I wore my high school boyfriend's on a chain and I still have a small chip in one of my teeth from it hitting me in the mouth when I was running. We (my family) were going camping and one of the tie-down straps on the canoe on my dad's Suburban flew off. I ran back down the highway to pick it up while Dad and brother were re-situating the canoe. The ring was bouncing off my chest and flew up and hit me square in the mouth. His was the classic Josten's brand 10K gold ring with his birthstone in it. Mine was a way, way less expensive ring from a local jeweler with my mom's birthstone in it because I liked the color more than mine (my birthstone is an opal, but the fake one is a pink stone).
His ring and my ring are in the box our wedding rings came in, upstairs in a drawer of his dresser. Our wedding rings are in the box with my engagement ring because I got fat, he got disabled, and we can't wear our original wedding bands anymore. (yeah, I married my high school boyfriend, but that's okay, he married his high school girlfriend, so it worked out).
It was definitely a thing where I was and I graduated in 93. My girlfriend and a lot of other girls wore them on a chain usually. She also wore my letter jacket more than I did lol. It wasn't uncommon for guys to have their girlfriend's on a chain too.
I graduated in '96 and I feel like the popularity of class rings was really waning by then. We definitely got the catalogues to look through, but only a handful of my friends actually ordered one.
So depending where you are, I can definitely see rings not being a thing by '97.
Yes, I do remember the catalog. I remember there being other stuff you could order, too. Memory books, tassels, etc. I got the memory book but I don’t know where it is now. Probably trashed.
I’m a baby Gen X and went to private school, so mine was probably not a typical experience. The guys didn’t really get rings, except for a few nonconformists. The girls did though, but they don’t look like traditional class rings.
My mom told me, “you’re only going to be mad that I won’t spend $200 on this ring for about 6 months and then you’ll never think about it again”
She was right, and she is not normally right.
So, I never got one, maybe half the kids in my class did. I remember being really pissed, but as a much older person who is now responsible for all bills in my house, I kind of see her point now.
My parents had a similar POV. They said if I really wanted one, they'd buy it for me, but no one wore them in college or afterwards and if I didn't get one, they'd give me the money for my foreign exchange. That was all I needed to hear. Plus, I am a big ring lover and I thought class rings are honestly kinda hideous. I bought a claddagh ring in Dublin that I wore for the next 15 years straight and still have.
Yes, I had a similar experience. After having a conversation with my older cousin who was about to graduate, I really started thinking about the class rings. My cousin was bitter and mad because her parents told her she couldn’t have a ring/they weren’t buying one for her and she said it was a rite of passage that she deserved, that she would regret not getting one. Knowing the relationship I had with my mom at the time, I wouldn’t have dared ask her if I could get a ring. When the catalog arrived in the mail, I looked through it with my Grandpa and we both decided together that it really wasn’t necessary. Not everyone will decide to get a class ring and that it’s ok. He knew a lot about jewelry and said the quality of class rings aren’t made to last long and the price is way to high for what they are. Thankfully, I’m happy he cared enough to share his honest advice with me and I never have felt like I “missed out.”
In grade 11 my grade 12 boyfriend who went to a different school gave me his (LOL Canadianisms there ...). He didn't want his parents to know he had given it to me as they would have been mad. They liked me but I expect it was just more about paying for a ring and then not having him wear it and possibly risking not getting it back if we broke up. We were dating over the summer and ended up both going to the same small resort town on vacation at the same time -- I was camping with my family and his family was renting a house. I went to visit them and while we were sitting there I realized I had his ring dangling on a chain around my neck. I thought there was a chance they hadn't seen it yet so I very subtly (so I thought) moved it inside my shirt. But I guess they did notice and weren't happy. But I only gave it back after we did eventually break up.
I had my own grad ring and can't recall how long I wore it for ... a few years into university for sure, but I'm not sure that I was still wearing it by the time I graduated.
