Graduation is fast approaching and I’ve recently been getting questions about ‘invitations’, ‘announcements’, when to mail them.
In many cases, during a student’s road to graduation the “it takes a village” quote is all too familiar. Many parents want to stand on the rooftop and shout it out… Wahoo!!! He’s graduating!!! Thank you for helping!!!
So let’s break down the options for sharing the good news:
Graduation Invitations
This is an invitation to the actual graduation festivities. Many schools have a strict limit on how many people may attend in support of each student. This may determine your list for the ‘invitation’ group. If you want to have a party so more people can share in the celebration, you could host a graduation party and extend invitations to the other close friends and family who may have been left out of the ceremony itself.
As the recipient of an ‘invitation’; if you are able to attend, a gift should be given to the graduate. If you are not able to attend, you may still send a gift, but it is not required.
Graduation Announcements
An announcement does not extend an invitation to an event; its sole purpose is to ‘announce’ the news to whomever you think might be excited to know of the accomplishment. Many people may have lost track of time and did not realize that Johnny is already a senior. They would be excited to hear about this great stage in his life (and yours). Those who receive announcements are not obligated to send a gift. A hand-written note would be a great way to respond to the announcement, sharing your excitement for the achievement. Of course, if the recipient of an announcement would like to send a small gift, they are welcome to do so.
With all of that being said. Some parents will want to send announcements to everyone they know, others will choose to send them only to close friends. I think the extent of the list will fluctuate for different families and situations.
And unfortunately, some people do send invitations and announcements as a ploy to receive gifts. We can only hope that the invitation or announcement we receive was sent in the spirit of the occasion and respond accordingly.
When should I mail invitations?
Formal Invitations should be mailed 4-6 weeks before the event. Less formal invitations can be mailed 2-4 weeks prior. Of course keeping in mind the more time you give your guests to plan and mark the calendar, the better the chances are of them being able to join the festivities.
When thinking about how much time to allow, think of time and respect as the same. If you send an invitation a week before the event and you expect someone to attend, you’re being disrespectful of his or her time and calendar. By giving them ample time to plan and make arrangements to attend, the more respect of their time you’re nonverbally showing them.
When should I mail Announcements?
Announcements can be mailed before or after the event. If mailing them after, try to do so no later than two weeks after the event. Too much longer, and the event is ‘old news’.
In Other News…
I’m hosting a Free Webinar to learn more about our programs. Do you know someone who may be interested? They can register for the free webinar that will take place Tuesday, April 14, by clicking on the button below. We only have a limited number of ‘seats’ so please sign up now!:
During the webinar, I will go into detail about all of our programs for our:
- 5-8th grade programs
- 9-12th grade programs
- Adult Business Training
- How the classes are setup
- The M/F ratios
- And much, much more!
If you have a specific question you would like answered during the webinar, please feel free to shoot me an email via the ‘contact us’ form and I’ll make sure to include it. We’ll also have time at the end of the live webinar for Q&A, so no worries if you don’t have a question now.
AND if for some reason you’re not able to make it to the live webinar, please go ahead and register anyway, we will send a recording of the event out to everyone who registered so you can watch it at your convenience.
As always, thanks for reading!
– Carey Sue
