I have to get a new phone, which I’m not happy about because the ONLY REASON I need one is that you know the little thingie the charging cable plugs into? THAT broke. I hate when it’s something like that. But also Paul says my phone is about 7 years out of date anyway, so I think he’s glad of the excuse to replace it.
The only upside is that I got to choose a new phone case. I liked my old one a lot, but it had a couple of pieces broken off of it, and it won’t fit the new phone. I know some of you like to see people’s phone cases, so here’s the case I used to have:
(image from EBay.com)
And here are the two I ordered for my new phone:
(image from EBay.com)
(image from EBay.com)
I feel I should say, though, that there weren’t many OPTIONS. It’s an Android phone, and there just aren’t as many cases available for those. So these are not necessarily The Cases of My True Heart—more like, my favorites from what was available.
I want to talk next about yearbooks. I have to make a decision about them. For TWELVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS we will have at least one child in high school. High school yearbooks cost $60, and that’s with the early-ordering discount. Let’s not even address that craziness, because that’s an unchangeable feature of this decision. What I want to address is this: what should my yearbook strategy be? Here are some of the factors:
When I was in high school, ordering yearbooks was VERY VERY IMPORTANT to me, one of my favorite parts of the whole school year. I still have all four yearbooks, although I find I only really need the junior and senior ones; the freshman and sophomore ones live in the basement, but the junior and senior ones are on a bookshelf. Yearbooks are NOT very important to the two kids in high school right now. But THEIR yearbooks ARE important to ME. That is, I want those yearbooks for myself, to look up their friends and my friends’ kids and so forth.
When I was in high school, ordering yearbooks was up to me: if I wanted them, I could pay for them with my own money. But they were only $20-25 then, and I think the senior one was free.
Also, my parents didn’t care AT ALL about my yearbooks, whereas I DO get excited about my children’s yearbooks.
So those are some of the then/now issues.
Another issue: sometimes more than one child will be in school at once. For example, this year Rob and William are both in high school. When the little ones are in high school, some years there will be THREE in high school at once. Spending $180 on three copies of the same yearbook feels…not right.
It’s hard to figure out. I’d thought what I’d do is just buy a yearbook each year, and have it belong to the household. This plan results in 12 total yearbooks. But then no one gets to take their yearbooks with them when they leave home. And no one gets to have their friends sign their yearbooks.
Or I could decide to buy a yearbook for each child each year. That would be 20 total yearbooks, and they could have their friends sign them. But then they’d take the yearbooks with them when they left home, and I wouldn’t have any. I don’t ACTUALLY NEED any, but I do want them. But I don’t want them badly enough to make it 32 total yearbooks; I can always ask a child to scan a page for me if I really need it.
Wait, I think I’ve figured out what I should do. I think I should buy one yearbook for each of the 12 years we’ll have at least one kid in high school, and have those be Household Property. And then I think I should buy each kid their own senior yearbook. That would be 17 total yearbooks, and I’d have access to a set, but they’d have something for their friends to sign senior year.
I’d be interested to know what you’d do. I’d also be interested to know if you have your high school yearbooks, and if your experience is the same as mine: i.e., that you use the senior one a LOT to look people up, and the junior one SOME to look people up (people who graduated the year ahead, mostly), but that the freshman and sophomore ones are not as useful.
I have all 4 yearbooks from high school and that was very important to me at the time. I was in a lot of extra curriculars and wanted the record of all of that. I also wanted to be able to have my friends sign them. They now reside somewhere in a box in the basement and I hardly ever look at them. Maybe every once in a while for nostalgia sake. If it is important to you to have them, then I say buy one for yourself/the household. If it is important to the child to have one perhaps they can buy their own. I do like the idea of buying them a senior yearbook, sort of in the same vein of a class ring, it’s just something to remember that time with.
I have all four yearbooks and it was super important at the time – everyone exchanged even freshman yearbooks to sign and I would’ve felt very sad without one. That being said, I went to a very small school for freshman and sophomore year so the entire school signed each other’s books. I think today I’d feel oddly sad if I didn’t have them but in reality, I have looked at it MAYBE twice since graduating nearly 15 years ago. I remember as a kid LOVING to go through my mom’s old yearbooks, so if nothing else I look forward to sharing them with my children someday.
I have all my high school yearbooks and I rarely look people up. I do, however, sometimes enjoy looking back over the pictures and the signatures of my friends.
I think I was like you in that I loved my yearbooks. I also still have all my middle school ones and at least one elementary one. My kids (currently 6th, 8th and 10th) seem a little less enthused and the signature pages are not nearly as interesting as mine used to me. Although I haven’t actually seen the signatures in the oldest’s first high school year book.
My brother and I were both in high school one year — his senior year. My parents ordered a third copy to keep; they also ordered one of their own my senior year.