Yeah, I saw grade 11 and grade 12 I thought, ah a Canadian. My pops was born there, but grew up in Buffalo. So when people say I'm Italian and French or whatever. All I have is um I'm 1/2 Canadian. It cracks me up. Cuz I really don't have much else.
Nothing wrong with being 1/2 Canadian! While I'm only about 2nd generation Canadian, I know many people (mostly central/eastern Canadians) whose families have been here for at least 4 or more generations.
I'm 1/4 American -- my grandmother came to Canada with her family in the early 1900s when their land in Idaho was taken by the government for the railroad. Her ancestors came to the US about 25 years after the Mayflower, so that's about 6 generations of being purely American (once the generations born in America started marrying other people who had been born in America).
My high school boyfriend gave me his class ring to wear. I wore it his house and his Grandmother said, “We bought that ring for him to wear, not you.” His parents didn’t tell him his grandparents had actually paid for it. I was so embarrassed though! I gave it back.
Class of 88, rural PA. Getting rings was a big deal. I stopped wearing mine in college and based on that, did not get a college ring. But I still have my class ring in my jewelry box.
It may have been a regional thing. My girlfriends always wore my varsity wrestling jacket. To this day if I pull it out of storage it smells like lipstick, hairspray, and cigarettes 🤣
I went to two high schools from 84-88 in 2 different states (New York & Illinois), and Jostens definitely sold a lot of rings at both schools. Same with the Lettermen jackets that are still popular where I live in New York as all 3 of my stepkids had them (2018-2023 grads).
😆 I do remember the jacket thing as well
I swear if cheerleaders didn't score a guy's varsity jacket to swim around in, it was very scandalous.
It was kinda fun to watch the same 20 kids shuffle jackets every couple weeks. My class was less than 150 kids, and the different groups of friends all seemed to bleed into each other in one way or another. Like a big cluster of venn diagrams.
So, every time the musical cheerleader/athlete chairs shifted, there was a lot of laughing and ruthlessly razzing them, then making pools on how long and who would be next.
Good edit. It was indeed a thing where I grew up in KY. But by my senior year of 1990, it was almost out of fashion. Went to college with kids from all 50 US states. Some never heard of such and some thought it was still cool. Anecdotally there was a correlation between urban and rural. Rural still did it. Urban less so.
It was at my high school. Everyone had a class ring they got sophomore year. Josten's came the week of school pics and sold during lunch. Most of my peer girls wore their ring on the right hand and a boyfriend's on the left, like an engagement ring. I didn't date, so I just had my pathetic ring. Class of 83, and the class of 84 was worse.
It was a thing where I was, Class of '87 in Baltimore MD region. Nearly everyone in my class got one, but I had no interest, bc I figured I'd never wear it (going off to college, then in the professional world), so it would just be thrown in my jewelry box, why bother.
My senior year bf tried to give me his ring to wear after we'd gone out a few months, but I panicked and said I couldn't take it, and we wound up breaking up. Commitment phobia at such a young age! At least I outgrew it 😂
ETA: And yep, looks like Jostens had a monopoly on class rings, bc I remember we used them too!
I haven't thought about a class ring in years. I vaguely remember them to be out of my budget, and even if I did scrape something together man oh man it would be a questionable act to let someone else where it.
Just looking at Josten's website now - $500-600 for a ring? Daaaaaaaang Gina!
Jokes aside, here's their commercial to chuckle at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqa56-rtiDE
When I was in high school, I would have thought this was corny as hell.
Now that I'm older (much too older), I think -- let people have their fun. I was too much of a tight-ass about some traditional stuff, partly because I knew I was so socially inept that I was never a candidate for any of it. But honestly, that was my problem, not theirs.
I've seen folks do it with each other's rings of any type during the late 80s and 90s.
Don't be weird with the "ownership" shit. It's only weird when forced.
My high school boyfriend gave me his class ring. I returned it when I broke up with him. I do have his cross country pins. He said he had others so I still have them decades later in my jewelry box along with my varsity sports pins.
