<p>S will graduate from college in late May and the grad announcements just arrived (!)
How far in advance do you send these out?
Do you send them to the same crowd as high school grad announcements?</p>
<p>Is it ok to include a photo and a blurb about what he will be doing after graduation?</p>
<p>Can you tell we have no experience with this? :)</p>
<p>We only sent graduation announcements to immediate family (grandparents, aunts/uncles). We didn’t even send them to friends.</p>
<p>What we did do…graduation was a far from home (as college was far from home) so graduation weekend we took a few nice photos of the graduate, and the proud parents…and we sent a nice email when we got HOME attaching pictures of the graduation event. And that was that.</p>
<p>Agreed, only to grandparents, aunts/uncles who wanted the announcement-none to family friends or Christmas card list folks.
Too braggy.</p>
<p>I’m somewhat interested in what others post. We’re not sending any college announcements. S1 just got his cap/gown info this week but called to tell us he’s not ordering nor does he want to send any announcements (we didn’t plan on it anyway!). Most of our close friends and certainly our family know he’s graduating.</p>
<p>We didn’t send out grad announcements. We felt it was a little too braggy. The people who care (close relatives and friends) didn’t need an announcement to know that he graduated from college. We won’t send them out when he completes his Master’s and we won’t sent them out when our youngest graduates college in a year. </p>
<p>It’s fine to send them out if that’s something you want to do, but you should probably keep it limited to very close family and friends.</p>
<p>OK - now I feel silly. So the majority view is not to send them?
He will be the second college graduate of his generation in our family, and although I graduated from college, it was as an adult with no thought of frilly things like announcements!
I wonder - no offense meant - if the opinion is different along socio-economic lines? It seems many on the forum here are quite well off financially. Is it possible that it is a more OK practice among my less than wealthy group?
I don’t want to seem braggy, but at the same time, it is a cool achievement and a good way to let people know S’s next plans.</p>
<p>So what do ya’ll think? Any other practices not yet mentioned?
And - if we send them just to family - the question I still have is, when do we send them?
Thanks!</p>
<p>We sent our email AFTER the graduation (the one with the graduation pictures). The grandparents and the aunts/uncles got the announcements before the graduation…the announcements we got from both kids’ universities included the graduation event day/time/place. </p>
<p>I still have about 15 graduation announcements sitting in a drawer here from DS…he got 24 with his cap/gown order…we dont’ have a very big immediate family so we never used most of them.</p>
<p>DD would have had to order them and pay separately. We passed entirely on them for her.</p>
<p>If you want to send them I would consider after the graduation and include a photo of the whole family with the grad taken at the ceremony.
You can write about the experience and what the grad will be doing next.
Maybe take in consideration of the sendee family circumstance before you send an announcement (son in prison, daughter stuck in community college…)</p>
<p>Our son was the first grandchild and cousin (in a pretty large family) to graduate from college, but we still didn’t send out graduation announcements. It didn’t have anything to do with our financial status. The people who cared, didn’t need a graduation announcement to know that he was graduating from college. </p>
<p>My personal feeling is that it’s braggy—sort of implying:</p>
<p>My kid graduated from college and yours didn’t.
My kid graduated from a more prestigious college than your kid.
I’m a better parent than you because my kid graduated from college.
My kid graduated from college so send a monetary gift.</p>
<p>It just felt weird to me to send out an announcement about something that was all ready known to our closest family and friends.</p>
<p>So did none of you send high school grad announcements either?</p>
<p>I really like the idea of sending a note after - with a photo - it isn’t bragging with family - it’s celebrating!</p>
<p>I agree with nysmile for all the reasons given. I am buying a few announcements though, but probably just mailing them to the grandparents, my sister, and me. I am afraid anything further on the relative line looks as if it’s asking for a gift, and I don’t want to do that. I am the oldest of all the first cousins, and I don’t recall receiving them from any of them. </p>
<p>puma, oh yes…we sent tons of high school grad announcements. HS graduation parties are a big deal around here-~100-200 people, hog roasts and such.</p>
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<p>We sent INVITATIONS to our kids’ high school graduation parties. We did NOT send out high school graduation announcements. There’s a difference.</p>
<p>Our high school had announcements but as with college, the only folks who really cared about them were the grandparents. So we sent them to the grandparents. </p>
<p>And as with college, we sent a newsy email with attached pictures of the graduation…after the graduation day to family and friends. We put nothing in the USPS mail.</p>
<p>The party invitations for HS were for a PARTY and were not announcements of the graduation, the were invitations to the party. In both of our kids’ cases, the party was in August (so many parties in June) and we more of a “last hurrah” for their HS friends before they went off to college. We invited close friends and neighbors to that too.</p>
<p>My D is graduating from HS and I
Am not sending any most of my friends know that she is graduating</p>
<p>No, we didn’t send out high school graduation announcements. We did send out invitations to my son’s HS graduation party. After the ceremony, we had a small party at the house (baked ziti, mini meatballs, fried chicken, green salad, sausage & peppers, chips and dip, and a nice cake).</p>
<p>Send them. You’re excited and it is a big thing for you and your family. I would send them to the same folks you would invite to a graduation party (if you were having one) If they aren’t folks you would invite to the party don’t send them an announcement. I think the photo and blurb are a nice touch.</p>
<p>I have 2 sons, one graduating college in May and one graduating high school in June. I am not buying or sending out announcements for either. But I don’t send Christmas cards out anymore either. </p>
<p>We plan on having a party and inviting our close friends and family though!</p>
<p>We sent them out, I didn’t consider it to be bragging. More like a general life update. We sent them to mainly immediate family and I didn’t expect anything in return. I think college graduation is something to be proud of and should be celebrated! Would you not sent out wedding invitations/announcements to a person who is umarried because that would be saying “We got married and you are still single?”</p>
<p>Invitations are different than announcements. Why send out an announcement of an accomplishment when those people who play an important part in your life all ready know of the accomplishment?</p>
<p>theaterbrat - that’s how it feels to me, too.
Around here we have gotten lots and lots of HS grad announcements and a few college. We just don’t know that many kids who have graduated. Because it’s a big family, there are relatives who don’t see the kids much and like to receive this sort of thing to stay up to date. They know it’s not a gift request and none is expected. There are no grandparents, so our many aunts and uncles are who we celebrate with.
I’m trying not to feel bad from the other comments, but I think it’s more of a regional and family specific thing than I thought.
I’ll ask some folks around here who are in my same kind of cultural group and see what I hear.
Thanks for the comments. The announcements came with the cap, gown, etc. so I just assumed sending them out was the thing to do!</p>
<p>Puma, If you have the announcements and would like to send them to folks to announce your kiddo’s graduation…send them. It sounds like you have family members who would like to hear about this and might not otherwise hear. Congratulations (when the time comes)!!</p>