So far, we’re ordering yearbooks every year for every kid. Even though the high school one cost ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!! last year. I’m even more frustrated by that when I saw it and discovered that there are NO advertising pages. Which means that the purchasers are bearing the entire cost of the books (which are lovely and all color printed and huge) and there are none of those pages of local business ads for signing on. We are not ordering yearbooks to keep at home after they move out. I don’t know if that plan will change when he’s a senior. Probably not for that price.
Does it matter to your kids whether they have something for their friends to sign? There was one year I forgot to send in the money for yearbooks in elementary school; the 5th grader that year was in hysterics on yearbook hand-out day and the school called to tell me they had ordered a few extras and did I want one for her. (Thank you, school!) I bought two — one for her and one for the 3rd grader that year. Turned out the 3rd grader didn’t care.
My yearbooks were really important to me at the time and I’m glad I have them–they came with me when I left home. BUT, they don’t seem to be as important to my daughters. They don’t really get into signing them like we did, and while they like looking at them when they first bring them home, they don’t get much use beyond that first day or two. That may be just how it works at my kids’ school; other students in other areas may really still get into signing yearbooks. But if I were you, before I sprung for multiple copies, I’d find out what the culture is at the high school and whether that’s an Important Thing or something that isn’t really done anymore.
Also: $60!! That’s expensive!
I loved having my yearbooks Every year I was in school – here they start in Kindergarten -so I have 13 and I love them and got them all signed by all my friends every year.
I have 3 kids and they seem to feel (without having seen mine) the same way. The kids that are in elem. school together each want their own, and it doesn’t feel right to deny them the yearly keepsake? They love having their friends sign it – and the next year, they will usually go back and look up new friends in old books?
So sadly, that’s buying 3 a year for 13 years for me :-( BUT I do enjoy looking through all of theirs and having them handy (i refuse to think of a day where they do not all 3 live here! ;-) ).
I think your idea is awesome. My husband only kept his senior one. I have all four but am really only interested in my Senior year one. Of course way back when we were in High School I don’t think they cost anything or if it did it was very minimal. Your kids may not be interested now, but they might appreciate their Senior one later on in life. And having one for every year you have a kid in high school would appeal to me!
This conversation is very interesting so far. Most people are saying their kids are not very interested in signing yearbooks now. I know it was a huge deal when I was in high school in the 1990s. I wonder if that is something that has changed since we entered the digital age of text messages, Facebook walls, and other online places where you have digital records of your friends….
I was going to ask if social media has changed how teenagers view yearbooks?
I LOVE SEEING PEOPLE’S PHONE CASES. I also like to have more than, depending on whether I want it to be a conversation piece (college alma mater) or not.
I only have my high school senior yearbook (parents would not buy the first three and I wasn’t interested enough to foot the bill), but I can tell you that I rarely, if ever, look at it. I was part of the first college freshman class that had Facebook (it was only at select schools then, and only available with a .EDU address. It was also still called “The Facebook” and there were no photo albums or walls, but I digress). Because I was able to friend high school classmates there, I’ve never actually looked anyone up in my yearbook. I’d be surprised if today’s high schoolers were interested in using a paper yearbook to look up their friends later in life – I’m guessing most of them have Facebook (/Instagram/Snapchat/Etc.), unless they’re not allowed to.
For reference, I wasn’t terribly popular in high school, so my overall level of desire to reconnect with high school classmates is low.
Anyway, my advice is to buy yourself the books you want, offer to buy your children their senior yearbooks, and see what they say. You might save yourself some cash! (Oh, and 10+ years ago, even with advertising, my yearbook was at least $60. Ugh.)
i was on yearbook staff all through high school, so I have all four years (plus the year AFTER I graduated because it had my class’s graduation and prom photos in it) of yearbooks, all with my name engraved on them because staff had its privilege, yo.
Neither one of my boys gave a fig about yearbooks, but I did “require” (and by “require” I mean I ordered and paid for) they buy their senior yearbook. For memories or whatever.
So we have five years of elementary yearbooks, two years of middle school yearbooks, and then….nothing until the last year. They’re still taking all of them when they move out.
For me, the most fun part of getting my yearbook every year was having people sign it. I think that even if your kids don’t care right now about having their own yearbook, they might feel differently once all their friends have yearbooks for people to sign and they don’t. (But then again I don’t personally know your kids so I could be wrong about that.) That said, 20 (or more!) total yearbooks is A LOT, especially since most high school yearbooks tend to be huge.
Ohh, I just had an idea! What if you only bought one yearbook per year (excluding senior yearbooks) and each kid got a few pages for their friends to sign? Then they could trade off who got to take the yearbook to school to have their friends sign. If there aren’t enough autograph pages for that, perhaps each kid could get a little notebook for their friends to write notes in. (I recall having friends in high school who didn’t buy the yearbook, so they just stapled some pieces of paper together and had their friends sign that.)
Is it just me, or does it seem like the yearbook companies are intentionally ignoring the digital revolution? Surely there could be a cloud type version available, at a lower cost, perhaps a set fee per download? A million years ago, I got all four yearbooks, though I can’t remember who paid for them (guess that means it was my parents). I find them painful, but interesting enough to put on a bookshelf in the basement.