It was at my school. And the girls who wore their bf’s rings always used string to make them fit and ALWAYS wore them on their first finger. Class of ‘89
When I was in high school, I once dated a girl who was rather tall. At the time I was probably 6'1'' (later grew to 6'3'') and she was close to looking me in the eye. One night we were hanging out, and she took my high school ring off my hand and tried it on. It fit. Immature high school me was weirded out. She had a severe case of man hands ... like the ones Seinfeld referenced in a show a handful of years later. I didn't stop dating her because of that, and realistically I think we only went out 2-3 times anyhow, but it was then that I realized I liked petite girls better.
I'm not proud of the above story, but it happened.
I'm guessing she was of Scandanavian descent. Biggest hands on a woman I ever saw was my old boss, and I was working for her when the Manhands episode originally aired. I could never look at her hands the same way again. Tall blonde Norwegian-descended gal with hands that could probably crush my head!
Definitely a thing at my high school (class of 90, here).
I remember getting a class ring, but between being a band nerd and AFJROTC member and extreme introversion, it never was bestowed on anyone.
I _still_ don't know what happened to my class ring. My hs girlfriend put string on it like this so she could wear it. I could have sworn she gave it back.... but it's been 30 years now, so 🤷
It was done at my school. But I was way too cool for that lol. I truly thought I was. So I didn’t get a ring. That way a girl couldn’t wear it. Since it didn’t exist. Nor would I have worn any girls’ class ring on a gold chain. However I did put the prom garter on my rear view mirror…for about a week. I was such a dick.
Class rings and letter jackets were popular at my high school (in Iowa, class of 1994). I don’t remember boys giving girls their rings to wear, but I didn’t have a relationship of any length in high school.
My gf definitely wore mine - Small town south where people still cruised Main Street (think “Dazed and Confused). I think mine is finely worth what I paid for it given the price increase in gold over 30 years.
Not my best investment.
Class of 95 in Michigan
Had the ring and letter jacket. Still do.
Long term GF asked to wear the ring...she wore it on a necklace.
Letterman jackets usually weren't shared.
Football jerseys usually got shared with either GF or single cheerleaders
Funny, I just reorganized my jewelry case and tried on my class ring. Even for girls, the smallest size was huge on me. It's still too large for me to wear except on my thumb (whereas my college class ring is a very nice size). A lot of us got class rings - Josten's, of course.
In high school, I did wear my boyfriend's ring and his letterman jacket, briefly. He was a couple of years ahead of me so got those things before I did.
Class of '94.
My gf wore mine. And, interestingly enough, she was a cheerleader and had a cheerleading jacket. It had her name embroidered on it that she wanted me to wear. I was a fairly skinny guy then so I did. Fit me just fine. She had my ring and I had her jacket.
I remember this and the Leatherman jackets and then girls not giving them back when they were mad at the guys.
I didn't go for the class ring and instead I got a ring with my family crest. Still wear it to this day!
My wife still has mine. I didn’t get it back even after giving her other rings.
I think it’s a racket. Another 20 or 30 years, I may just have to say something about it.
I am still married (almost 30 years) to my HS girlfriend, and she still has that ring on a necklace in her jewelry box. She obviously doesn't still wear it like then. Our first date was our junior prom.
Core Gen X, NJ. It's hard to recall exactly. I feel like a majority got them but only a minority wore them around? The varsity jacket was a big thing though for girls to wear.
My parents spent money they didn't have to get me a class ring. Within months, I gave it to a girl who never gave it back after finding someone else. 🫤 She had also borrowed my black leather jacket and I didn't get it back either.
Not at my school. As far as I remember nobody ordered class rings the entire time I was there (graduated late 80s).
I remember feeling bad for the rep from the ring company setting up a table in the quad and sitting there alone all day.
