Class of 2027 moms… welcome to senior year! 🥹❤️

If this is your first senior, you’re about to discover that there are approximately 8,742 little things to remember this year. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but by spring, you might actually believe me.

There are yearbook deadlines, college applications, ACT and SAT dates, FAFSA, senior nights, graduation announcements, cap and gown orders, senior pictures, scholarships, prom, graduation parties… and about a million other things that seem to pop up along the way.

It adds up FAST. And somehow, you’re supposed to keep track of all of that while also processing the fact that the kid you swear was just starting kindergarten is now a SENIOR.

So before the school year gets completely crazy, I put together a few things you can do now that might make life a little easier later. Some are practical. Some will save you from frantically searching your phone at 11 p.m. in April. And some have absolutely nothing to do with checking another thing off your senior year to-do list.

Because as much as there is to do this year, I also want to remind you to actually enjoy it.

Here are six things I think every senior mom will be glad she did before senior year gets crazy.

1. Start a Senior Year Information Album on Your Phone

This may be the least exciting tip on this list, but future you is going to LOVE you for it.

Create a new photo album on your phone and name it something obvious like “Senior Year Info.”

Then screenshot EVERYTHING.

Yearbook deadlines? Screenshot.

Cap and gown ordering information? Screenshot.

Senior night details? Screenshot.

Graduation rehearsal information? Screenshot.

An email from the school with twelve paragraphs of information and one important date buried somewhere in the middle? You guessed it. Screenshot.

If you think there’s even a small chance you’ll need to find it again, put it in the album. Because six months from now, when you’re thinking, “I KNOW I saw something about this somewhere…”, you won’t have to search through 4,000 photos, your email, the school website, three Facebook groups, and seventeen text messages. It’ll all be in one place. And senior year has enough chaos. We don’t need to create more. 😂

2. Start a Senior Year PHOTO Album Too

Yes, we’re making two albums.

Trust me on this one. At some point during senior year, someone is going to ask you for old pictures of your child. Actually, MANY someones probably will. You’ll need photos for things like yearbook ads, senior slideshows, Senior Sunday posts, graduation parties, announcements, sports banquets, senior nights and who knows what else. And April is not when you want to start searching for a kindergarten picture. Start collecting those photos now.

Go through your camera roll and old albums and begin saving some favorites: Kindergarten and first-day-of-school pictures. Sports pictures. Dance recitals. Vacations. Favorite family photos. Pictures with grandparents. Photos with siblings. Funny childhood moments. Middle school. Freshman year. Homecoming. Prom. Anything that feels like part of her story.

You don’t have to finish the entire thing today. Just start it.

Then, as senior year happens, keep adding to it. By spring, you’ll have an entire collection ready to go instead of frantically scrolling through 18 years of pictures while wondering how your baby got old enough to graduate. And yes… that last part may require tissues.

3. Put ALL the Senior Year Dates in Your Calendar

If it has a date, put it in the calendar. Not later. Now.

Senior year has so many deadlines that don’t feel urgent until suddenly… they’re tomorrow.

Depending on your senior’s plans and activities, you may be keeping track of college application deadlines, ACT or SAT dates, FAFSA, scholarship applications, homecoming, prom, senior nights, sports schedules, college visits, yearbook deadlines, cap and gown orders, graduation announcements, graduation rehearsal and graduation itself. And that’s before we add normal family life to the calendar.

Start with every date you already know. Then make it a habit to add new ones as soon as they come in. I’d also add reminders BEFORE the actual deadline when possible. If something is due October 15, a reminder on October 14 may not be nearly as helpful as one on October 1.

This is also a good time to think about senior pictures. If you have a particular season in mind for your senior’s photos, don’t wait until that season arrives to start looking for a photographer. Fall senior sessions, for example, are typically booked before the leaves ever begin changing.

Get the big things on the calendar first, and suddenly the rest of the year feels a little more manageable.

4. Start Your Graduation List Now

Open the Notes app on your phone and type:

Graduation List

That’s it.