I skipped the HS ring (glad) and the jacket (glad).
My parents only bought senior yearbooks for each child. I enjoyed having it and having everyone sign it, but it wasn’t terribly important to me. I didn’t care about not having the other three years. Right now my yearbook is on the bookshelf within five feet of me and I don’t think I’ve looked at it in 10 years. I almost decluttered it once, but my husband violently opposed the decluttering of his own yearbook, so I kept mine too, on the premise maybe the kids will like looking at them.
If I want to look someone up, that’s what Facebook is for ;-)
I nearly decluttered it too, but the hand-written messages are so hard to release!
We did a yearbook exchange at work a few years ago – people brought in their senior yearbooks and we had a blast looking through them. So hilarious to see my studious and professional cubical-buddy in his old track gear leaping over hurdles, elbows askew. Some co-workers were surprised we still had them; the rest of us were horrified that they would get rid of the sacred senior year book. (Although my senior yearbook came out after school ended so it’s the only one un-signed. Sob.)
The senior yearbook coming out after school ends phenomenon was basically the biggest bummer ever when I was that age.
Yearbooks are very important to me and they were a really big deal. I graduated in 1998 and all of mine are on an accessible bookshelf. I reference them quite a bit (also I love looking at all the signatures and such.) Ours were $70 and were only available as pre-order. My parents have no interest in them and we had to purchase our own (though they paid for half our senior year respectively for both my brother and I.) Freshman year I could not pay $70 of my OWN with such short notice (I had no idea payment in full was required the second week of school.) I did not get one and I still have major regrets.
Does Paul also have his yearbooks? I ask because I have my yearbooks, and my sister and mom both have theirs, but my father, brother and husband do not. I think getting/signing/reflecting upon yearbooks may be more of a girl thing. You may just have to double up for the Elizabeth years.
I like your new phone cases. My case is clear plastic, because my phone is green and I am boring.
I only got yearbooks my last two years of high school and then I lost the senior one at some point, so all I have is the junior one. I did like getting people to sign it and I look at it now. I wish I had the senior one.
I have only my sophomore yearbook. I’m not even sure I’m in my sophomore yearbook; I arrived a few months into the school year. Granted, I left before senior year, but still. I probably should have bought 11th grade. On the other hand, I keep wishing I would just let myself get rid of the 10th grade yearbook. It takes up space and I don’t enjoy the thought of it.
I can see the value of yearbooks, but it likely depends on how you experienced high school. I’m 25 and already forgetting high school friends’ names. On the other hand, I didn’t keep in touch with anyone after I left. On purpose. I haven’t even been back to the state, though that was more coincidental.
My mom was willing to buy my senior yearbook, but I had to buy the others. I got one all four years but haven’t looked at them since I graduated. I think I will offer to buy my boys their senior book, but probably not the others unless they care. Other things we did not buy in high school, which I do not regret not owning and probably won’t buy for my kids: class ring, letter jacket, senior photos.
Reference point: I’m the class of 2004. We didn’t even have a physical senior yearbook, we got a set of two senior yeardisks, CD-ROM. Pros: all color, tons of photos including pictures of most of us when we were very young, all clubs got as much space as they wanted, some nice essays, etc. Cons: nothing to sign! Nothing to hold! I think I may have misplaced it!
I have yearbooks from all three years of middle school, and I love them dearly. But it’s only for the signatures. Facebook is a placeholder for everything else. (Of note: my 10 year reunion was ridiculous, because we’d been observing each other via Facebook for the past decade. There was hardly anything new to talk about!)
Yearbooks: I say buy a set for you, and buy a senior yearbook for the kids if they want one. Maybe get a nice journal or smashbook each year so they can have their friends sign it. This suggestion may trend girlier, but maybe offer to get some photos printed off their cell phones so they can make a super simple scrapbook (literally just glued photos and signatures). I think that might end up being more meaningful.
Just for fun, here’s a pinterest board of all the phone covers I was considering when I got my new phone. I dithered for AGES, but that was pleasant too. I ended up buying the first two.
https://www.pinterest.com/dachong/iphone-6-cases/
Yearbooks don’t exist in the UK (or at least they didn’t in any of the many schools I attended back in the 80s) but whenever I see them in US films or TV shows I think how nice they look… I did, however, always imagine that they were just for the last year.
I appreciate that this comment is extremely unhelpful, but it’s just really to let you know that I understand why YOU would want them – I think they would fascinate me, personally. But kids… who knows what they want, really?!
My husband and I each have 4 high school yearbooks AND 4 college yearbooks. That’s 16 total, all hardcover, thick & heavy. We have lived in 7 houses in the past 13 years, and moved and re-shelved all these yearbooks with us each time. How many times have we each looked in any of those yearbooks in this decade and a half? Two. Maybe three. I know if my own parents had gotten their own copy they would have either passed them on to me or tossed them a loooooong time ago. They’re still in touch with my closest high school friends on Facebook, and that’s enough for them.