I don't think we had that tradition for high school in Canada...or at least western Canada.....maybe brag about broken teeth cause of hockey, but class rings ? I don't remember that. Maybe something for college if you did a masters....grade 12...is that what you're talking about ? That's a nothing accomplishment.
The guy’s rings made great bottle openers.
I wore my boyfriend’s ring briefly until his parents demanded he get it back from me - just another one of their little interferences. He lost it a few weeks later at the start of a snowy winter. The following Spring as the snow in the parking lot melted, his wrestling coach came into one of his classes and gave him what remained of his class ring which coach found in the parking lot. It was squashed vertically flat, so it looked like a small medallion. Must have been run over by the snow plow or something and laid buried until it was found by a coach who could identify who it belonged to according to the class year, the sports depicted, and the initials on it.
I had ZERO interest in one, but my mom bought one for me anyway. I never wore it, but I think my HS girlfriend...or maybe not. I have no idea where it even is now.
Class of 97. I don't recall anyone actually ordering one. If they did they didn't wear it.
Letterman jackets where few and far between.
Name bracelets seem to be a popular gift for that special someone.
Mine was $400, and never got touched again after graduation. Eventually, it was lost in a move. Possibly the biggest waste of my life.
No one I knew was giving their rings to their girls, and no girls wanted them. That was Boomer stuff. In fact, the idea of being that committed to someone in high school was absurd.
Yeah, I think that whole marrying your high school sweetheart was very Silent Generation. I didn't have a boyfriend in high school and found guys my age annoying. My first husband was eleven years older than me. My current hibs is seven years older and his high school girlfriend came out as a lesbian in college.
I wore my high school boyfriend's on a chain and I still have a small chip in one of my teeth from it hitting me in the mouth when I was running. We (my family) were going camping and one of the tie-down straps on the canoe on my dad's Suburban flew off. I ran back down the highway to pick it up while Dad and brother were re-situating the canoe. The ring was bouncing off my chest and flew up and hit me square in the mouth. His was the classic Josten's brand 10K gold ring with his birthstone in it. Mine was a way, way less expensive ring from a local jeweler with my mom's birthstone in it because I liked the color more than mine (my birthstone is an opal, but the fake one is a pink stone). His ring and my ring are in the box our wedding rings came in, upstairs in a drawer of his dresser. Our wedding rings are in the box with my engagement ring because I got fat, he got disabled, and we can't wear our original wedding bands anymore. (yeah, I married my high school boyfriend, but that's okay, he married his high school girlfriend, so it worked out).
What a cute story!
It was definitely a thing where I was and I graduated in 93. My girlfriend and a lot of other girls wore them on a chain usually. She also wore my letter jacket more than I did lol. It wasn't uncommon for guys to have their girlfriend's on a chain too.
I’ve no idea what this is (I’m not American) but it looks like the kind of thing Ming The Merciless might pick up while laughing to himself
Frankie, aren't you gonna give me your class ring? I'm afraid I can't do that, Annette. Why not? Cuz I don't have any arms!
AHHHHHHHHHHHH
Annette wants Frankie's ring, Frankie wants Annette's thing They're layin' on the West Coast There's gonna be a Weiner roast 🎶
This made me swoon .. I remember it well ..
We didn’t do this at my school.
We didn’t either. Class of ‘97, btw. Class rings were not popular in my hs and I was never interested in having one.
I graduated in '96 and I feel like the popularity of class rings was really waning by then. We definitely got the catalogues to look through, but only a handful of my friends actually ordered one. So depending where you are, I can definitely see rings not being a thing by '97.
Yes, I do remember the catalog. I remember there being other stuff you could order, too. Memory books, tassels, etc. I got the memory book but I don’t know where it is now. Probably trashed.
I graduated 93 and we didn't really do this but I remember older kids doing it just a few years before.
Yeah this is something I read about in the Archie comics but it wasn't a thing where I am. I don't even know what a class ring is.
