Graduation invitations and graduation announcements are an exciting way to kick off the celebrations for your commencement. You’ve made it through the years of exams, studying until all hours, 3 hour practicals and countless coffees and toasties - it’s time to party! Whether you’re set for an all-out rager (choose graduation party invitations) or prefer a quiet drink with a few friends at your favourite bar, this big moment in your life deserves to be commemorated.
First thing’s first: what’s the difference between graduation announcements and invitations? Think of a graduation announcement similarly to a baby announcement. You want people in your life to know about this big event, but you’re not necessarily inviting them to a gathering. It’s a nice card that can go up on loved ones’ fridges (or in grandma’s scrapbook). The alternative is invitations for when planning a killer graduation party and expecting a response from recipients. This article will provide everything you need to know about graduation invitations.
Invitations
Types and occasions
There are many types of graduation invitations you might be searching for, as well as slight variations in context. Here are some common ones that people are searching for:
- High school graduation invitations/senior graduation invitations
- College graduation invitations
- Nursing graduation invitations
- Preschool graduation invitations/kindergarten graduation invitations
- Law school graduation invitations
- Tri fold graduation invitations
- Graduation dinner invitations
- Police academy graduation invitations
While the most common type are university graduation invitations and high school graduation party invitations, there’s no reason why you can’t celebrate a preschool graduation, or progressing from primary to high school. Every achievement deserves a round of applause and we hope this list has got you thinking about any upcoming graduation - big or small - in your life. The great thing about Paperlust is that you can take any of our graduation invitation templates, for either announcements or invitations, and alter the design to make it fit your specific event. Feel free to add images and text, as well as rearranging the colours or adding special features like real foil.
When it comes to invitation types, you can go the extra mile with something like a tri fold design, but for a graduation we usually recommend keeping it simple with a favourite design and simple wording.
Cheap graduation invitations
We understand that you’ve most likely racked up a hefty student debt over the last few years and aren’t exactly loaded. Not to worry! That’s why cheap graduation party invitations exist. College graduation party invitations don’t have to be overly fancy. A great way to keep costs down is by sticking with digital printing and steering clear of luxury printing techniques like foil stamping and letterpress. While printable graduation invitations can be a great option, make 100% sure you’re getting a high quality template and have access to a top notch printer. If you have your doubts, stick with stress free graduation invitations from Paperlust where you’re guaranteed a perfect product delivered on time, rather than taking your chances with free printable graduation invitations from an unknown site.
DIY graduation invitations
Wanting to create your own graduation invitations? Learning how to make graduation invitations depends on just how homemade you want your graduation invitations to be. Printable graduation party invitations are relatively easy as far as DIY goes, but if you want to create graduation invitations from scratch, make sure you have the craft equipment and skills needed for the task.
Make your own graduation invitations can be a really rewarding experience but you should definitely think it through before jumping in. If you find you’re lacking the necessary time, skills or equipment, DIY invites can become more of a headache than a fun activity.
Custom graduation invitation cards
The best way to get exactly what you want is to customize your own graduation ceremony invitation, especially when it comes into trifold graduation invitations. One of the best parts about shopping online for graduation invitations is that not only do you have far more options available, you can also customise your invite to fit your taste and specifications. Use Paperlust’s interactive online design tool to edit the template to your liking and see your changes in real time.
If you want something totally unique and different to any invitation you see on site, we also offer custom designs on request. Describe your idea to us and one of our artists will create a new invitation to match your vision. If you’re a creative and just need a printing company you can trust, Paperlust also provides an option to print your own design.
Graduation invitations wording
Like any piece of formal stationery, wording for graduation party invitations can be tricky. The good news is that you can usually just keep it really simple because not much information is required for this type of card. The wording for graduation invitations mainly depends on how formal or casual you want to go. If you feel like getting creative with your graduation party invitations wording, why not try a rhyming poem or funny wording?
Wondering how to address graduation invitations? While most people don’t usually include guest names on the actual card, you can simply print the names of each person invited on the envelope. To make it more formal, add titles like Ms or Doctor. To avoid confusion about who is actually invited, be sure to print actual names, as opposed to ‘To The Wilsons’ or ‘Wilson family’.
Photo graduation party invitations
When it comes to graduation invites sitting in prized position on the fridge, a picture really is worth a thousand words. Photo graduation invitations are one way to guarantee that yours are truly unique. Because graduation invites are usually so simple, a photo also makes the card more interesting. When choosing a picture for your graduation invitations, pick the best candid taken in the last 6 months, a yearbook picture or have some fun doing a photoshoot with a creative friend to get a shot you love (and are happy for plenty of people to see).
