Invite friends and family to your high school graduation with personalized announcements from Jostens.
Whether you’re inviting guests to the actual graduation ceremony or just want to spread the happy news with faraway friends and relatives, graduation announcements are a great way to recognize and share a graduate’s achievements.
Because most of us don’t send formal invitations on a regular basis, announcement etiquette can be confusing. If you’re not sure how to address your guests or which envelope goes where, check out these guidelines:
Name Cards
- Name Cards are the socially correct way to create personalized announcements. You’ll need one for each graduation announcement.
- Spell out your entire name. If you’re a junior, the card can say "Jr." or "Junior." If you’re a second, use "2nd" or "II." You may also use "Ms." "Mr." or "Miss".
Announcements
- Include your name card with your graduation announcement. If your school requires tickets to attend the graduation ceremony, you can also include them with your announcement.
- Some graduates include a senior picture, tucked behind the name card.
- The inner envelope holds the graduation announcement. You can address this informally, such as "Grandma" or "Uncle John." If you are hosting a high school graduation party, consider inserting your party invitation or open house card into the graduation announcement. You can also mail them separately.
- Formally address the mailing envelope by hand. Use titles like "Ms." or "Dr." Spell out words completely, rather than using abbreviations ("Street" rather than "St.").
- Slip the announcement fold first and face up into the small inner envelope. Do not lick or tuck in the inner envelope flap.
- Slip the inner envelope into the mailing envelope, so that both flaps face the same way.
- Write your return address on the envelope flap or use pre-printed return address labels.
- If you’re sending some graduation announcements simply to spread the news and don’t want people to feel obligated to buy you a gift, write "No gifts please" at the bottom of the announcement. These announcements can be sent before or after the event.
- If the graduation announcements are being sent as invitations to a graduation party or the ceremony itself, mail them via first class mail. They should arrive at least two weeks prior to graduation day.
Name and Titles
- Address correspondence to a woman who keeps her maiden name as “Ms. Mary Smith.” If Mary Smith uses her married name, she should be addressed as “Mrs. John Doe.”
- Some married couples join their last names with a hyphen. Customarily, the woman’s name comes first, so correspondence is address to “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith-Doe.”
- When a woman’s husband dies, she usually does not change her name and therefore continues to be “Mrs. Adam White.” “Mrs. Jane White” would indicate that she’s divorced.
- “Ms.” is a term that applies to a single or married woman. When in doubt, Ms. is always appropriate.
