<p>I'm having a party for my son, but I don't want the invitees to feel that they have to give a gift. Have you ever seen "No Gifts" on a graduation party announcement? (I haven't.) Or how about "No gifts necessary - your presence is your gift"? Opinions please!</p>
<p>I wrote "No Gifts please" on the bottom of my S's graduation party invites this year. I've seen the "No gifts" in several variations over the years</p>
<p>We used "your friendship is our cherished gift, and we respectfully request no other"</p>
<p>Sure, give it a try. I held a large and successful "no gift" party for my dad's 70th birthday and retirement. Only 4/90 brought gifts despite the polite note to not bring gifts.</p>
<p>However, graduations, like baby showers and weddings are events where your guests will feel remiss if they don't bring a gift. They want to honor and celebrate your child's accomplishment with something (anything!). Don't be surprised if you receive a lot of gifts anyway.</p>
<p>We put "No gifts, just your presence." I'm planning to give gifts to son's closest friends, but not at the parties.</p>
<p>don't write anything.. some ppl just like to give from their hearts. at party's i've been to, everyone gives a gift. some give 50-100 dollars, others give 25 dollar gift cards, or otehr less expensive items.</p>
<p>I vote for putting "No gifts, please" on the invitations.</p>
<p>There are a lot of graduation parties this time of year. Some people may feel obligated to turn down some of the invitations because of the expense of bringing gifts. If your family's invitation says "no gifts," yours won't be the one they turn down.</p>
<p>Anyone who wants to give the graduate a gift can always do so privately.</p>
<p>By writing something about no gifts, you show you are not looking for gifts and really just want them to celebrate with you with no obligation. Then, if someone still offers a gift (which closer friends likely will do), they do.</p>
<p>I agree; "no gifts" in some form or other is a great idea!</p>
<p>This will save the zillions of kids from buying the zillions of cards or coffee mugs or flipflops or gift cards. The friends and family members who are very close will want to give a gift and will slip one in anyway. (Which is what I did when my terrific niece had her "no-gift-please" party last week.)</p>
<p>We added 'No gifts please' to invitations of certain acquaintances and of friends of our graduate who are also graduating the same season.</p>
<p>actually u should write nothing.... writing "no gifts" means.... that u don't want them 2 buy any, but they feel as though u are just being polite, and therefore still want gifts....especially if u invite ppl who have already thrown parties for their kids, and ppl gave their children gifts..</p>
<p>As a parent of a graduate this year I would have liked to see "no gifts" on the invitations we received for parties - we did not throw a party for our child other than a dinner with her 3 closest friends and their families - I gave each of those kids a gift of course. I felt obligated to give a gift to the kids of the parties we were invited to though. But we did not give a gift to kids who only invited our kids (not us) to their parties. The whole "when to give a gift" and "how much" thing is a little confusing!</p>
<p>We received an invitation with "no gifts" at the bottom. I thought it was fine, not in any way tacky. It turned out we couldn't attend the party, but DS did and didn't bring a gift. The friend attended DS's party and also did not bring a gift, which was fine.</p>
<p>Momtn, it IS a little confusing! So far DS's friends who came to his party alone did not bring gifts, when the parents came the parents brought gifts (usually a check, $25 - $50). We will do the same. I made DS keep a list of how much each family gave him, so I will give a similar amount to their kid. It all evens out in the wash! But we didn't open the gifts until after most people left, because I didn't want it to be a "gift-oriented" occasion.</p>
<p>D wanted to invite certain people to her graduation "open house" and REALLY didn't want them to bring a gift. She created two invitations to the event. On the bottom of the one where no gifts were requested it read:</p>
<p>No gifts please - Your gift to me was being my teacher, my coach, or the neighbor who always bought something when I came to the door. Thank you for all of your years of support!</p>
<p>You could put something along those lines on the bottom of all the invites.</p>
<p>My son wanted to invite all the teachers he had ever had, so we sent a separate invitation thanking them for their part in his education and included a card for them to share a memory in lieu of a gift. We also had those memory cards available at the open house for others to share something of they so desired.</p>
<p>We had our party for D this past weekend and I struggled with the whole gift idea. I knew family/closer friends our ours would give and be happy to give though we did not count on gifts. Some people that I invited ( some neighbors, past teachers etc.) I invited in person and specifically told them we just wanted them to come celebrate with us and please, no gifts. Some of them still brought a small gift ( a small bouquet of flowers, picture frame).<br>
But I have to say, when my D opened her cards/gifts later she was just as touched (and often more so) by the words written on the cards alone when people took the time to share a special message. Those priceless words meant a lot to her.</p>
<p>By the way, one of the most clever gifts she got (and useful) was a laundry basket, with a set of towels, and a roll of quarters. Great idea!</p>
<p>How about a gift to the local food shelf in honor of the graduate. That is somewhat common up here in the midwest.</p>
<p>Well, the no gifts designation is not technically a proper thing to put on any invitation because a gift is <em>never</em> supposed to be anything other than a voluntary, from the heart type of thing. In the real world, though this is what happens - people put no gifts on invitations - half the guests ignore and the other half feel badly that they didn't ignore when they see all the other gifts piled on the table anyway!!</p>
<p>Friends just sent my son a card saying they had bought a beehive in his name through the Heifer International project. On the bottom they wrote, "Can't wait to see what you share with the world!" What a touching and wonderful gift!</p>
<p>My D once raised money at school to buy a calf through Heifer international. What a cool organization. I love the beehive, and the memory cards.</p>