By BRENDAN HALL
As the school year comes to a close and the seniors edge closer and closer to graduation, students and teachers’ calendars are filling up with endless graduation parties, lunches, dinners, sleepovers and everything in-between.
Graduation is a once-in-a-lifetime event and the celebration and ceremony should be just as spectacular. A graduation party is a student’s last hurrah, one of the remaining opportunities for individuals to gather their closest and most influential people of adolescence in one area to celebrate such a major achievement.
And with so many parties to go to, it is inevitable that one of them will be excruciatingly painful due to the level of boredom, the rudeness of guests, the permanent awkward feeling from not knowing anybody, or any combination of the three. And just as no person wants to attend such a party, even fewer want to be the one hosting it.
So, in order to avoid both, here is a list of courtesies and etiquette that anyone attending or hosting a graduation event, or graduation itself, should follow.
Know the event: Not every graduation event is a party; people often have small lunches, dinners, get-togethers and smaller events, and each one requires a different attitude and comes with different rules. A graduation party is extremely casual; invitees can wear basketball shorts, tank tops and clothing of that nature. However, with a lunch or dinner, nice shorts or jeans and a polo or button-up shirt should be worn. Where parties are usually composed mostly of friends, lunches and dinners often include the host’s relatives and adult family friends, so it is important to make a nice impression and not be underdressed.
In addition to clothing, punctuality differs between the two events as well. Parties usually go on for 4-6 hours and have people rotating in and out the entire time, so being on time is not critical. Although it is nice to show up at the beginning, people are more than welcome to show up and leave when convenient to have fun and relax with friends.
A lunch or dinner is a completely different scenario; it is extremely rude to show up late to a lunch, and the individual should only leave early if the host was notified prior to the event. Lunches and dinners are far more personal, and should be treated as such.
Be a host first: A graduation party is supposed to be all about the individual(s) graduating; it is their shining moment, a chance for people to walk up all day and utter the same congratulations. However, the person throwing the party needs to always remember to be a host before being the center of attention. It is vital that the host greet all of the guests individually and make sure that they feel welcome; it is extremely rude for a host to be narcissistic and self-consumed and only hang out with his closest friends.
The other key component of being a good host is introducing people who don’t know each other. A graduation event can include family members from across the country, distant family friends and high schoolers so it is only polite to prevent awkwardness and introduce everyone. All a host has to do is introduce the members of a group to other people and let them carry on a conversation from there; this gets people acquainted and provides a more relaxed atmosphere for people who may not know most of the guests.
Send thank you cards: Thank you cards are a forgotten courtesy; few people send them nowadays even though they are a kind and polite response when a guest attends an event. People often bring gifts to graduation events, so to properly thank them for attending or for their gift every person should mail thank you cards. Typically thank you cards should be postmarked within a week following the event, but graduation season is extremely busy for most students so within two weeks is reasonable.
Be respectful at graduation: There is nothing more annoying than loud and obnoxious people at graduation whose selfishness spoils other graduates’ moments. Hearing a person’s name called to get his diploma is an emotional and personal moment for both the graduates and their families, and every year several students miss it because of rude shouting and air horns.
Under no circumstances should a family member or friend bring an air horn as the blast will drown out the following seniors name, thus ruining a pivotal moment in his and his families life. Air horns are juvenile and unnecessary, and anyone carrying one at graduation is rude beyond comparison.
By adhering to these simple rules, everyone will have an enjoyable and successful graduation season; one that is memorable for the right reasons.