Announcements generate more questions than any other part of the graduation order, mostly because the etiquette around them is genuinely unclear and nobody wants to get it wrong.
Here are the answers, without hedging.
Is an announcement a request for a gift?
No. An announcement announces. It tells people this happened, and it gives them the chance to acknowledge it if they want to.
Many recipients will send a gift or a card, and that is a normal and warm response. But an announcement sent to someone who then sends nothing has still done its job. Send them to people you would want to have told — not to a list built around who might reciprocate.
Announcement or invitation?
Two different things, and the confusion causes real problems.
- An invitation asks someone to attend the ceremony. It should only go to people you can actually seat. Nearly every school limits tickets, sometimes to four or six.
- An announcement shares the news and asks nothing. It goes to everyone else.
Sending an announcement to someone who reads it as an invitation is the most common failure here. If there is any ambiguity, add a line, or enclose a ticket when you mean to invite.
Who gets one?
The standard list:
- Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins
- Close family friends and neighbors who watched the student grow up
- Teachers, coaches and mentors who mattered — these are frequently the most appreciated of the whole batch
- Your family's out-of-town circle
- Anyone who has quietly supported the student for years
Count the list before ordering, then add ten percent. Ordering more later is possible but costs more per piece.
When do they go out?
Two to three weeks before the ceremony is the standard window. Slightly earlier for anyone who has to travel or arrange time off.
Address the envelopes long before that. Envelopes are the step families always underestimate, and doing them over spring break instead of the week of the ceremony changes the whole experience.
What goes inside?
A full announcement package normally holds:
- The announcement itself
- A name card with the graduate's full name
- Tissue inserts protecting the printed sheet
- Sometimes a photo card or an insert with the student's plans
The traditional arrangement: name card on the front of the announcement, tissue over the print, everything into the inner envelope, inner envelope into the outer.
Handwriting
Handwrite the envelopes if you possibly can. Printed labels are acceptable and nobody will comment, but a handwritten envelope is the difference between something read and something opened properly.
The graduate should write them, not the parent. This is a defensible use of a Sunday afternoon.
Thank you notes
Order them with the announcements. They cost little alongside the rest of the package, and having them already in the house is the only reliable way they get written.
Within two weeks of receiving a gift, handwritten, mentioning the specific gift and what the person meant to the student. Three sentences is enough. A note that arrives late is still far better than one that never arrives.
Ordering
Announcement lead times are the longest in the graduation package. If you are within a month of the ceremony and have not ordered, contact us — rush options exist, but they get thinner as the calendar closes.
Email info@hjdetroit.com or call (734) 725-5743.
