<p>We are sending some out to close relatives, especially DS’s grandmother. She was upset we didn’t send out high school graduation announcements.</p>
<p>OK, I said we sent HS “announcements” and then there were all the posts about “invitations”. Here, they are one and the same. We sent the official HS announcements, the formal ones with the drawing of the HS and “the class of 2007 announces…” and we inserted the party invitation. No one here would send the announcement w/o the party invite.</p>
<p>puma–I am not of the wealthy cc variety and I live in the midwest. You are probably correct that this is regional or cultural to some extent. You know your family and friends better than anyone. If they would like to receive the announcement and you feel good about sending it, then by all means, send it!!</p>
<p>puma, please don’t feel bad, I do think it can vary, and you should do what is appropriate in your family, even if it’s not the norm on the CC parents forum.</p>
<p>Graduations are a huge deal in our family, bigger than weddings. When my D graduates in '14, we will send announcements to close family. We won’t send them to convey information – obviously the facts stated in the announcement will already be known. They’re considered to be a marker of a milestone, and the signal for celebration season to begin. They get displayed on mantels, and then placed in permanent keepsake boxes, along with wedding announcements and baptism certificates. There are people in the family who would be hurt if they didn’t receive one.</p>
<p>Ask a trusted member of your family what they think. If they give you a green light, then do it.</p>
<p>I have to be honest, I think hs and college graduation announcements are tacky and I wouldn’t spend a dime on them.</p>
<p>I like receiving them from nieces, nephews, and kids that I’ve known throughout the years. I don’t consider them braggy. Kids put in 4 (maybe more :eek:) years of work into this accomplishment. Why not celebrate with them?</p>
<p>puma,
I’m sending announcements to immediate family and a few close friends. If these people think I’m bragging or looking for a handout, then I guess I’m a pretty poor judge of friends, and that’s a much bigger problem than sending out a few announcements.</p>
<p>There are many ways to celebrate college graduation, announcements are one of them, if they work for you, that’s what counts.</p>
<p>Don’t feel badly about sending announcements. Some people feel they are “braggy” or seeking gifts in return. But, hey, some people are braggy types and always seeking gifts, when others are not :).</p>
<p>You’re proud, you’d like to send them… go for it and enjoy!</p>
<p>I would send them shortly after or shortly before the graduation.</p>
<p>puma–absolutely send them out to whoever you want to. I think they’d only be considered in bad taste if they were sent to people who don’t know or care about your son (i.e., could be interpreted as a plea for gifts). We’ve not sent out any hs graduation announcements, but DS#1 will graduate college next year. I hadn’t really thought about it, but will likely send some out (if they magically appear!) to family. Yes, they already know about it, but I think especially grandparents would love to have the memento.</p>
<p>As to timing–not really sure, but I like jmmmom’s suggestion of shortly before or after. Actually, I really like the idea of including one nice picture of him or your whole family at the graduation.</p>
<p>We did send out announcements, after the fact with a photo, ordered the minimum 25,did not use them all. a few went to old HS or even elementary teachers who might have been interested to know how things turned out. Others were mainly family, Grandpa makes annoying phone calls complaining that he needs an announcement for weeks before the event even happens, so we just caved and did it. I swear if he did not get the official announcement he would not be sure he could believe they really graduated ;)</p>
<p>Had he not bugged us, I am not sure we would have done announcements, but once we did them for one kid, we felt obligated to do them or others. They were wicked expensive to order via the school site. For one DD, she ordered some online that were quite simple and she sent some also to some college profs and office people who helped her over a rough patch and who might appreciate knowing their help resulted in a good outcome.</p>
<p>On the brag part, we did not send them to any one who would not already have known where DDs were going and what they were doing, so not any new info, but far away family does seem to have trouble keeping track of events. It seemed helpful for various aunts & uncles.</p>
<p>Interestingly, we did not do HS announcements for our first kid, but did for our last, different schools, and I was surprised how many people sent gifts who had not sent them to the first kid. I did not think of an announcement as a gift request, or lack of announcement as a free pass for no gift. I know the ages & plans of my nieces and nephews and send a gift when they graduate, whether I get an announcement or not.</p>
<p>We got the minimum number of announcements and sent them only to relatives.
We did this for both kids for high school, college and recently for D’s doctorate. Our relatives from both sides of the family are all over the country and everyone seemed happy to receive the news. We also included brief updates of what the graduate’s next steps were going to be. For us, it’s not “braggy”, but an acknowledgement of something important happening in our lives. It’s also not seen as a request for gifts (we made that clear). Nonetheless, many sent one anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t regret sending them and would do it again.</p>
<p>Re the timeline, because all the celebrations were several states away, we sent them weeks in advance. We also invited relatives to join us in the various cities to share in the celebration with us, if they could come. In every case, these family gatherings have been among the most fun family events we’ve been part of.</p>
<p>Footnote: When my brother’s oldest D graduated, they didn’t get around to sending any out although they’d ordered them. I had some of the older aunts & uncles express disappointment that they didn’t get to receive one. This reinforced for me that most of our relatives really like sharing in the news in this way. And personally, I LOVE receiving these from family. Perhaps it’s because we all live so far from each other, but for us, it’s a nice tradition.</p>
<p>While we as parents want to avoid the “brag” factor, grandparents have no such qualms. I’m sure when D graduates, her announcement will be prominently displayed at their Assisted-Living apartment, and they will make darn sure that everyone who comes in has to pick it up and admire it. Not having that announcement would deprive them of a great deal of pleasure. Somehow, while I would never do it, it seems OK that they will.</p>