<p>I was reading some old posts on here, glad I did before I wasted money on announcements. Can I send some to really close family with a picture if I write “no gifts please” or should I just forget the whole thing? I wanted to send senior pictures to family, is that bad too? Lol, I’m such a heathen. Miss Manners rescue me!</p>
<p>Sending a picture to family members is o.k. in my book.
Announcements are tacky… very tacky…</p>
<p>Photos to CLOSE friends and family is OK, particularly in connection with invitation to party for the grad. Just announcements are tacky. Our kids refused to consider them at all for HS or college. Have gotten a few. Not a fan.</p>
<p>I think it varies, town to town. It is customary here to send them to family, both close and geographically far (as a gesture of inclusion in a family milestone), and to anyone who is invited to the graduation party OR invested in the graduate. People who had followed my children through school (via church, etc.) would be miffed if they DIDNT get an announcement. Both sons had elderly friends who weren’t going to come to a party with a bunch of kids, but they would have been hurt to not be given a nod as important to our kids. </p>
<p>HS Graduation gifts, here, are only from immediate family or very close friends – the announcement doesn’t have the sense of asking for gift, but that obviously is a local culture thing.</p>
<p>Announcements in some form are the norm here to friends and family. We opted for having one done by our photographer that had a senior photo, and the graduation ceremony information. I put them in an envelope with an invitation to a lunch/reception and directions for the next day.</p>
<p>Everyone here does it, but they don’t send out the little cards that come standard from a company that shall remain nameless. They do the photo/card thing.</p>
<p>I guess this is really regional and you have to go with what’s typical in your area. I live in the northeast and I’ve never even seen an high school graduation announcement; if I got one, I’d assume someone was looking for a gift. I imagine this practice is a relic from the days when graduating from high school was an noteworthy accomplishment. (For that matter, I’ve never seen a college graduation announcement either, and that is far more significant achievement.)</p>
<p>I was going to say, I think this is regional. My husband is from a part of the country where his relatives would have actually been hurt if we didn’t send them an announcement, and my relatives would have looked at me like I had been abducted by aliens if I did. :p</p>
<p>Probably if you have received these from friends and neighbors and family, you are expected to send them. But I could be wrong.</p>
<p>I’ll probably just find an online template and print one up for grandma. If she doesn’t want to send a gift, believe me she won’t feel obligated! And I’ll make one for the scrapbook.</p>
<p>We did not do this for any of our children. To me, it smacks of ’ just-a-reminder-to-send-my-kid-a- gift’ kind of thing. Frankly, I don’t get the point since surely your family already knows that your child is graduating. Wasn’t a sentence about it in your holiday letter? Is your family so unconnected that they don’t know your child is finishing high school? </p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound mean with my rhetorical questions. These are just the things that run through my head when I think about this topic.</p>
<p>Of course they know he is graduating, I’m just obviously out of touch, that’s why I asked. My mom is in her 80’s so she likes having things from and about the kids to show her friends. My brother’s stepdaughter sent one, but she is from Russia and was so happy to be graduating from an american high school, I chose simply to share her joy than look at it as money grubbing. Do people really write family holiday letters? My brother-in-law sends this hilarious parody of one out every Christmas.</p>
<p>Goodness… I love getting announcements with a nice pic, or really love the announcements that ARE a nice pic. But I live in the South, and we sort of live and die by those kind of formalities. YES, everyone knows my kid is graduating, and YES I probably know your kid is graduating. But it doesn’t offend me, makes me smile to see them from kids I’ve known since baby playgroup. I have never received one from a kid that I wouldn’t have bought a grad gift or given a little grad cash to anyway.</p>
<p>granipc
I’m beginning to think that this may really be something of a regional thing. I’m in the NorthEast. </p>
<p>RWS
an announcement like this from another country who completed an American high school is a bit of a different situation to me. </p>
<p>When I get one of these announcements (and I will admit that I have only gotten very few), I’m mystified as to why I"m getting it. In each case, I already knew that the child was graduating so why the additional notice if not a subtle money request? </p>
<p>My DH writes our family holiday letter every year so yes, we still send these out. They are pretty unusual (very visual) and people seem to genuinely like them - based on the unsolicited comments we’ve gotten. I will say that he really is a good writer - I envy that about him.</p>
<p>Our family is spread across the globe and several are in a region that an announcement is expected. Grandparents, great grands etc want to see a photo/card/announcement as do the great aunts/uncles etc.
So I think its regional and generational. K1s was a head shot holding the acceptance letter with date/time of grad (like an invite)</p>
<p>We have gotten announcements from other family and VERY CLOSE friends kids.</p>
<p>In the orthodontist’s office it is common to see a copy of the announcements of his past patients on the bulletin board. He likes to “show off” his kids and where they are all headed.</p>
<p>I like the announcements- and it makes me smile because we get to share in the joy. I usually then send a gift card to Target etc. </p>
<p>fwiw, both of my kids have their own “personal” stationary as well.</p>
<p>I like the idea of a holiday letter. I am from the northeast and when my sister moved south I realized how nice and charming some of her husband’s families traditions are. I was kinda weirded out when she had a tea party for her bridal shower, but it was really great. But I agree, so much of it is generational as well.</p>
<p>We sent print announcements to the relatives in our parents’ generation, our sibs, a few friends of the family who absolutely would have expected it, friends outside the country, a few other close relatives who would have expected it, and to Happykid’s 10 BFFs. People who are on the XMAS email letter list got an e-announcement. Happykid got presents from people on both lists and the cash went to things she needed for college, and the stuff got used. </p>
<p>Happykid picked out a set of blank cards that she liked at Staples, designed her own message, and we printed them at home. Saved a bundle over the ones sold through the school. She also made a collage of her favorite photos from her senior year (yup those 10 BFFs each appeared exactly once in one of the photos with her in the collage) that we made color copies of (again at Staples) to include with the card, saving a bundle over the official senior portraits. The e-announcements included a scan of the photo collage.</p>
<p>She’s already picked up a box of the same stationery to use when she finishes college. It was on markdown. Smart kid.</p>
<p>A couple of my cousins got into a fight about whether or not one cousin’s kids graduated because the other cousin didn’t get a announcement as proof so he claims they didn’t graduate. They don’t speak to each other now.</p>
<p>My FIL was angry and threatening no gifts (as if that mattered) if he did not get Dds university grad announcement soon. And that happened the week of the ceremony, she waited to include a photo of her in cap & gown, definitely regional & generational.</p>
<p>Tacky? Not any tackier than wedding announcements. Both are “share the joy” announcements that mark a major life transition. We get them from family, friends, and near neighbors. My parents sent them out when I graduated decades ago and went sent them for our kids too. We live out west.</p>
<p>They certainly weren’t requests for gifts. No gifts were expected. And except from a few very close relatives such as parents, grandparents, and close aunts or uncles, I don’t think my kids got any graduation gifts either. Just some letters or cards of congratulations. Which was fine.</p>