High School Senior Graduation Invites

Assuming you are talking about a party and not the actual ceremony... I'd send out save the dates in January for a May event (assuming this is happening in May - only NY seems to graduate in June). Then send actual invites out 3 or 4 weeks prior. If you guests are coming from far away, you should send them out as soon as possible. The more time to book a flight, the better. Enjoy!!

Do you know what the school's policy is for guests for graduation? Many have very restrictive policies because of limited seats per graduate. Your Senior may only be able to get a limited number of seats, so be careful of how many people you plan to invite. Unless you have relatives coming from a distance or having to plan vacation time to attend, I think a month before graduation is plenty of time. Are you planning a party to celebrate? I would plan that now (depending on the number of venues in your area) unless you are hosting it at home. Good luck! Senior year is very busy for your Senior and family.

Not a gift grab.. This is what we do down here. WE like to gather and celebrate a young persons accomplishment.

Our school districts hold the graduations at very large venues so that as many people can attend as want to attend. Here in Austin it is held at the Irwin Center on the University of Texas Campus.

We send the save the date at the end of January so people can plan.. Especially if they are from out of state or out of town. . If you are having a party, you send it out 4 weeks ahead of time to in town people and 6 weeks to people out of town.

S. K, how many tickets will you get? That would make the difference...and if there is a limited number of tickets?? WHO will you choose? Most likely - who will your child choose??

Does your child even want this big ta-do???

When I graduated it was family....we had a party the next day as we had Grad-Night at Disneyland....

If you are having a party at your house? Send out invites 45 days prior to graduation...really talk with your kid to find out what he/she wants.

We have a large family and have had MANY graduations. None of us ever sent out a "save the date" for this. We sent general announcements with senior photos a few months in advance, and then invitations to the actual grad party about four weeks in advance.
Also, if you are planning to invite a bunch of people to the graduation itself check with the school first, some high schools have limited seating/parking and issue a fixed number of tickets per student.

In our area, the graduating classes are so huge that the student only gets 6 tickets for their family. So, no formal invitations go out for attending the ceremony and who wants to anyway with over 1100 Seniors... LONG event.

People with larger families work with smaller families in order to get the number of tickets needed for a family to attend. There is nothing left for just regular guests. Our graduation ceremonies are in the convention center so the limited number of people can be accommodated.

Do you mean the announcements? Those are sent out about 4 weeks prior to graduation. We only sent those to close family and friends because I personally view them as in invoice (send a gift or $$ notice).

Senior year is a lot of stress and a lot of fun... Enjoy it while you can, it flies by!

When our daughter graduated from HS, her graduation was at University of Houston. Their facility was smaller so each grad only got 6 tickets. So not enough! We were able to get some tickets from other graduates who were not going to use all their tickets. I would contact the school and find out what their policy on seating is.

We didn't have that issue when our son graduated. They had a much bigger facility, hello Reliant! =)

When the kids graduated from hs and daughter from college, we didn't send out "save the date". I sent the invites out around Easter or a little before with their "senior photo". Plus, I had told everyone before when the date was.

Our son "should" graduate from college December of 2015. I have already told my brother the date. Long story there.

Congratulations. It moves really fast after the holidays!!

Maybe I am the exception, rather than the rule...but I do not send out formal invites to HS graduations. My expectation has been that college is on the horizon, and that formal invites to THAT graduation do go out...usually six weeks prior.

For HS graduations, we let close family know, usually by telephone. We gather to go out for a meal after, and either 'we' host a party for the graduate and friends, or they have plans to go to a friend's party.

My family already knows the dates for graduations this may as there is one graduating from college (and being commissioned) as well as twins walking for HS graduation.

Just how *I* have done it over the years!

Best

To me? This sounds like a gift or money grab.

Many schools now have a limit to seating and tickets given out. I'm two years away from this and they are already preparing my son for graduation and college applications.

While I understand it's a milestone in your child's life, why do people need to travel in from out of town for this? We are planning to send announcements out to let people know he is graduating, but Tyler is even "wigging out" to the point where he feels like it's a gift grab instead of a celebration.

If family will be coming from out of town? The sooner the better so they can plan their vacation time, flights, etc.
I'd say for this June? Save the date should go out by January 1.
Invitations? 4 weeks before.
SOME schools have limited seating available and there's a limit (like 4) on tickets per family. Doesn't sound like that's the case for your situation.

Even if it's a large venue, some cities limit seating because multiple high schools use the venue on the same day, and crowds must be funneled in and out. A major convention center might have graduations at 10 am, 2 pm and 6 pm. So they limit tickets in order to get everything set up for the orchestras, speakers, decorations, etc., and the crowds security checked, seated, and exited. Even if the venue can hold 10,000 people, that wouldn't be possible to let each school have 10,000 guests. My son's graduation was held at a very large auditorium but another school was holding its commencement services after my son's school, and the turnaround time was really tight. Kids were still taking photos in the hall when my son's school signs and colors were coming down and the set up was starting for the next school in the main hall.

So check first before telling anyone, even if it's a large event center.

the school will send out information packets about graduation probably sometime in january or february. don't get sucked in lol. you will need actual invites for only as many tickets as they allow you. my sons highschool graduation was held at northern illinois university. but each kid was only allowed 10 tickets and the place was packed. they do check tickets at the door. as far as party invites go you will want to send out save the dates for that if you have the party planned. most people don't do it on the actual day as the day is already full lol. my kids all talked among themselves and figured out the dates so they didn't rain on each others parades. we had all of our kids parties later in the summer so that any mula they got didn't get blown over the summer but was actually used for college expenses.

I have never actually received a save the date for a grad party before.

We used a 3,700 seat venue in DC for our graduation, and were still limited to 6 tickets per student. We had 263 students graduate in my class. That was about 1,500 tickets, well under the capacity at the venue. I would let the out of towners know the date, but also let them know that seating maybe limited for the actual ceremony.