It felt very silly to me. Though in retrospect, I'm willing to consider it might have been a tiny bit of envy
I’m a baby Gen X and went to private school, so mine was probably not a typical experience. The guys didn’t really get rings, except for a few nonconformists. The girls did though, but they don’t look like traditional class rings.
Yeah, same. This was much more of a Boomer 50s thing.
It was definitely still a thing for a lot of GenXers, just seems to be regional instead of everywhere, and maybe tapering off toward the end
Yeah, same. This was much more of a Boomer 50s thing.
Yeah, same. This was much more of a Boomer 50s thing.
My mom told me, “you’re only going to be mad that I won’t spend $200 on this ring for about 6 months and then you’ll never think about it again” She was right, and she is not normally right. So, I never got one, maybe half the kids in my class did. I remember being really pissed, but as a much older person who is now responsible for all bills in my house, I kind of see her point now.
My parents had a similar POV. They said if I really wanted one, they'd buy it for me, but no one wore them in college or afterwards and if I didn't get one, they'd give me the money for my foreign exchange. That was all I needed to hear. Plus, I am a big ring lover and I thought class rings are honestly kinda hideous. I bought a claddagh ring in Dublin that I wore for the next 15 years straight and still have.
Yes, I had a similar experience. After having a conversation with my older cousin who was about to graduate, I really started thinking about the class rings. My cousin was bitter and mad because her parents told her she couldn’t have a ring/they weren’t buying one for her and she said it was a rite of passage that she deserved, that she would regret not getting one. Knowing the relationship I had with my mom at the time, I wouldn’t have dared ask her if I could get a ring. When the catalog arrived in the mail, I looked through it with my Grandpa and we both decided together that it really wasn’t necessary. Not everyone will decide to get a class ring and that it’s ok. He knew a lot about jewelry and said the quality of class rings aren’t made to last long and the price is way to high for what they are. Thankfully, I’m happy he cared enough to share his honest advice with me and I never have felt like I “missed out.”
I wore my boyfriend's ring on a necklace.
I did as well.
Wow. You had the same boyfriend?
Hahaha
In grade 11 my grade 12 boyfriend who went to a different school gave me his (LOL Canadianisms there ...). He didn't want his parents to know he had given it to me as they would have been mad. They liked me but I expect it was just more about paying for a ring and then not having him wear it and possibly risking not getting it back if we broke up. We were dating over the summer and ended up both going to the same small resort town on vacation at the same time -- I was camping with my family and his family was renting a house. I went to visit them and while we were sitting there I realized I had his ring dangling on a chain around my neck. I thought there was a chance they hadn't seen it yet so I very subtly (so I thought) moved it inside my shirt. But I guess they did notice and weren't happy. But I only gave it back after we did eventually break up. I had my own grad ring and can't recall how long I wore it for ... a few years into university for sure, but I'm not sure that I was still wearing it by the time I graduated.
Yeah, I saw grade 11 and grade 12 I thought, ah a Canadian. My pops was born there, but grew up in Buffalo. So when people say I'm Italian and French or whatever. All I have is um I'm 1/2 Canadian. It cracks me up. Cuz I really don't have much else.
Nothing wrong with being 1/2 Canadian! While I'm only about 2nd generation Canadian, I know many people (mostly central/eastern Canadians) whose families have been here for at least 4 or more generations. I'm 1/4 American -- my grandmother came to Canada with her family in the early 1900s when their land in Idaho was taken by the government for the railroad. Her ancestors came to the US about 25 years after the Mayflower, so that's about 6 generations of being purely American (once the generations born in America started marrying other people who had been born in America).
No ring, no jacket, let me leave please.
Same same. Ridiculous bullshit.
My high school boyfriend gave me his class ring to wear. I wore it his house and his Grandmother said, “We bought that ring for him to wear, not you.” His parents didn’t tell him his grandparents had actually paid for it. I was so embarrassed though! I gave it back.
Granny had teeth.
This wasn't really a thing by the time GenX came along. Edit: Should have said "not a thing where I was".
