had a run of drunk driving deaths when I went to high school in the 80s (I think at least one per year? either way, we definitely averaged multiple per year), but still, no school-organized activities around it. But then again, though the area I grew up in is now entirely suburban (if not urban), it was still largely rural at the time—so maybe that’s related to it, what with distance and all?
{a few minutes later}
This got me to go and check the website for my old high school, and all that they mention along those lines is a senior class trip to a semi-local theme park, but that’s a week and a half before graduation (on the last day of school for seniors). So it appears to still be graduation and done there.
1 Like
Back in my day in a suburban locale, there was Project Prom and Project Graduation which were events held after prom/graduation to keep students entertained and safe from drunk driving incidents (and, guessing based on the prominence of religion, away from sexual activities). I didn’t attend either, so can’t speak to what they were like, but the image described by @OctoberKate sounds particularly memorable!
1 Like
And back in the early 90s in very rural western PA, it was a thing for the local high schools to have the after-prom/prom-to-dawn where they literally locked the kids in the school gymnasium from midnight to 6 am.
I never got to go, but my husband went with my then-bestie for his senior prom, and claims that you had to agree to get locked in to get to the actual prom.
I can’t imagine that kind of thing flying these days in the urban area where I live, but it would be interesting to know if that kind of thing is still going on where I grew up!
I don’t think it was the gym, but I do think that it was a lock-in!
Whoa! That wasn’t happening in my neck of the woods. Interesting how the practices differ by region (including having nothing resembling any of these practices)!
2 Likes
Yeah where I grew up the up the local public school had a “project graduation” all night grad night. I think it kicked off in 80s. I live in another state now and my kids school has one too (under different name-same idea). 10pm-5am most local public’s have it I believe.
My boarding school had an all night party, tacitly endorsed by school (though not official) on grad night. It was OPPOSITE. It was offsite, there were KEGS (and other intoxicants) and one of the school security guards collected keys and signed for the rental. A couple teachers showed up. This was in late 90s. Can you imagine the liability?! Privilege at its finest.
6 Likes
My 25s prom you can’t leave…Everyone meets at school, gets breathalyzex and gets on a bus together. They come home on bus together
If you miss the bus, you can’t go.
The all night thing you can leave early if a parent comes to Get you, but you can’t return
1 Like
Have to share that my senior prom (we called them formals) had an open bar. 
In Canada 
15 Likes
I went to a boarding school, and for prom the school would allow students to stay at a hotel for the after prom party, assuming parental permission.
And nothing ever happened there… it was perfectly sober and chaste. cough
10 Likes
Had we had an offsite formal/prom (we didn’t) I bet that would have been norm too
For parents weekend some kids would go stay with parents at a hotel (in their own room) and hold parties
I knew a day student who looked like 35 (not that carding was so common then anyways
) that would sell kids a can of bud for like $5 each (30ish Years ago) and made a killing
3 Likes
Are any of your kids taking a gap year, or thinking about it? We are kicking the idea around in our house, but it would have to be an inexpensive one.
1 Like
My daughter took a gap year this year —she graduated HS in 3 years— during what would have been her senior year. Basically she did her college applications, toured colleges, and worked a lot. It was not quite what she was envisioning, but she says it was better than school.
3 Likes
Dispute here: is the final decision due by tonight at midnight or by tomorrow and if tomorrow, what clock time? My style is much more to meet a deadline way in advance so this is driving me slightly crazy.
2 Likes