Like a wedding, a graduation is a time to celebrate with loved ones. A graduation is always a special time for students and their friends and families. Whether you have a student who is graduating from kindergarten or college, you will likely want to tell everyone in your close circle of friends about your child’s upcoming celebration! For this reason, graduation announcements offer a simple way to spread the word about the important details so that people can attend your students’ graduation and join in the festivities.
However, many people like to personalize invitations and announcements, regardless of the type of event. Fortunately, DIY graduation announcements are affordable, easy, and more personal than premade announcements that you can buy from the store. So, in today’s guide, we are going to help you create one-of-a-kind DIY graduation announcements!
Benefits Of Homemade Graduation Announcements
You may be tempted to simply run by your nearest gift store or grocery store to pick up graduation announcement cards because it seems like the fastest option. If you don’t have a lot of time before the graduation date, you may have very few other options. However, there are various reasons to consider DIY announcements and forego the generic options available for purchase:
- Customization – Like most DIY projects, DIY graduation invitations can be completely customized based on your needs and available resources. For example, if you want to request invitees to dress in certain attire, it is far easier to do so with a DIY announcement. Additionally, you have more freedom to choose the kind of card stock or material you use. Alternatively, a generic announcement will come with preset designs, text, colors, and images. This only gives you so much room to customize your announcement cards and invitations.
- Reduced Cost – If you want to make your own graduation invitations, it is far more cost-effective than buying premade cards. This is because you can buy the essential card stock and materials in bulk at a reduced rate. Since these products will have little or no existing designs, they will have a far lower price. Additionally, you are doing the “labor” of creating the designs and content of the announcements yourself, which means that you are trading a bit of your time to save on the cost of premade cards.
- Personalization – While DIY announcements allow you to customize the cards based on your needs, they also allow you to create highly personalized pieces of art. You don’t have to just stick to the basics with generic lettering and images. Instead, you can really get your creative juices flowing and make the card reflect the interests of the student who is graduating, their school, or your family as a whole.
- Easy Reproduction – It is not always easy to find the correct number of premade graduation invitations, especially if you wait until the last minute. In fact, you might only be able to find a handful of premade announcements that meet your standards. If you plan on inviting dozens of people, this could make it extremely difficult to get the word out to everyone on time. Fortunately, DIY invitations and graduation announcements allow you to buy the materials in bulk and create either individualized or copied versions of your own design. This way, you can create the exact number of announcements you need.
How To Make Your Own Graduation Announcements
Contrary to popular belief, it can be very easy to create your own graduation announcements. It all depends on the type of invitations and announcements you want to send out. Some people prefer simple, classic graduation announcement ideas, while others want something more modern and extravagant. Either way, if you plan to do DIY announcements, you will want to ensure that the final products are unique.
For this reason, it is best to start with the basics. To make DIY announcements, you simply need card stock and envelopes. You can write each invitation individually, ensuring that every card has a personal touch. Many people appreciate handwritten cards and invitations far more than preprinted cards. So, if you have good handwriting and are willing to spend a little extra time on your announcements, writing them out by hand is the best and most cost-effective option.
If you are handy with graphic design, you should also consider creating digital images and writing to print on each card. This may require you to have a card stock printer or utilize a third-party printing service. However, it will allow you to customize and personalize your card even further with images of your student, logos from the school, or other imagery that befits the event.
Finally, you can always create unique designs using additional decorations and items. A few good ideas to consider are ribbons, buttons, seasonal decorations, and customized stamps. You should also consider changing the shape of your cards. Most announcements are either square or rectangular, but you could trim the edges or create innovative shapes. Just make sure your cards fit in standard envelopes if you plan to send them out by mail!
What To Write On A Graduation Announcement
The key is to remember all of the important details. Who is graduating? When is the graduation ceremony? Where is it taking place? Who is receiving the invitation? Once you have answered all of these questions in the announcement, you can worry about lesser details like parking, attire, and other useful but non-essential information. In any case, the “who, when, and where” are always the most important details to include. If people do not know who is graduating, as well as when and where the ceremony and/or graduation party are taking place, they will not know what to do with the announcement. Then, all of your hard work will have been for nothing!
Therefore, you don’t want to leave any room for confusion. This means that graduation announcement wording is extremely important. For example, if you are not clear in the announcement, some people may think they are invited to a grad party when they are actually invited to a graduation ceremony, or vice versa. Thus, you should always make it clear exactly what you are announcing. Additionally, if you are inviting people to a graduation ceremony, be sure to note if there is an after-party or no party at all. It is always best to leave nothing to the imagination when it comes to DIY graduation announcements!
It is also important to remember that not all graduation announcements are also invitations. Sometimes you simply want to tell everyone you know that your loved one is graduating and you are proud of them! In this case, you will likely want to write a personalized note that gets straight to the point. To make it clear that it is not an invitation, you can include a phrase like “we just wanted to let you know the great news!” This way, people are less likely to get confused or start asking about times, dates, and locations.
Ready to create your next DIY graduation announcement or invitation for your student? If so, be sure to check out our high-quality card stock and paper on Fine Card Stock today, and let us know how you put our card stock to good use!