You don’t have to know how many graduation announcements you’re ordering yet. You don’t need addresses. You don’t even have to know exactly what you’re doing for graduation. Just start adding names whenever someone comes to mind.

Grandparents. Aunts and uncles. Cousins. Family friends. Coaches. Teachers. Church family. Neighbors. Close friends. People who have loved, encouraged, taught or cheered for your senior throughout her life. You’ll think of people at the most random times. Add them. Future you does NOT want to sit down the week graduation announcements arrive and try to remember every person who should receive one.

And here’s another little tip: if you happen to have their address handy, add it beside their name. You’ll be one step ahead when it’s finally time to mail everything.

5. Intentionally Plan Time Together

This one might be my favorite. Senior year can very quickly become one giant checklist.

Did we order the yearbook?

Did you submit that application?

When is the scholarship due?

Did you order your cap and gown?

What time is senior night?

Did you email your counselor?

And somewhere in all of the doing, it’s really easy to forget what this year actually represents.

Your senior is growing up.

So put a few things on the calendar that have absolutely nothing to do with accomplishing something.

Grab lunch together.

Go shopping.

Get coffee.

Take a day trip.

Go somewhere you’ve always loved going together.

Plan a mother-daughter date.

And yes, senior pictures absolutely count. 😁

One of the things I love about photographing seniors is watching moms experience the day alongside their daughters. The hair and makeup, helping with outfits, driving from location to location, watching their daughter light up when she realizes just how beautiful she looks. It’s part of the memory too. I’ve even had families turn senior pictures into an entire trip. One recent senior traveled all the way from Kansas with her mom, dad, sister, two best friends and her dog. They stayed in an Airbnb in Oklahoma City and made a few days out of the experience.

Your time together doesn’t need to be that elaborate. The point is simply to make room for it. There will always be another thing to check off the list. There won’t always be another senior year.

6. Find a Mom Who Has Already Done This and ASK HER

Phone a friend. Seriously. Find a mom whose child has already graduated and ask her one simple question:

“What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before senior year?”

I can almost guarantee she’s going to tell you something you never would have thought of. Maybe it’s something she wishes she’d ordered earlier. Maybe it’s a deadline that surprised her. Maybe it’s something she spent money on that she wouldn’t do again. Or maybe she’ll tell you she wishes she’d worried less about getting everything perfect and spent more time enjoying the year.

There is so much wisdom in the moms who have already walked through this season. Use it! And if this isn’t your first senior, you’re that mom now. Help the first-timers out.

UPDATE: I Asked Senior Moms What THEY Would Add to This List

When I originally shared this senior year checklist on Instagram, I ended by asking moms who had already been through senior year to help the rest of us out:

What’s one thing you would tell a first-time senior mom?

And you guys DELIVERED.

There were some really good practical ideas, but what I loved most was how many of the answers had absolutely nothing to do with deadlines, applications or ordering things on time.

They were about being there. So I had to come back and add some of their advice to this list.

Create a Tradition That’s Just for You and Your Senior

One mom shared that she and her senior son had a standing lunch date around the 6th of every month. He loves tacos, so each month they tried a different taco restaurant together.

I LOVE this idea.

It doesn’t have to be tacos, and it doesn’t even have to be lunch. Maybe you try a new coffee shop once a month, have breakfast before school, go get ice cream, or have a standing dinner date. The activity really isn’t the important part. You’re intentionally putting time together on the calendar before everything else fills it up. And I have a feeling years from now, you’ll remember those ordinary little lunches just as much as some of the big senior-year events.

Don’t Just Collect the Childhood Pictures—Share Them With Your Senior

Remember that photo album I told you to start in #2? One mom had an idea I hadn’t thought of. She’s been going through her iCloud memories and sending old pictures to her daughter along with the year they were taken. How sweet is that? We’re so used to having thousands of pictures stored on our phones and in the cloud that our kids may never actually see some of the pictures we took of them growing up.