I *do* buy both of my 2 elementary-aged kids their own yearbooks every year, but only because they’re softcovered and less than $20. And also because my 6-grader is in her 6th school, with her 6th set of friends in that school (we’re a military family). If they were not interested, I wouldn’t buy them, but they still pull them out every few months to remember their friends and classmates that they no longer see (they’re not old enough for social media).
We have hopefully just moved for the final time in my kids’ school-year lives, which means that from now on they’ll likely have the same general group of kids with them until they graduate. I have fewer kids than you do and they’re 4 years apart in school, so for us it’s only purchasing 1 big yearbook each year for 8 consecutive years. If I were in your situation, however, I’d probably institute a policy wherein you agree to purchase a copy for their senior year, and if they want one from any other year they have to pay for it themselves, either with money they’ve earned from an afterschool/weekend job, babysitting, or extra chores around the home/community. A kid who’s willing to part with 60 of their own hard-earned dollars REALLY wants a yearbook.
I have all five yearbooks (Gr. 8-12) and it was a Very Big Deal at the time – everyone exchanged yearbooks every year to sign and I would’ve felt very sad without one or if I couldn’t ask people to sign mine. I probably pull out my senior yearbook once every 7 years or so and flip through it. It’s not a reference book I use very often. :)
I will have kids in high school for seven consecutive years and I’m pretty certain I will be buying them yearbooks every year. THEIR yearbooks aren’t as important to me (at this point, anyway, with one in Gr 4 and one in Gr 2) and I will be able to use theirs to look things up if need be, so I won’t be buying a copy of theirs for myself.
Oh, and forgot to say I love your old fox phone case. It’s hard to choose and when nothing is perfect? *sadness*
I have this case: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/212353027/usa-seller-tribal-iphone-case-aztec (but without the monogram – I just have a “C” in cursive in the lower right corner). I preferred my previous one (https://www.etsy.com/ca/transaction/156910617) from this Etsy store, but they didn’t sell it any more when I upgraded my phone. :( My main criterion was that it be easily spotted when lying on a messy table.
I think you need a plan for three scenarios:
1) There is only one child in high school and they want to have their friends sign the “family” book.
2) There are two/three children in high school, one/two of which want to have a yearbook for friends to sign and one/two of which are indifferent
3) There are two/three children in high school, both/all of which want to have a yearbook for friends to sign.
I think its less important to plan for how your children will feel later in life about whether they want to have a yearbook in their homes. Adult level wistfulness of regretting they don’t have a complete set to put on a shelf or peruse seems less severe than teenage level feeling left out if everyone else is signing yearbooks and they aren’t…and for whatever its worth, I think I have all of them, and enjoying looking at them (mostly for the signatures, my friends weren’t really yearbook committee people), but they’re also one of the last things that I own that I haven’t bothered to move from my parents’ house.
I had no idea/recollection that there were yearbooks outside of high school. I personally used to love looking at my parents’ yearbooks, when I myself was in junior high/high school. But I can only recall looking in my own one single time in the 20 years since I graduated: when a guy working in a Firestone claimed we went to school together. I didn’t remember him, and he wasn’t in the yearbook. So that wasn’t even helpful.
I honestly would have thought that social media would make them just about obsolete. Why would I look at their class photo, when I can just look up their Facebook or Instagram? It’s not like the yearbook has their address or a way to contact them, so I just don’t see the point. If it was somebody I cared about, surely I have my own photos of them to reminisce.
If it were me, I would order a household senior yearbook for each kid, and if any kids want others, offer to split or subsidize the cost.
But… But.. Don’t all yearbooks also contain pictures of dances, parades, friends hanging out at lockers, assemblies, gym class, updates to the buildings/grounds, teachers (especially those retiring), clubs meetings and sports events, etc etc? And little articles about fashion trends, pop culture and news stories from that year? Those are the things I love most from mine. And I also went to a small school (graduating class of 174, Class of ’99) so there were always a least a few pictures of me at school events in there, even as a freshman. I’d be so disappointed not to be able to look back on those. I have all 4 yearbooks and look back on them equally. I had friends older and younger and I like being able to see photos of/with them in the various yearbooks.
As a side note, my family was pretty low income and I never even thought about how much those yearbooks may have cost. I’m going to have to ask my mom now. And thank her.
Ed and I both have all 4 of our yearbooks and they live on one of the shelves in our living room. They were super important then and they’re kind of neat to look at now. So far we’ve made it to middle school and so far nobody has really cared about their yearbook. I find that I care though, same as you.
I wonder if social media will have any impact on how relevant yearbooks will be for our kids as they get older. We have a similar span of time in high school between all of our kids, so yeah. It could definitely get spendy.
When I was in school, everyone got yearbooks. I would have felt left out during the signature collecting part. I never looked at them after. We took them when we moved because we took almost all of our stuff.