Themes/styles
The styles for you to choose from when it comes to graduation invites is limitless. To help give your creativity some direction, here is a list of top suggestions that have been popular with other grads:
- Rustic graduation invitations
- Personalized graduation invitations
- Funny graduation invitations
- Graduation bbq invitations
- Graduation cap invitations
- Unique graduation invitations
- Formal graduation invitations
- Graduation invitations featuring your school’s colours/mascot/logo
- Cute graduation invitations
- Black and gold graduation invitations
- Elegant graduation invitations
- Floral graduation invitations
- Graduation pool party invitations
The best way to choose graduation invitations is by going with the one that feels most natural. Browse our selection to see what resonates with you and start customising today!
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GRADUATION INVITATIONS
There’s nothing quite like graduation: It’s the end of an era, and your entire future stretches out before you. The idea of binning the books, tossing your cap in the air and walking off campus for the last time is exciting and nerve-wracking all at once. Whether it’s your high school graduation, university graduation, college graduation or graduation from another course, finally making it through is a huge achievement. What better occasion to bring together your nearest and dearest for a party!
GRADUATION INVITATIONS OR GRADUATION PARTY INVITATIONS?
Before you even start thinking about graduation invitations, it’s important that you know exactly what you are interested in. The term ‘graduation invitations’ is often used interchangeably with the term ‘graduation party invitations’, and mean the same thing to most people. We use them interchangeably throughout our site and this article. Technically, though, the two things are different. One invites you to the graduation itself, the other to a graduation party. If you’re not sure what you’re dealing with, ask!
The graduation proper is put on by the school, uni or other institution where you are graduating form, and tickets must be reserved or purchased through them. Students usually receive an allotted number of invitations they can make use of. This often means two invitations to purchase a ticket, intended for your parents or your partner.
A graduation party, on the other hand, takes place on your own time. You organise it yourself, invite who you like, and meet wherever you want. A graduation party is usually held on the day of graduation or sometime nearby (often the same weekend, but sometimes within a month or so) and is just another opportunity to celebrate your graduation.
In other words, your school is in charge of graduation invitations, and they’re in short supply, while you’re in charge of graduation party invitations, and there can be as many of those as you want there to be.
If you’ve never been to a graduation party (or you’ve never even heard of one!) don’t be offended. You probably just don’t live in the United States. Americans love a good graduation party, and it’s a pretty big tradition. Australians and people in other parts of the world are still coming round to the idea.
WHO SHOULD I INVITE TO MY GRADUATION PARTY?
A graduation party can be an opportunity to catch up with family and loved ones, thank your parents for their support, or kick up your feet with your classmates or friends who are also graduating. So who should you invite? You might send graduation invitations to all your friends and extended family, keep it to a close family gathering, or just plan to hit the club with your besties. It’s entirely up to you. Every graduation party is as unique as the person throwing it. Just remember to think about the practicalities: how many people will comfortably fit in the venue and can you cater for everyone?
WHEN SHOULD I SEND OUT MY GRADUATION INVITATIONS?
Like most event invitations, graduation invites should be sent out 4-6 weeks ahead of time to ensure your guests have plenty of time to make the necessary plans to attend but not so long to wait that the entire event slips their mind. Of course, if your parents or relatives are planning to travel a long distance to be part of your graduation, you should let them know dates as soon as possible. It’s entirely appropriate to do this over the phone or with an email or text message.
GRADUATION INVITATION WORDING:
Wording your graduation party invitation templates is all about clearly giving your guests all the information they need to be able to attend the celebration. What sort of information?
- Who – Make it clear who is being invited, who is graduating, and who is hosting the event (if it’s not the graduate themselves).
- What – Specify what your guest is being invited to. In this instance, that’s a graduation party! It’s good to be clear about what that entails. A family barbecue? Cocktail hour? A formal dinner? Make sure everyone knows what to expect.
- When – Guests need a date and time to be able to actually make it to the event.
- Where – Make sure the location and the address of the location are easily understood and can’t be mistaken for anywhere else.
- RSVP Information – Give guests an email address, phone number, or an RSVP card to fill out and return and let them know when you need to hear back about their attendance. The easier you make it for guests to reply
Graduating is exciting and a great milestone to mark with friends and family. If you’re throwing a graduation party for the occasion, your invitations matter! Follow these pieces of etiquette and wording advice, and your graduation party invites will be perfect.
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