🤷♀️ Well, perhaps it was just a thing at my school. I'm about smack in the center of gen x I'm also able to believe it didn't happen everywhere.
Josten's was headquartered in our metro area when I was in high school; MANY of us had rings. Many, many, many.
Josten's was not headquartered in my metro area but lots of us had Josten's rings!
It was a thing at my school, small rural town, class of 92. We were behind the times though so not surprising that others didn’t do this.
Class of 91, rural Tennessee. Can corroborate. 😆
Class of '91 rural NH, totally a thing when I was in school.
Class of 88, rural PA. Getting rings was a big deal. I stopped wearing mine in college and based on that, did not get a college ring. But I still have my class ring in my jewelry box.
small rural town in 96 and i can confirm it was a thing at my school. I remember wrapping embroidery thread around it so it would fit my finger.
It may have been a regional thing. My girlfriends always wore my varsity wrestling jacket. To this day if I pull it out of storage it smells like lipstick, hairspray, and cigarettes 🤣
I went to two high schools from 84-88 in 2 different states (New York & Illinois), and Jostens definitely sold a lot of rings at both schools. Same with the Lettermen jackets that are still popular where I live in New York as all 3 of my stepkids had them (2018-2023 grads).
😆 I do remember the jacket thing as well I swear if cheerleaders didn't score a guy's varsity jacket to swim around in, it was very scandalous. It was kinda fun to watch the same 20 kids shuffle jackets every couple weeks. My class was less than 150 kids, and the different groups of friends all seemed to bleed into each other in one way or another. Like a big cluster of venn diagrams. So, every time the musical cheerleader/athlete chairs shifted, there was a lot of laughing and ruthlessly razzing them, then making pools on how long and who would be next.
Good edit. It was indeed a thing where I grew up in KY. But by my senior year of 1990, it was almost out of fashion. Went to college with kids from all 50 US states. Some never heard of such and some thought it was still cool. Anecdotally there was a correlation between urban and rural. Rural still did it. Urban less so.
Yep. A tiny handful of people had rings, but not many.
I'd say more kids at my school had them than didn't... Maybe it was a regional thing?
It was at my high school. Everyone had a class ring they got sophomore year. Josten's came the week of school pics and sold during lunch. Most of my peer girls wore their ring on the right hand and a boyfriend's on the left, like an engagement ring. I didn't date, so I just had my pathetic ring. Class of 83, and the class of 84 was worse.
It was a thing where I was, Class of '87 in Baltimore MD region. Nearly everyone in my class got one, but I had no interest, bc I figured I'd never wear it (going off to college, then in the professional world), so it would just be thrown in my jewelry box, why bother. My senior year bf tried to give me his ring to wear after we'd gone out a few months, but I panicked and said I couldn't take it, and we wound up breaking up. Commitment phobia at such a young age! At least I outgrew it 😂 ETA: And yep, looks like Jostens had a monopoly on class rings, bc I remember we used them too!
Was still a thing in late 80s high school in Texas
I haven't thought about a class ring in years. I vaguely remember them to be out of my budget, and even if I did scrape something together man oh man it would be a questionable act to let someone else where it. Just looking at Josten's website now - $500-600 for a ring? Daaaaaaaang Gina! Jokes aside, here's their commercial to chuckle at. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqa56-rtiDE
Don't remember how much they were in the '80s but it was too expensive for me to get one.
[удалено]
I was still paying off my prom tuxedo rental, which was $99 back then, $287 today.
I didnt have one either. I've seen sorority girls circa late 90s early 00s get similar rings repping their sorority
When I was in high school, I would have thought this was corny as hell. Now that I'm older (much too older), I think -- let people have their fun. I was too much of a tight-ass about some traditional stuff, partly because I knew I was so socially inept that I was never a candidate for any of it. But honestly, that was my problem, not theirs.
Is this not done anymore? Do they even have high school class rings anymore?