We (I have 2 siblings) had several years where all 3 of us were in school at the same time. My parents bought us each yearbooks. I don’t even recall my mom asking if we wanted them, she just wrote the cheque along with the ones for the agenda. (the agenda annoyed me because I didn’t want it but then felt obligated to use it because my mom had spent perfectly good money on it. What was wrong with my perfectly good system of writing all my homework down in my class binder? Actually, that was a really good system). My mom based many decisions on, ‘if one child gets something, all children get something, not necessarily the same thing’. Interestingly, none of us were that concerned about what our siblings got, but maybe that was because my mom was careful?
I only have one child. I’ll wait and see how he feels about yearbooks. Might just do grade 11 and 12.
Signing yearbooks was a big thing at my school, so it was important to have one’s own copy to pass around to friends. All of my yearbooks still reside at my parents’ house, as do my older brother’s, and I enjoy having all four years’ worth of mine since things changed a fair amount over that time, plus each book shows highlights from the year in sports, academics, fashion, etc. My brother and I didn’t overlap in high school so duplication was never an issue, but I imagine if we had, my mom would have gotten us each a copy because of the friend-signing thing, which we both cared about. So I guess my main decision point would be whether that’s important to a particular child.
Wow, I had no idea people cared so deeply about yearbooks. I got them in HS and enjoyed having them signed, etc., but left them at my parents’ home when I left and never really thought about them again. I now have them again only b/c my mom is downsizing, and I plan to trash them. I also have my stepkids’, which — ditto. Except that (particularly after reading this post!) I will ask them if they want them first.
Well, my husband and I do both have all of our high school yearbooks (if we are thinking it changes between boys and girls), but we also have both of us left BOTH sets of books at our respective parents’ houses. So. I guess what I’m saying is you may end up with enough of them to make a household set, even if you don’t buy one exclusively as a household set.
As I remember it, our senior yearbooks came as part of the package of things we could get for “free” if we completed “enough” senior fundraising. The others being free prom tickets and free….something. I have no idea.
I think your idea to purchase one per year of child in high school plus an extra for each child’s senior year is a good one as that will be the time when signing them will be most poignant/applicable. Oh the nostalgia/horror is practically making me weep :)
I know I have a senior year yearbook, and getting it signed was a huge thing. That yearbook still lives with me, and is sitting on the top of my bookshelf with probably an inch of dust on it, because it’s been a decade since I’ve opened it. My husband and I went to high school together, and graduated together. He had a yearbook at one point, but I think he may have thrown it out during one of our moves, because it just didn’t matter to him (and I had one anyways, in case the kids wanted to see it). My 20th High School reunion is next year. I wonder when the Facebook group will go up about that? I’m pretty sure my Mom bought my yearbook for me, but didn’t get a copy for herself.
As for phone cases- I have a black OtterBox. Because OtterBoxes rule, and I want to protect the phone more than I care what it looks like. I’m clumsy.
Ah the yearbook issue. I faced the same thing a few years ago. I went with one yearbook for all children in high school. Seniors get their own copy of that year’s book. (So some years I bought 2) But the year I had 3 in high school I only had to buy two and earlier years only one (when 2 were in school). It has worked pretty well. The kids do look at them occasionally and they reside in the house. The kids could have taken them to college but had no interest. (Two of them are now in college) – Full disclosure: I have 4 boys close in age. Others’ mileage may vary.
I would come up with a compromise for the kids and have them pay for part of their year book once they are able to get a job. Let the younger ones know now so they can save their allowance, if they get one.
I was on the yearbook staff, so I definitely have all 4 of my HS yearbooks. I think I even have one from junior high. However, I haven’t actually *looked* in them in 20+ years (except for right before our 20th HS reunion 2 years ago). My kids have yearbooks every year now, starting in elementary! They don’t seem to care too much but I always order them (the softcover version) probably because I have childhood anxiety related to not having what my friends had when I was their age.
I was the editor of our senior yearbook so I was pretty into them and still have all 4. Until this year, I only had gotten them out on rare occasions. But! This year I helped plan our 25th reunion! I have no idea how other people find classmates for reunions, but all we did was make a facebook page and spread the word that way. I spent one afternoon scanning our senior picture pages in, and then we used those to post every few days to urge people to come to the reunion. It was pretty funny for people (and their friends) to see how everyone looked 25 years ago. Then, once those ran out, I scanned and did the same thing with Freshman pictures. Even better! If I’d needed more, I thought about scanning teacher pictures, but by then we were getting close to the date and I was tired of it all.
Is yearbook signing a thing at your children’s school? It doesn’t sound like it is, (or at least it’s not something your current high schoolers care about) but that’s worth asking. I work in a school, and it’s a big deal when kids get their yearbooks on the last day of school.
I have all four of mine and am glad that I do. I bought all of my kids’. And they start at elementary school around here.
I also feel that $60 is cheap for a high school yearbook. My youngest graduated 2 years ago – hers were all $90. I especially wouldn’t mind paying the $60 because in the relative cost of school things, it’s not a lot (even considering the multiples that you would be buying). As a reality check from my house – my oldest took a test yesterday that cost over $1200. I would rather be buying yearbooks.
