Graduation Announcements? No Party

Send those announcements! Many friends& family will then send her a congrats card & cash. Woo-hoo!

Actually, most people do not have a High school Graduation Party,

Tradition is you send an Graduation Announcement to Family and Close friends.

If there is to be a party that people are invited to, you can send it separately, but I have some people include it in the announcement.

People still send announcements, regardless if there's a party or not. It's like sending a birth announcement. Just make sure your daughter sends thank yous for any gifts she receives.

Sending announcements, does NOT mean, that there is a party.
It is not a party, invitation.
It is just an announcement that someone is graduating.

ETA: and the graduation announcement, is also something that parents may like to keep as a souvenir for a scrapbook. So keep one on the side for yourself or your daughter for her scrapbook.

You send graduation announcements. Period. If anyone inquires about a party, just tell them that due to scheduling conflicts there will not be a party.

Could you have a pot-luck?

I would send announcements. And a photo if you can.

And who cares if it looks like you're soliciting gifts? Those who want to send a gift will, and those who get their panties in a bunch about having perfect etiquette....will have their panties in a bunch and still send a gift. Schweet!

I say send the announcements! She will only graduate HS once! And these days it's something to celebrate.

Pick out some simple ones and share the joy! Put in a picture too, I'm sure many of the family would love to have one. Just because you send them doesn't mean you are "out for gifts" just means you are proud as you should be. If people want to send a gift, great! and if not, that's fine too.

I don't think that people expect an announcement to mean that there's a party. They know that there is a graduation. Some graduation venues are not large enough to accommodate everyone, and some are. Some graduations require a "ticket" to get in.

Send the announcements and order thank you cards so that she can write the thank you notes as soon as she gets a gift. If someone wants to come to the graduation, they'll probably call you up.

Truly, announcements are not really for inviting people to attend a graduation or a party. They are meant to announce that your child has completed the first milestone of life here - 13 years of school - and is walking into adulthood. Everyone understands that. It's less usual to send out announcements for college graduation, but it really IS expected for high school.

If you are worried that certain people will think you only want a gift and they aren't "close enough" to give one, simply write on a Word Document, large and pretty font, that says "Please, no gift – just want to share our joy with you!" I did this, 36 sized, Segoe Script, and cut it to fit to put into those particular announcements. This included old lady friends of my mom's who are fond of my son, but they are living on social security and don't have the money for gifts. They were so sweet to send cards, and they were thrilled to get my son's lovely announcement, knowing that he had finished school, AND that we remembered them.

Congrats to your daughter - it's a big deal. We'll be going through this again next year when our second child graduates!

Dawn

Send graduation announcements ... The school should send info home about ordering them.

ETA - please ensure she writes thank you notes for any gifts she may receive. This is one of the times I feel like they are required .... Graduations, weddings, baby showers and the like. Required. Not optional.

As others have stated, send announcements to anyone you wish to share about the graduation. It's an announcement not a party invitation. We had a party for my oldest's graduation because she wanted one. I included little slip cards with her grad announcements to the people we specifically wanted to attend her party. My second daughter is graduating this June also. She does not want a party so we will be simply sending out announcements for her, but omit a party invite. Congrats on the milestone!

My daughter graduates in June. We have beautiful announcements which are produced for the school. I am having an anouncement framed for her as well as an athletic poster framed that is a collage of her as Varsity Cheer Captain. I bought matching thank you notes because I know close family will send something... we always do.

Along with the insert of her personalized card, we are enclosing a wallet sized senior portrait as well as an added script which says...."no gifts please, we just want to share this milestone with you"

I am the queen of calling all invitations invoices because they are so gimme gimme. At the same time, this is a special occasion for our daughter, we are very proud of her accomplishments and only wish to share that happiness.

As for the graduation itself... with over 1100 in her Senior class, space is limited and we can only purchase 6 graduation tickets which means only 4 guests when you count us in that group of 6.

We are in the early stages of planning a graduation reception for her and a couple of her closest friends as new graduates at the country club which will include light snacks and drinks. Again, those invitations will still have the "no gifts please" included.

I want it to be clear that gifts are not expected and that is not the reason for a receiption or announcments. Those who know me well enough know my stance on the invitations/announcements and we will only send them to close family and friends.

We are doing a card stock announcement that will include printed photos of our daughter looking natural, silly and announcing her university of choice. It will include the details of her commencement, but we only expect grandparents to sit through the reading of over 600 names!! We want to share how proud we are of our daughter's milestone, that's all it is meant to be. We will also host a dinner with close family and a few friends who have shared this journey. You don't have to throw a bbq to let people who care about your daughter know that she is entering a new chapter! Let this be her special time, share the rest of the family news in the Christmas letter.

Personally, I think graduation announcements suggest that the recipient should send a gift. While that doesn't sound like your purpose in sending them, the recipients may feel that way.

Send an invitation to the family members who will be invited to the small gathering. As for the rest, I would wait for the Christmas letter or tell them if you talk to them between now and then. Are they on Facebook? You can always post a pic of your daughter smiling in her cap and gown.

Just let them know she graduated in your annual Christmas letter. Did you not tell me in the last Christmas letter that she would be graduating this year?
JMO... I think it will look like you are soliciting gifts if you just send out an announcement without a party invitation.

I would send it in your annual Christmas letter since you do one. Sending an announcement of a graduation while not sending invitations to a gathering does sound gift grabby, and that is NEVER okay. It doesn't matter if that's your intent... what matters is how it comes across and it's really super-tacky to make it appear that you're asking for gifts.

This is not one of those events where gifts are an obligation to give. The reason is simple: the person graduating high school is simply doing something that they should have been doing anyway ie. working in their "job" as a student well enough to succeed in obtaining grades that are good enough or better to graduate and receive a diploma. That doesn't deserve automatic gift giving and receiving.

My brother did not have a party, just an immediate family dinner the night before. All of his friends were having parties and he wanted to attend them... he sent out the standard announcements that were ordered through the school.