A Kindy Graduation Keepsake That Outlasts the Certificate

The cardboard mortarboard

Kindy graduations tend to be short. A strip of red fabric taped to the floor of a community hall. A cardboard mortarboard that keeps sliding over one eye. A certificate with your child's name in bubble writing, a handshake they've rehearsed all week, and a song about being brave sung by twenty four-year-olds, at least three of whom are picking their noses.

It's over in minutes, and a lot of parents leave with a lump in their throat.

Certificates don't last long

The certificate usually goes on the fridge. A few weeks later it's behind a shopping list, and eventually it ends up in a drawer. Kindy certificates are printed on regular paper. They curl at the edges and don't survive a house with small children and limited fridge space.

The day deserves a keepsake that sticks around longer than the paper.

A graduation sticker

One option is a personalised sticker made from a photo of the day. Take the photo where they're grinning so hard their eyes are almost closed, cardboard hat at full tilt, and upload it to StickerMe. Pick a scene that matches who they want to be: Space Explorer for the kid who's told everyone all of Term 4 that they'll be an astronaut, or Grad Cap if you want something more traditional. Add their name and the year underneath.

Stuck on the drink bottle they'll take to big school, it's something they see every day. A little illustrated version of who they were at four and a half.

If you're looking for gifts that kids genuinely connect with, a sticker of themselves is something they can touch, carry and show to friends. It lives in their world, not on a shelf.

For the parents who aren't ready

If your child's kindy graduation is coming up, be warned that it can catch you off guard. When twenty small humans sing a wobbly song about growing up and your kid waves at you from the front row, it's hard to keep it together.

The ceremony will be brief. Someone's sibling will wander onto the stage. The group photo will have at least one child facing the wrong direction.

A photo from that day can become a personalised sticker: your kid dressed as an astronaut or a superhero or a fairy, with their name and their year.

A few ideas for how to use it

On their first big-school gear. The graduation sticker can be the first sticker on the new drink bottle or lunchbox, something familiar on unfamiliar stuff. If you want ideas for kitting out their lunchbox, we've written about that too.

In a memory box. If you keep a box or album for each year, the sticker goes in next to the class photo and the finger painting. It takes up less space than a certificate.

For the grandparents. A spare sticker in the post is an easy way to share the day with grandparents who couldn't make the ceremony.

The whole-class option

If you're the organising parent (every kindy has one and it might be you), you can create a sticker for each child in the class. Same scene, individual photos, each kid's name. Hand them out at the ceremony.

A sheet is $12.00 AUD, dropping to $10.00 AUD each from 3 sheets and $8.00 AUD each from 10, so a whole-class order gets the lowest per-sheet price. For sizing and material details, our materials and sizing guide has everything you need.

They won't be this small again

The kids don't really understand what's happening at kindy graduation. They know there's a hat, possibly a song, and their parents are being weird and emotional in the audience.

But you understand. Your child is leaving the place where they learned to share, to count to twenty and to write their name in wobbly handwriting. They're heading somewhere bigger and louder.

Delivery takes 5–7 business days after printing, so make one for your little graduate well before the ceremony.