Yeah, it was the spring of 1967—I was about to graduate from Los Gatos High School. And the fact that Dad had two brothers and six sisters made the prospect appear rather lucrative.

You see, I've long held to the notion that it's better to give than receive. And the way I had it figured, I'd given for 12 years—it was about time to receive!

Still, at the time I really didn't understand exactly how the game was played.

I had my senior year set on cruise control and was just bidin' my time until that all-important march across the front lawn for the diploma.

When I had turned in the order form for my graduation announcements earlier that year, I hadn't really thought much about it. Sure I wanted my family there and a few close friends, but what did I care about who showed up for the actual ceremonies?

So I just requested a minimum order of 20 or so announcements—I figured to only send out about a half dozen or so.

"Is that all you ordered?" asked a friend when we picked up our announcements
at school.

"Sure, and I probably won't even send out all of these," I responded with a guffaw that sounded something like Goofy of Disney fame. I didn't even realize how goofy I really was.

"Yeah, you're real bright," he said with a knowing chuckle. "These things are as good as cash."

Then it hit me. These squares of printed parchment represented a potential financial return that would make Martha Stewart sit up and take notice.

I rushed home and headed straight for Mom's Christmas card address book. A couple of hundred names and addresses of relatives and family friends ... and I planned to target my 20 announcements to those most likely to cut loose with the most cash.

Mom, however, had other ideas.

"Only invite those people who you know can attend," she said with that motherly logic. "Otherwise, it's just like you're asking people for money."

What? Come on, Mom—I am asking for money ... lots of money! That's what high school graduates are supposed to do.

She didn't exactly agree, but she did allow me to send out all but one of the graduation announcements.

And the money started rolling in. Five bucks from one aunt, 10 from another ... and good ol' Uncle George came through with 20 big ones. In all, I think I made about $140— not great by today's standards, but in 1967 it was no chump change.

Still, it could have been more. Mom decided that one of the announcements had to be pressed into a scrapbook for posterity (that was probably another 10 bucks right there).

I'm dredging all of this up now because it's graduation time for the class of 2003. And I was just wondering what the going rate is for graduates these days.

It's more than a passing curiosity, mind you. Unfortunately, I find myself on the other end of those commencement announcements with friends' kids graduating college, high school and middle school. Then, there's my own son who will graduate from college in just a couple of years.

My research into the subject began with a conversation with two moms of graduating high school seniors. They indicated that there was some sort of invisible sliding scale for such things, based on how close we were to the grads and how often we see them.

Well, we're close enough to the college grads that I could feel the 50 bucks sliding right out of my wallet and becoming invisible in a hurry.

As for the high school grad, they figured I was so close I needed to go $100 or so, then maybe just $25 for the middle school graduate.

But they were quick to point out that my son was going to cost me dearly—maybe a car, a computer, some bigtime cash ... all of the above!

I'm lucky I still have a couple of years to prepare for the big day. And when it comes, I know one thing for sure—I'll encourage him to invite a few friends and relatives.

Now, where's that Christmas card address book?

Want to talk? Call me at 408.354.3110, ext. 31, or drop me a note at dsparrer@svcn.com.