Over 3 million students graduate from high school each year. Many go to college afterward, while others find jobs right away.
In any case, graduating from high school is something to celebrate.
Many people host parties to recognize the student after graduating, and families often give gifts to graduates. One gift your high school graduate might ask for is a class ring.
Class rings date back to 1835 when West Point Military Academy students purchased them as memorabilia to wear after graduating. The tradition continues, though, with many high schoolers buying them.
Would you like to buy one? If so, you can purchase one online, and here are 11 tips to help you buy the right one.
1. Consider the Reasons You Want One
One of the best places to start when buying a class ring is why you want one. What’s your purpose for getting one?
Most students graduating high school or college get a class ring to remember this timeframe in their life. So, getting a class ring is a common event.
However, some people buy them simply because they love jewelry, and buying a class ring gives them another item to wear.
Additionally, your class ring connects you to others.
For example, suppose you attend a business meeting and see someone wearing a class ring with your school’s logo. Once you see this, you instantly develop a connection with this person.
People over the ages purchased class rings for these reasons and others. However, the primary reason people buy them is to have a keepsake.
Your high school years will happen just once in your lifetime. If you loved high school and treasure your memories there, buying a class ring is a wonderful way to keep these memories alive.
Keep in mind that there is no wrong reason to buy a class ring, even if you have a different reason from everyone else.
2. Compare the Materials
You’ll have a lot of decisions to make when buying high school class rings, and one of these is the material used to make the ring. You can choose from multiple material types, and here are a few:
Sterling Silver
Pure sterling silver is the most popular metal used for class rings. Silver is a classic material that people love, and it’s highly durable. In addition, sterling silver is strong, beautiful, and timeless.
Gold
Gold is known for being a valuable metal, and you can choose this metal for your ring material. Gold is easily identifiable, and it never goes out of style. This is a great choice if you love this color and the value gold holds.
Platinum
Platinum is a naturally hypoallergenic material that is beautiful and strong.
However, most platinum jewelry items aren’t made from pure platinum. Instead, they contain a mixture of platinum and other metals due to the cost of platinum.
You can typically choose from these materials, but you might also have the option of choosing other jewelry metals. Choosing the material you want is a great place to start as you design your online class ring.
3. Measure Your Finger
Next, you might want to consider the size options with online class rings. When you buy a ring online, you won’t have someone to measure your finger size, so you’ll need to do this yourself.
First, you should consider which finger you’ll place your ring on while wearing it. For example, many people wear their class rings on their ring fingers on their right hand, but you can choose a different finger.
Once you choose which finger you’ll wear it on, you can determine what size you need. You can do this in several ways:
At Your School
Some schools ask class ring companies to visit their facilities. If this occurs at your school, ask them to measure your finger. You won’t have to buy your ring from them, but you can get a measurement by asking for one.
At a Jewelry Shop
Secondly, you could visit a jewelry shop to ask them to measure your finger. Jewelry shops have ring guides they use for this purpose.
Ring sizes come in terms of millimeters. The sizes generally range from 3 to 14. Women tend to wear smaller sizes than men, but it depends on which finger you choose and your knuckles.
At Home
You can also print a ring size chart to determine your ring size. This option is simple, but it’s not the most accurate way to choose your finger size.
You can also order ring guides to use for finger measurements. The nice part about this is that you can keep the ring guide to use whenever you need a ring measurement.
4. Evaluate the Costs
Creating a budget is a good step to take as you begin shopping for a class ring. If you’re not sure how much class rings cost, check out our site. We offer options in all price ranges, from cheap class rings to expensive ones.
You can typically buy a class ring for around $200, but you can also spend a lot more than that on a class ring. The good news is that you can choose a price range you’re comfortable with to stick to with your purchase.
5. Choose How to Customize Your Ring
Now, you’re ready to customize your ring.
One thing you can choose for your ring is the images, words, or pictures for the sides of the ring. You’ll get to choose the right and left sides, and you can choose different things for both.