So while you’re gathering childhood photos for Senior Night, graduation open houses, yearbook ads and graduation parties, send some of them to your senior too. And another mom pointed out a bonus to having everything organized in one album: when graduation party time arrives, you can turn that collection into a slideshow and play it on your TV. Future April/May you is going to be VERY thankful you started gathering those pictures now.

Take the Pictures. Go to the Events. Say Yes When You Can.

This might have been my favorite piece of advice from the entire conversation.

One experienced senior mom summed it up beautifully: take the pictures, go to the events, say yes when you can, and don’t rush through all of the “lasts.” Because there are SO many lasts during senior year.

The last first day of high school. The last homecoming. The last football game or competition. The last Christmas break. The last prom. The last regular day of walking into that school. When you’re in the middle of it, it’s easy to move straight from one thing to the next because the calendar is so full. But every once in a while, stop and recognize that you’re living one of those moments you’re going to miss later.

That doesn’t mean hovering over your senior all year either. Give them room to become more independent while continuing to show up when it matters. And don’t wait for graduation day to tell them you’re proud of them.

Senior Year Isn’t the Year to Play It Cool

Another mom’s advice was basically this: GO ALL IN.

Enjoy the year. Laugh with the other students and teachers. Take the pictures. Be silly. Participate in the traditions. Keep up with those grades, obviously, but don’t spend senior year holding back because something feels embarrassing or uncool.

I think that’s pretty great advice for our seniors too. There are plenty of years ahead to be grown up. You only get one senior year. Wear the senior jeans. Paint the parking spot. Dress up for spirit week. Take way too many pictures with your friends. Go to the game. Make the Senior Sunday post. Let your mom take the picture even though she’s already taken 47.

Enjoy it while you’re actually IN it.

Maybe This Is the Most Important Senior Year Checklist

When I first wrote this post, I wanted to give senior moms practical things they could do before the year got crazy. And I still think the photo albums, calendars, graduation lists and planning ahead will make your life SO much easier.

But after hearing from moms who have already lived it, maybe there’s another checklist we need too:

Take the pictures.

Show up.

Make time together.

Let them grow.

Celebrate the little things.

Tell them you’re proud.

And every once in a while, forget about the checklist altogether and just enjoy your senior. ❤️

One More Thing for the Class of 2027 Moms…

You are going to take a LOT of pictures this year.

First day of senior year.

Last homecoming.

Senior night.

Prom.

College decisions.

Cap and gown.

Last day of school.

Graduation.

Take them all.

But also remember to get in some of them. Hand your phone to someone else. Ask another mom to take the picture. Set the timer. Whatever you have to do. Don’t spend the entire year documenting your senior’s memories without being in any of them yourself.

And while we’re talking about pictures, don’t wait until the end of senior year to document who your daughter is right now.

Senior pictures are one of the few times during this crazy year when everything gets to slow down for a minute and simply be about her.

Her personality. Her style. Her interests. Her confidence. Who she is now and who she’s becoming.

As an Oklahoma Senior Photographer, that’s what I want senior pictures to preserve. Yes, I want you to have beautiful images for graduation announcements and your walls. But even more than that, I want you to have photographs that take you right back to this season years from now.

Senior Moms, You’ve Got This

There will be deadlines you almost forget. There will probably be things you order at the last possible second. There may be a moment sometime around April when you wonder why graduation requires SO MANY THINGS. 😂 It’s okay. You don’t have to execute senior year perfectly to make it meaningful.

Get organized where you can. Ask for help. Take the pictures. Make the memories. Put down the checklist every once in a while and enjoy the kid standing in front of you. Because for all the planning that goes into senior year, the part you’ll remember most probably won’t be whether you met every deadline three weeks early. It’ll be the little moments you had together along the way.

And to the moms who have already survived senior year, we need you!

What’s the ONE thing you wish someone had told you before your child’s senior year?

Share it with a first-time senior mom. ❤️