I bought my son a yearbook every year he was in school. When he moved out, he left the yearbooks at home.
$60 here too, and my kid (a boy, and I think that makes a difference) isn’t interested in them. We opted for Sophomore and Senior year, figuring we’ll catch most kids that way.
Also, since they don’t come in until the following fall, the Senior book doesn’t get signed much. Just a thought.
At my high school, the yearbooks didn’t go to print until after graduation, so we didn’t even get them until way way late in the summer or even the beginning of the next school year. So “signing the yearbook” was not a thing that happened, even though every year that’s the only reason why I even wanted one. It was better in middle school when we got them the last week of classes. (Yes, I have yearbooks for middle school too. Yes, the pictures are as hilariously awkward as you’d hope.)
Yearbooks were not something I brought with me to college, or to my house when I bought one. I think they are at my house now, but only because my mom wanted me to finally get my stuff out of her house (I’m 29), not because I want them here. They used to live at her house with the photo albums and that was perfectly fine with me. I could easily look at them when I wanted to. (I live close by, so maybe if I didn’t, I would have wanted to take them.)
So that is MY personal experience with yearbooks. My parents also only had two kids, so the cost of 8 books was less concerning than 12 or 20. Our years also didn’t overlap. I think it makes sense to buy a “house copy” and then if a child really wants one of their own to have all their friends sign, they can pay for it themselves or get the pre-order as a Christmas gift. (When do you have to place the order?) You can keep the house copies and they can keep any they buy or receive as gifts. If they don’t choose to get their own, they can always look at the house copies when they are home for holidays/summers/other visits. I found that I didn’t really care to look at my yearbooks except for when I was at home getting back together with old friends anyway.
Good luck figuring it out!
Ohhh…interesting.
I suspect that kids now won’t be as interested in yearbooks because of social media.
I graduated in 1997 and bought yearbooks from grades 6-12. It was important to me to have them. I have 4 younger siblings who I don’t think got every yearbook. It was definitely a bigger deal for me. My mom didn’t care about them at all.
Now 18 years later? I have little to no interest in them. But I am not at all sentimental about high school. College memorabilia? I’m much more sentimental about that sort of thing. They are at my parents house and I’m sure if my mom ran across them, she’d make us kids take them. Funnily enough, last month I visited my parents and there was a story about a murder on the news. The name sounded familiar and we were pretty sure that the murderer went to my school for a few years. So my sister and I dug around for the yearbooks for a few minutes and couldn’t find them. So I guess they are useful if you are looking for someone who you think you went to school with who happened to shoot their neighbor in the middle of the day!
I loved the “thought” of yearbooks back then. I think I have a total of two. Which I rarely, if ever look at. When my son was in high school, I still loved the idea of yearbooks – him? Not so much. He has all four years but, at least where he went to high school no one really signed them. It such a digital age now that they didn’t see the need. I don’t think he’s ever looked at any of them.
I still have all 4 high school, 2 middle school, and some assortment of elementary yearbooks. Signing was a big deal (I graduated in 2009, so facebook was a thing and signing yearbooks was still a big deal.)
One thought- our school sold additional “autograph pages” that you could stick in the back of the book with a peel-off-adhesive-tape-deal. Some people would leave the yearbook at home and just bring the litle booklet of pages to pass around and sign, because the yearbooks were as big as a textbook and heavy! If they have something similar available, get each kid their own set of pages and either stick them all in, or save them with the yearbooks so they can take their own later if they want.
I still have all my yearbooks. My senior yearbook is on the bookshelf the others are boxed up.
I only have one kid so I don’t have to worry about the number of books. Though I can foresee me wanting to reference it in the future more than my son will. I never considered ordering myself one. He did want one each year though.
Ours are $55 and you can add things for an additional fee – autograph pages, personalization, icons. I didn’t do that until this year, senior year, I added his name, a graduation cap & the shoe with wings for track/cross country.
I got yearbooks from 1st to 8th grade, and then my senior year in high school. I skipped the first three years of high school yearbooks because of the price (my parents did offer to pay for them, but they were $80, IIRC! Highway robbery!) The part of yearbooks that was most important to me was having friends sign them, so for the “missing yearbook” years, I bought a journal that I would have my friends sign. The only ones I ever go back and look at now, though, are 5th grade, 8th grade, and senior year (the last year in each school). I definitely don’t miss those other 3 high school yearbooks now, and my fake yearbook journal seemed a good compromise to me even at the time.
Yearbooks were important to me every year at the end of the year during high school. I really looked forward to getting them and passing them around to sign. It was great fun after school to see who all signed yours and what they said, and I would periodically look at the books over the summer.