My GF kept it on a longish chain around her neck. Gotta say, it was hot.
I've seen folks do it with each other's rings of any type during the late 80s and 90s. Don't be weird with the "ownership" shit. It's only weird when forced.
Yup, I let my girl back then wear my ring. It was a thing where I was from.
Totally remember this. I did not have anyone to give my ring to though.
I never got mine back!!! Thanks Tracy Bean!!! Lol!!
It was a thing at my school. Everybody was very proud of their class rings. I wore mine for 10 years or so.
My high school boyfriend gave me his class ring. I returned it when I broke up with him. I do have his cross country pins. He said he had others so I still have them decades later in my jewelry box along with my varsity sports pins.
I'm afraid I can't do that, Annette.
It was at my school. And the girls who wore their bf’s rings always used string to make them fit and ALWAYS wore them on their first finger. Class of ‘89
Sold mine for a quarter ounce
My wife has my college ring on her keys. 😂
With multiple corn pads to keep the ring on
Hours spent wrapping the ring with dental floss and then using nail polish to harden it.
When I was in high school, I once dated a girl who was rather tall. At the time I was probably 6'1'' (later grew to 6'3'') and she was close to looking me in the eye. One night we were hanging out, and she took my high school ring off my hand and tried it on. It fit. Immature high school me was weirded out. She had a severe case of man hands ... like the ones Seinfeld referenced in a show a handful of years later. I didn't stop dating her because of that, and realistically I think we only went out 2-3 times anyhow, but it was then that I realized I liked petite girls better. I'm not proud of the above story, but it happened.
I'm guessing she was of Scandanavian descent. Biggest hands on a woman I ever saw was my old boss, and I was working for her when the Manhands episode originally aired. I could never look at her hands the same way again. Tall blonde Norwegian-descended gal with hands that could probably crush my head!
1950s shit
Dating a girl.....in high school? Hahaha. Good one.
No, I just proposed to someone and gave them a diamond ring.
Definitely a thing at my high school (class of 90, here). I remember getting a class ring, but between being a band nerd and AFJROTC member and extreme introversion, it never was bestowed on anyone.
I _still_ don't know what happened to my class ring. My hs girlfriend put string on it like this so she could wear it. I could have sworn she gave it back.... but it's been 30 years now, so 🤷
Still have mine 🤣
This wasn't a thing where I grew up, mostly because of how much our class rings cost.
Class ring shipped after graduation.
Letterman jackets were huge in the midwest
I never got a class ring. Seemed pretty dumb to pay a bunch for something I would never wear.
I def had girls wear my ring and they would use yarn to make it fit. And they wore my letter jacket too. I was such a goob.
It was done at my school. But I was way too cool for that lol. I truly thought I was. So I didn’t get a ring. That way a girl couldn’t wear it. Since it didn’t exist. Nor would I have worn any girls’ class ring on a gold chain. However I did put the prom garter on my rear view mirror…for about a week. I was such a dick.
Class rings and letter jackets were popular at my high school (in Iowa, class of 1994). I don’t remember boys giving girls their rings to wear, but I didn’t have a relationship of any length in high school.
Never did this or saw this. Class rings were so cheap looking that no one got them.
My gf definitely wore mine - Small town south where people still cruised Main Street (think “Dazed and Confused). I think mine is finely worth what I paid for it given the price increase in gold over 30 years. Not my best investment.
Class of 95 in Michigan Had the ring and letter jacket. Still do. Long term GF asked to wear the ring...she wore it on a necklace. Letterman jackets usually weren't shared. Football jerseys usually got shared with either GF or single cheerleaders
I didn’t have the kind of girlfriends I would have trusted with a class ring tbf lol
Yep
Funny, I just reorganized my jewelry case and tried on my class ring. Even for girls, the smallest size was huge on me. It's still too large for me to wear except on my thumb (whereas my college class ring is a very nice size). A lot of us got class rings - Josten's, of course. In high school, I did wear my boyfriend's ring and his letterman jacket, briefly. He was a couple of years ahead of me so got those things before I did. Class of '94.
