Of all the crap my parents or I spent money on during high school (so far), I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than my class ring. And mine would be considered modest at a cost of “only” $200 (This is a rough estimate. I can’t honestly remember, but I know it wasn’t over 300.)
Once the novelty wears off after a few weeks, you have this ring that doesn’t do much except look nice. Engagement rings and wedding rings actually represent something: your love for another person that is supposed to last until death do you part. High school class rings represent what exactly? Your status as a high school student? Whoa. Sign me up.
At my school, class rings are ordered during the sophomore year so you get about 2.5 years worth of use out of your expense before you go to college and decide it isn’t cool anymore. Guess how much use I got. Two months. Yep, I lost my ring shortly after I got it and haven’t seen it since.
Boom! $200 just exploded in a cloud of fiery destruction.
Now, I could replace it for 60 bucks thanks to Josten’s “Ring Protection Plan”, but why give them more money for something I’m not going to wear?
You don’t have to buy one!
One of my best friends never ordered a ring and guess how much his life has changed. None. It’s a complete non-factor. I really don’t know how else to say this except for IT DOES NOT MATTER! If your friends say you must be “poor” or “cheap”, then you need some new friends.
The amount of money spent on class rings is ridiculous. One classmate of mine bragged about how his ring cost around $500 and had diamonds (which actually are not rare by the way. There are vaults filled literally with tons of diamonds!). This guy is a douchebag to say the least.
And the best reason why you shouldn’t waste money on a class ring: You could use it for something else! No, not an Xbox. (although you can use that a helluva lot more…) Seriously. Add the cash to your college fund. Buy some savings bonds. Use it to increase your car savings. Pretty much anything useful or an investment would be a step up from buying a class ring.
After all this, I will say you should totally get a class ring if:
- You’ve saved up for one and have savings in check for college and car (or other important things you’re interested in)
- Your parents are paying for it and won’t take no for any answer. (You could try to persuade them to save it for you.)
As for me, I wish I could have my (parents’) $250 back. I could use it for something I’d actually value.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
My mother gave me 30 bucks for a class ring many years ago. I used the money to take a girl out to dinner and drinking with my buds. 40 some years later I think I spent the money better than mom intended. I’m sure the gal who is probably a grandma now does not remember the date and I can’t even remember her name. And the party we had gave me nothing but a headache the next day but it was still a better investment than a class ring i failed to purchase.
I agree, that’s sound like a much better investment. Cheaper than the diamond-covered rings of today!
I agree, buying a class ring now would be a waste of money, I bought one in 1979 and only wore it for a few months, But now in 2011 having saved it all these years and with gold at it’s highest, i am selling it, So really in the long run it was a pretty good investment. I think we paid about $200 for it back then, now worth about $750.00.
Scotty, the ring might be worth $750 now but you lost all of it to inflation. sorry