Today our governor announced schools will be closed for the rest of the school year. Learning will still continue but the physical schools closed and along with that, all school activities canceled including graduation ceremonies. Whether your child is a senior, graduating from middle school or kindergarten, we all have been looking forward to this exciting celebration. My heart goes out to seniors as they will miss so many events like prom, walking across the stage, graduation parties and senior week.
So what can we do to make our kid’s graduation special?
I’ve brainstormed a few ideas and plan on adding to this list so keep checking back. Also please share if you have ideas to add. We’re all in this together – let’s figure out how to make these grads feel special.
- Have friends and family send video messages and edit the clip together to create a graduation movie. Ask everyone to talk about a favorite memory of the graduate or their best advice
- order graduation lawn signs
- decorate your front door as a tribute to your soon to be graduate. Decorate it in their school colors. Represent their school clubs and teams, school photos, etc. Hang up their lettermen’s jacket or sports jersey. If they’re off to college next, fly their college’s team flag.
- Hold a zoom or Facebook live graduation party
- Ask friends and families to join in for a drive-by caravan. Decorate the cars with balloons in their school colors and make signs, honk their horns, or play music.
- Create custom graduation sweets such as custom M&Ms or chocolate-covered Oreos and mail out to friends and family with graduation announcements. Involve your graduate in designing the treat. School colors and the year or how about your grads face printed on candy?
- Go ahead with creating graduation announcements even if there is no physical ceremony. Mail out to friends and family – include a note about how they can help your graduate’s day feel special. Right now it’s up in the air if schools will be holding a delayed ceremony for the seniors but either way, they still graduate at the end of the school year even if there is no walking across the stage ceremony.
- Work together with the class teachers, room parents, and PTA to see what can be done as a class. Is it possible to hold a virtual graduation ceremony or celebration? How about a video that represents that class? My son’s class was already planning a video for the 8th-grade graduation where every student had to submit photos and hopefully, this will still be created and shareable.
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I can’t imagine how hard it is for kids graduating this year… but these are such great ideas!
Hi, My son is graduating college in three weeks and with COVID-19 we are at a loss for something special to do for him. He really doesn’t want a party, not that we could have one now anyway. He is handling this whole situation okay. My heart breaks for him right now. We were thinking about a trip when this mess is all over with, but that seems risky as well. Mom always seems to figure this stuff out, but I am truly at a loss. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Great ideas!!! These are really very strange times we find ourselves in! I agree with you that many people will miss out on a lot this year as a result of this pandemic, but with innovative ideas like yours it should help bring a bit of joy in these times.
Thank you for the wonderful ideas. My son is very disappointed in not being able to walk across the stage for graduation. Please share more ideas.
Just like the rest of you, we are heartbroken as well. I went online and ordered a graduation cap. At least she can have the fun of decorating it. We will go over to the empty campus and take some pictures with her cap and favorite college T.
I’m going to do the same for my son (no cap since its 8th grade) but waiting until he gets a haircut because this #coronahair is out of control, lol
I plan to decorate the house in her school colors, graduation banners, a video of her college years, I’m going to make her put on her cap & gown, have the drive-by of friends & family. Then we will stand at the podium to make speeches about her and have her speak too. I hope she enjoys it.
where are you getting the podium?
My son is very disappointed he can’t cross the stage to graduate and go to prom he also had future ahead of him to go to Bahamas to play basketball now with the Covid19 it messes all up . imy heart breaks for him
Your first suggestion of having friends and family send a video messages & combine in a movie sounds great but could you please give some clues on how to do that. What mode are they to send messages? Do you need or recommend an app for combining into one?