The Graduation Announcement Set: 3 Pieces That Work Together
A graduation is not one printed piece, it is three moments spread over two months. Someone has to be invited, someone else has to be told, and the day itself needs a wall worth standing in front of. Printed as a set, those three pieces finally look like they belong to the same family.
The graduation announcement set is three printed pieces working in sequence. Graduation invitations mail six to eight weeks out so guests can plan travel. Graduation greeting cards announce the news to everyone outside the guest list, then return as thank you notes. Graduation banners give the ceremony party its backdrop. Share one color, one typeface and one portrait across all three and the set reads as deliberate rather than assembled.
The picks
Invitations, greeting cards and a banner, from $19.77 for 25
Start here. These are the three products the whole set is built from. Invitations start at $19.77 for 25 on 14pt gloss cover and leave in 3 business days, greeting cards at $56.02 for 50 in 5 business days. Configure them in the order below and the timeline takes care of itself.
Design and print help
One school color across card stock and banner vinyl
The set only works if every piece carries the same two colors, the same headline type and the same photo. These four tools exist to make that consistency automatic instead of something you police by hand.
How they work together
Print in the order the calendar moves
Each piece owns a stage of the season, and the stages do not overlap. Get the sequence right and nothing has to be rushed, reprinted or apologized for later.
The invitation goes first because it is the only piece with a deadline attached to other people. Relatives need lead time to book flights and take the day off.
The announcement card mails to the wider circle, the coworkers, the neighbors, the family friends who were never going to fit in the ceremony seating.
The banner anchors the photo wall, then the leftover greeting cards come back out as thank you notes once the envelopes and gifts have been opened.
1. Graduation invitations: the piece with a real deadline
The invitation is the only piece in the set that other people build plans around. Grandparents book flights, aunts request the day off, siblings move a shift. That is why it prints first and mails first, six to eight weeks ahead, long before the announcement cards or the banner exist. Everything else can be decided later.
Keep the front quiet and the back useful. Name, school and year on the face, then the logistics on the reverse where they belong, the ceremony time, the party address, the RSVP method and one line about parking. Settle the two colors before you lay anything out, because the invitation is what the other two pieces will be matched to. Our guide to color pairings that work is the fastest way to make that call.
Order more than the head count. Envelopes get ruined in handwriting, addresses get wrong, and one cousin always gets remembered late.
2. Graduation greeting cards: the announcement that travels furthest
This is the piece most families forget until it is too late to print. The announcement card goes to everyone who will never sit in the ceremony, the coworkers, the old coach, the neighbor who watched the whole thing happen from across the street. It shares news rather than requesting attendance, so it deliberately leaves the party details off.
It also has a second life. The same card is what the thank you notes get written on once the gifts arrive, which means a single print run covers both mailings if you order for both up front. A folded card gives you a blank interior panel to write on, and a good portrait crop is what makes people keep it on the fridge. The case for printed photos over screens applies here almost word for word.
Print the announcement and thank you quantities together. Reordering the second wave separately costs more and rarely matches the first run exactly.
3. Graduation banners: the backdrop every photo ends up using
The banner is the piece nobody plans and everybody photographs. Hang it behind the food table or across the garage door and it quietly becomes the background of a hundred phone pictures, which means it is doing more brand work for the day than the invitation ever will. Big type, the name, the year, and nothing else competing for space.
Size it for the wall it will actually hang on, then read it from the distance people will stand at. Keep the palette identical to the invitation, since the two pieces will end up in the same photo album. Ideas from print materials for events and the discipline in typography that carries a printed piece both transfer directly.
Order it with the rest of the set rather than three days before the party. Same color check, same shipment, and it rolls back up for the next graduate in the family.
Specs and pricing
Graduation invitation specs on 14pt gloss cover and the price ladder
The invitation sets the stock and the color that the other two pieces get matched to, so start with its specs. Everything below is live pricing, not an estimate.
| Quantity | Price Per Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 79.1¢ | $19.77 |
| 50 | 50.5¢ | $25.27 |
| 100 | 42.8¢ | $42.84 |
| 200 | 25.8¢ | $51.62 |
| 300 | 20.1¢ | $60.42 |
| 400 | 17.3¢ | $69.20 |
| 500 | 15.6¢ | $77.99 |
| 600 | 15.4¢ | $92.26 |
Wally explains the set
Three pieces, one look, printed on one timeline
Wally thinks of a graduation announcement set the way a family thinks of the season itself. First the invitation goes out, because relatives need weeks to arrange travel. Then the greeting card carries the news to everyone else, and comes back later as the thank you note. Last, the banner turns a plain wall into the spot where every photo gets taken. Same two colors, same portrait, one print order.
Shop the graduation collection →See it in use
Graduation invitations other families ordered
Explore more
Where to go next
By the numbers
One set, printed to carry the whole season
Common Questions
Common questions about the graduation announcement set
What goes in a graduation announcement set?
Three printed pieces that cover the whole arc of the event. Graduation invitations handle the ask, since ceremony seats and party space are both limited. Graduation greeting cards carry the news to everyone who is not on the guest list, and later become thank you notes. Graduation banners give the ceremony party or the backyard a printed backdrop that shows up in every photo taken that day.
When should each piece be printed and mailed?
Invitations should be in mailboxes six to eight weeks before the ceremony, which means printing them roughly two months out. Announcement greeting cards go out once the graduation is confirmed, typically the week of or the week after, so the date on the card is never wrong. The banner only needs to arrive before the party, but ordering it with the rest saves a second shipment and a second color check.
Do I really need all three pieces?
You can graduate with one of them, but each one covers a gap the others leave open. Send only invitations and the coworkers and distant relatives never hear the news. Send only announcement cards and nobody knows when to show up. Skip the banner and the party photos have a blank wall behind them. The set exists because those three audiences and three moments do not overlap.
How do I keep all three pieces looking like one set?
Lock three things and repeat them everywhere. First, two colors, usually the school color plus a warm neutral, used in the same proportion on every piece. Second, one headline typeface for the name and the year, with a plain second face for the details. Third, a single portrait, cropped the same way, printed on the same paper family. Our guide to color pairings is a fast way to settle the palette before anything goes to press.
Should the invitation and the announcement card say the same thing?
No, and this is where most sets go wrong. The invitation is a request with logistics attached, the date, the time, the address, the RSVP method and any parking note. The announcement card is a statement, not a request. It carries the name, the school, the degree or diploma, the year and a photo, and it deliberately leaves out the party details so nobody feels invited by accident.
What does a graduation announcement set cost to print?
There is no package price. Every piece is quoted on its own product page, so the number you see already reflects the quantity, the size and the stock you picked. Graduation invitations start at $19.77 for 25 on 14pt gloss cover, graduation greeting cards at $56.02 for 50, and graduation banners at $79. Build the quantities you actually need on each page, since the per piece cost drops noticeably as the run grows and most families under order invitations.
Can I add more pieces for a bigger party?
Yes. The three piece set is the working core, not a limit. Larger parties usually add table signage, a photo backdrop in a second size, or extra greeting cards for the thank you wave. Everything in the graduation collection is printed on the same presses, so an addition ordered later still matches the original run.
Get Started
Order 25 graduation invitations from $19.77 with the announcement
Order the invitations, the greeting cards and the banner from 4OVER4.COM in one pass. One color check, one shipping window, and three pieces that finally look like they were planned together.
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