When I left home to go to college, I left all my yearbooks at home. And they remained there until last Fall (20 years after I graduated high school) when my mother randomly sent them to me (she was cleaning out her house in preparation for selling it). I can’t think of the last time I had looked at them since getting them in the mail, I’m sure when I was home on break in college over the summer or something I peaked back at them. And I was so annoyed at receiving, with no warning, 5 boxes of crap from my mother’s home (she just packed up everything left in my old room that she didn’t want and sent it) and just wanted to pair it down before storing the remainder in my basement that I didn’t spend much time lingering over the yearbooks. I can’t even remember if I kept them all. I believe I would have kept my senior year at least, but I could have kept them all. They’re in the basement, probably never will be looked at again. I feel I should also state for the record I don’t think my mother had to keep all that stuff, I just would have preferred she save herself the time and money packing and shipping it and just threw it out. If she had called me to say she wanted to get rid of it, that’s what I would have told her to do.
My high school only had a senior year book, and I still have mine, and I had to pay for it myself.
My son’s schools have offered one every year since 1st grade. He’s in 8th grade now, and we have them all and I paid for them. The only one he got signed was last year’s.
Yearbooks were VERY important to me. Very. But my parents didn’t understand the idea of having a yearbook for every year a student was in High School, because in their time (they said) yearbooks it were only for Seniors. So I had to pay for all of my yearbooks myself, except my senior year when they treated me. I thought this was really unfair at the time. I kind of still think it was unfair (especially for the years I worked on the yearbook as an extracurricular activity, and because I worked a LOT in high school, even my freshman year, to pay for a lot of things myself because that’s how my parents chose to do it. But anyway.) I am still really really glad I have my yearbook and my senior one is siting on our office bookshelf. In fact, that yearbook was missing for 5+ years along with a passport and my college diploma, and I was as unhappy about the yearbook as I was the diploma. They all turned up in or most recent move last summer in an old box of clothes. I don’t even know.
I am pretty sentimental and I love that you want to keep your kids’ yearbooks and make sure they have their own. I think it’s important. Writing in yearbooks was a big milestone I always loved and looked forward to. I think your solution is generous and awesome.
Well, first I had to tell myself to shut up with my, “But why do YOU want the yearbooks? *I* don’t want MY kids’ yearbooks; ergo, YOUR wants are incorrect.” Because that’s nonsense. So then I was going to say, “You should buy the house one complete set of 12 yearbooks. Let the kids’ buy their own copies if they want a copy, but maybe buy them their own senior yearbooks as a gift.” And then I got to the end of the post, and all I have left to do is to applaud your brilliance.
Admittedly haven’t read any comments…
But that sounds very inexpensive for a yearbook IME! We are talking about a hardbound book about a half inch with color photos (at least color for seniors and some candids), right? Maybe I’m forgetting, but I swear ours were about $100 back in the late 1980s/early 1990s. My parents only had two in HS for one year.
I still have all 4 yearbooks. For reference, my husband has 1 – from his senior year. Do we look through them? Rarely. Our 8th grade son has been scouring them recently though as he tries to decide which HS to attend (ironically his choices are “moms hs” or “dads hs” (both are private schools, as our school district is huge crappy city school). I’m not sure why he’s looking at 20-25 year old yearbooks – and am starting to worry that the hairstyles are scaring him! ;-)
The problem with yearbooks, is you don’t get them until after school lets out (if they’re including pics from graduation). I think technology has drastically changed a teen’s desire for yearbooks. And boys are less likely to care about them then girls, IMO. I have no clue what I’ll do…. beginning next year I’ll have a kid in HS for 8 straight years, with 4 of those years having two kids in at same time (my three kids have a 1 grade gap, then a 3 grade gap).
For you – I suggest buying 1 copy for the household. If a child wants one of their own, they pay for it (or it becomes a gift of some sore – graduation gift for the senior). Often schools will sell copies years later at drastically discounted prices!
I currently buy 3 copies from my kids’ gradeschool because they are black/white print paperbacks that are $9 each. None of them have friends sign the book – and they get their yearbook about 2 months before school ends so there’s plenty of time. Maybe that’s not a “thing” anymore? Signing yearbooks.
Tracy
My school majorly effed up yearbooks because we never received them the NEXT YEAR. So class of 05 graduated in May of 05 but our senior yearbooks couldn’t be picked up until September 05 after everyone had graduated and moved away. They were also at least $60 and my parents pay for them at all. It was also very well known that if you weren’t on yearbook staff/know someone on yearbook staff, the ONLY picture of you would be your portrait, no matter how many clubs or activities you were in.
I’m a little bitter.
Tracy’s comments seem right on about buying your OWN copy for the house (maybe just senior year?) and the kids can do whatever. Since you said it seems kids these days aren’t that interested in yearbooks, this warning probably doesn’t matter, but I’ll say this: I bought my yearbooks with my own babysitting money, and there is no way in HELL I would’ve had my parents look at it because of the things my friends and classmates wrote in it. A lot of it was “remember that crazy night in the back of X’s car?” or “drinking with you on X occasion was rad” . Even more innocuous things – “remember how stalked our English T.A. for a semester? God, Mr. Roberts was so HOT” and “you are the CRAZIEST b*@#$ – love ya!” – I would’ve found embarrassing to share with my parents. My yearbooks are still cringe-worthy to read through, but in a good way.