You can look through the ideas and options available while choosing, and here are some ideas you might want to incorporate into your ring:
Your Name
Including your name on a class ring is always a great idea, even if it’s just your first name. You could also include a nickname if you had a popular one in high school.
Hobbies
People often images of sports, instruments, or other hobbies they enjoyed during their high school days. For example, if you spent your high school years playing guitar, you could put a guitar on your ring.
Symbols
You can also choose from various symbols to add to your ring. For example, you could see if the ring shop offers a symbol similar to your school mascot.
Your graduation ring will be unique and different from all other rings because it’s yours. Therefore, take your time choosing what to include on the ring to make sure it fits you and your personality perfectly.
6. Pick a Stone for the Top
The next thing you can customize is the top of the ring, and the main thing you must choose is the stone. The stone is the ring’s focal point, and you can choose from many colors and types.
A popular option people choose is their birthstones. For example, if you were born in February, you could choose an amethyst stone for the top of the ring.
You don’t have to choose your birthstone, though. You can choose any color you like. Here are a few popular options:
- Jade – Jade offers a deep green color, ideal for anyone who loves green or for schools with green colors.
- Turquoise – Turquoise is a natural stone that looks bluish-green.
- Lapis – This color is a shade of deep blue, similar to royal.
Remember, graduation rings can be anything you want them to be, as you get to custom design your ring.
You can also customize the wording on the top of the ring. For example, most people place their school name on the top, but you can choose something different if you prefer.
7. Select Your School
Placing your school name on the ring is a normal aspect of a class ring. After all, your class ring is a token of remembrance of your education. Therefore, you can place your school name on the ring.
You can place it on the top of the ring or the side. You can also add your school colors to the ring in lieu of the school name or in addition to the school name.
8. Browse Some Websites
As you begin designing your class ring, you might want to research your options before settling on the design. A great way to do this is by searching for class rings. You can type in “buy class rings online” to learn more.
The goal of this step is to see your options. Learning your options allows you to make your ring exactly what you want it to be. It also helps you learn more about class ring costs.
As you browse sites, you’ll get ideas that you can use to make the perfect class ring for your desires and life.
9. Consider the Ring Style
Another unique aspect of designing a class ring is choosing the ring style. Most people picture classic designs when they think of class rings, but you don’t have to choose a class design.
The classic class ring design is the most popular choice, but some people prefer simpler rings, which are thinner. You can also pick more extravagant and classy ring styles if you prefer something fancier.
It might be wise to choose your ring style before selecting any of the other options, as the ring style controls how much detail you can add to the ring.
10. Finalize the Design
Ordering a class ring online is simple, but you must ensure that you’re certain about everything before ordering it. You may want to spend some time reviewing your options and making changes before ordering it.
Once you order it, the company will make the ring according to your customizations. Therefore, you’ll need to make sure you feel confident about all your selections.
You may also want to consider various ways to wear your class ring when ordering one. While most people wear class rings on their fingers, you can also wear them in other ways.
One of the most popular alternative ways to wear a class ring is on a pendant. You can buy a necklace and place the ring on it. You can then wear it as a necklace instead of wearing it on your finger.
If you rarely wear rings and prefer necklaces, you could even order a glass pendant necklace instead of a class ring. You can customize pendant necklaces just like class rings.
11. Order the Ring
The final step of buying a class ring online is ordering it. Before you can order it, we’ll ask you to review the order. You must ensure that the ring is exactly as you want, because this is what we’ll make.
Next, you must pay for the ring. We offer many payment options, making it simple to pay for your class ring. Once you pay the total, you can submit your order, and we’ll begin making your custom class ring.
Ordering a Class Ring Online Is Simple
Some people order class rings and wear them all the time, while others might never put their class ring on their finger. Even if you never plan to wear yours, ordering one is still a great idea.
You can keep your class ring forever as a sign of your achievement, and you can pass it along to your kids or grandkids someday.
You can check out our website if you’re ready to learn more about your options with class rings. We offer many options and have great prices.
Feel free to contact us at Classrings.com for more information or to start designing your class ring.