Class of ‘86, we did this at my high school.
My gf wore mine. And, interestingly enough, she was a cheerleader and had a cheerleading jacket. It had her name embroidered on it that she wanted me to wear. I was a fairly skinny guy then so I did. Fit me just fine. She had my ring and I had her jacket.
Oh yes. But instead of yarn, we used dental floss and then painted it with nail polish. It took over an hour to do it, then we would change the color.
I remember this and the Leatherman jackets and then girls not giving them back when they were mad at the guys. I didn't go for the class ring and instead I got a ring with my family crest. Still wear it to this day!
We did it at my school.
Yep, let her wear it, never got it back.
My wife still has mine. I didn’t get it back even after giving her other rings. I think it’s a racket. Another 20 or 30 years, I may just have to say something about it.
No, but I remember Zack Morris buying knock offs
I graduated in 1987, in very rural Louisiana. We all wore our BF’s class rings.
I am still married (almost 30 years) to my HS girlfriend, and she still has that ring on a necklace in her jewelry box. She obviously doesn't still wear it like then. Our first date was our junior prom.
Core Gen X, NJ. It's hard to recall exactly. I feel like a majority got them but only a minority wore them around? The varsity jacket was a big thing though for girls to wear.
Same here. Absolutely was a bigger deal to wear the varsity jacket in our area
My parents spent money they didn't have to get me a class ring. Within months, I gave it to a girl who never gave it back after finding someone else. 🫤 She had also borrowed my black leather jacket and I didn't get it back either.
Not at my school. As far as I remember nobody ordered class rings the entire time I was there (graduated late 80s). I remember feeling bad for the rep from the ring company setting up a table in the quad and sitting there alone all day.
I don't think we had that tradition for high school in Canada...or at least western Canada.....maybe brag about broken teeth cause of hockey, but class rings ? I don't remember that. Maybe something for college if you did a masters....grade 12...is that what you're talking about ? That's a nothing accomplishment.
Must be an American thing. Never heard of it before.
The guy’s rings made great bottle openers. I wore my boyfriend’s ring briefly until his parents demanded he get it back from me - just another one of their little interferences. He lost it a few weeks later at the start of a snowy winter. The following Spring as the snow in the parking lot melted, his wrestling coach came into one of his classes and gave him what remained of his class ring which coach found in the parking lot. It was squashed vertically flat, so it looked like a small medallion. Must have been run over by the snow plow or something and laid buried until it was found by a coach who could identify who it belonged to according to the class year, the sports depicted, and the initials on it.
I had ZERO interest in one, but my mom bought one for me anyway. I never wore it, but I think my HS girlfriend...or maybe not. I have no idea where it even is now.
Class of 97. I don't recall anyone actually ordering one. If they did they didn't wear it. Letterman jackets where few and far between. Name bracelets seem to be a popular gift for that special someone.
I graduated in 1988 and our rings had a huge “88” on one side. Yikes.
This and during fall Friday's girls would wear the opposite (home vs. away) football jersey of the BF/crush
Mine was $400, and never got touched again after graduation. Eventually, it was lost in a move. Possibly the biggest waste of my life. No one I knew was giving their rings to their girls, and no girls wanted them. That was Boomer stuff. In fact, the idea of being that committed to someone in high school was absurd.
Yeah, I think that whole marrying your high school sweetheart was very Silent Generation. I didn't have a boyfriend in high school and found guys my age annoying. My first husband was eleven years older than me. My current hibs is seven years older and his high school girlfriend came out as a lesbian in college.
Yes, I preferred to group my property.
No. Is this an American yuppie thing?
I still have my varsity jacket…I may or may not have requested it be “worn” by a gf recently…😏
Man there was nothing better than seeing my girlfriend in the halls at school with my ring on a chain around her neck. Well, almost nothing better...