I think it’s a personality thing. I was on yearbook staff all through high school and editor for two years, so I have every yearbook from my high school career, and I swear I have opened them to look them up like, twice. They live on a basement shelf and I’m sure I haven’t looked at a one of them in at least 10 years. My husband has only his senior yearbook and when we moved to this house, 10 years ago, we were doing a big yearbook purge and he actually wanted to get rid of his. I insisted on keeping it but I’m sure he hasn’t looked at it once since high school.
I think the big factor here is that we both moved away from our hometowns after high school so we almost never run into anyone from those years, and are completely out of touch with those people. My mom sometimes tells me she saw someone from my high school – she actually might value having the yearbooks more than me now.
I can see my youngest, who is very social and very into mementos, wanting a book for every year and getting signatures. But my two oldest just aren’t into that thing and a senior year book is probably the absolute max they would want, and I’m sure they’ll remain pristine and signature free. So maybe make the call on a per-kid basis.
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Oh and the yearbook thing too! I totally forgot!
My yearbooks and getting them signed were a huge deal when I went to high school and I have them for all four years. However, reading your post made me realize that they’re probably in a box in my mom’s house and I haven’t seen them in probably over 15 years. I must dig them out so my kids can chuckle over them.
I like your solution: buy one set for the house, if the kids want their own for signatures they can pay for them themselves, but you’ll get them one of their own each for their senior year. Seems like a great compromise!
I have all of my middle and high school ones, and refer back to my senior one. I have an extra middle school one, it was left to me by a close childhood friend who passed away. My eldest has her Senior one. My Senior now is not getting one as her high school doesn’t do them due to lack of purchasing. I am up in arms. However, I am spearheading her IB group making their own (IB is similar to AP, but all classes are part of it, plus some extra ones specific to International Baccalaureate). If my youngest goes to this same high school I shall be spearheading yearbooks as I found several places will do yearbooks in smaller numbers.
I have all four yearbooks and they were important to me at the time because everyone signed them, but I don’t think I’ve looked through them once, or used them to look anyone up, in the 16 years since I graduated. But I do have something that is endlessly cool that I DO look at from time to time for fun: my maternal grandma’s yearbook. Well, autograph book. It was during the earlier part of WWII. The signatures and messages are so creative and amusing and I just love them.
I’d probably buy one household copy since it matters to you, the senior year book, and if they want other years maybe come up with extra chores or something they can do do earn some portion of the cost. Just in case any of your younger kids are more into yearbooks when they get to highschool.
I graduated in 2013, and only have my senior yearbook because they were outrageously expensive. Unfortunately, the person in charge of the yearbook class let them have free rein on the thing, and it looks like a bunch of teenage girls made it. (The section for people who didn’t submit their senior picture or bio is titled “Big Time Slackers of 2014” for instance.) It was really disappointing to pay that much for what is really a piece of crap. That said, I still do look at it, but if I want to look someone up I definitely use Facebook. And I’m not sad that I don’t have the other three years of high school.
Learned at high school Back to School night last night that ours cost $85. We definitely won’t be getting them every year.
Totally unimportant to me – I thrifted them ALL during a move. Haven’t missed them. My one kid could care less – hasn’t wanted to buy any of his, I would if he wanted them. My 2nd child may want them though & I’ll buy if they do.
Someone may have already mentioned this, but I find that my yearbooks come in handy before I attend a class reunion. Looking over all the pictures and reviewing names is extremely helpful in appearing to be more “with it” than one really is.
My daughter’s yearbooks come with an option to purchase an insert for signatures of friends. If your school has that option, maybe one yearbook and a separate insert for each child would be a possibility?
I have yearbooks from 1-12th grade. I brought them too reunion and it was a hoot. However more loved was my autograph books. My mom had a signed stuffed dog and I thought it was cool so she got me a lovely fabric covered book and my friends wrote long notes every year. No space constraints like in yearbooks and every spring they would spend as much time looking back as they did writing. It ended up being three books over 12 years. I have only looked at them a few times since I graduated in the late ’90s but consider them prized possessions. Yearbooks are cool but only have 1-3 pictures of each friend so were always a disappointment.
I had no idea people had so many feelings about yearbooks!
I only have yearbooks from my junior & senior years of HS, and I only ever look at / reference my senior one, which is the one with all the signatures and where all of us seniors each got to have our little 1/4 page picture/notes. I *think* my parents got it for me, and I’m assuming it was outrageously expensive since I went to a fancypants school where everything like that was barfingly expensive.
i have my junior high school year book (9th grade), my high school yearbook, and my college yearbook. and they are all on a shelf and i never ever look at them. i’m not sorry i have them, but i can’t imagine having any of the interim years.
and that’s the rule i’ll lay down for my kid. she gets 8th grade and 12th grade. (btw, our high school yearbook is apparently $88 – which is highway robbery.)