1 or 6

It's elementary school, we don't need to celebrate every stupid little thing in life.

I like all of the options listed sans #3 and maybe #6.

Anonymous wrote:My oldest child will be graduating from elementary school next week. The school is having some sort of virtual graduation followed by some in person party at school.

How would you celebrate?

1. Family only dinner. Maybe some balloons at home.
2. Small backyard party with a few of child’s closest friends
3. Family friend party (have not thrown or attended one since covid)
4. Hangout for his friends only on a Friday night
5. Outing to a place like Top Golf, paintball or Dave and busters
6. Nothing. It is just elementary school.

6

Graduation is for high school and college. Not preschool, not kindergarten, not 5th or 8th grade.

I like all of your options except for 6. This has been a crap year for all kids but missing (most of) the final year with your friends where you have spent your elementary years sucks and these kids deserve to be celebrated. I know all schools are different but at our school, 5th grade is where they are able to be patrols and they have special 5th grade play and a big 5th grade party on the last day and the clap-out and they didn't get to do any of it. It may not seem like a big deal to an adult but to a kid, they've watched the kids before them do it for 5 years and it's finally their turn. Maybe some kids don't care but a lot do and I think they deserve some way of being celebrated. At least do a family dinner or an outing--you have to eat anyway, what's the harm in a cake and some balloons?

FWIW, I'm not a mom of a 5th grader. But I am a PTA president who is doing everything I can to make sure our 5th graders are celebrated because they deserve it and it makes them happy.

Our school district in PA only has 12th grade graduation. My twins were class of 2020 - celebrate all the milestones as you don’t know what will happen. A party may be over the top for 5th or 8th grade but definitely a dinner or some type of family celebration is warranted. I am not complaining - even though my kids didn’t get the official ceremony, the district did a great job celebrating them and we did a lot at home so it was special.

Just lunch, of course we celebrate the other promotions at the same time. It’s not a graduation. We are really just happy to be finished for the year, no matter the grade.

We took child and their BFFs to lunch. With DS, it was just the boys. With DD, the friends' parents came too.