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Cap & Caption

A guide for parents of seniors

Senior Sunday, but private and printed

Senior Sunday is the tradition of sharing one photo and a short caption about your senior every Sunday of their last year of high school. It's a beautiful habit. But it's easy to fall behind, and the posts end up scattered across a feed your kid may never scroll back through.

How to keep up without the Sunday-night scramble

  • Pick next week's idea on Monday, so you're watching for the photo all week.
  • One photo and two sentences is enough. Say why the moment matters, not just what it is.
  • Missed a week? Skip the guilt and catch up. Nobody is grading this.
  • Write to them, not to your followers. "I love the way you…" lasts longer than a hashtag.
  • Keep a copy somewhere that isn't social media, so the year doesn't disappear into a feed.

30 Senior Sunday ideas for the whole year

Fall: the beginning of the lasts

  1. First day of senior year, next to their first-day-of-kindergarten photo
  2. The parking spot, the locker or the lunch table that's finally theirs
  3. Homecoming: the getting-ready chaos, not just the posed photo
  4. A Friday night game, concert or competition from the stands
  5. Their after-school job and what they've learned from it
  6. College or career essays: the topic they chose and why
  7. Their favorite fall tradition at home
  8. A teacher or coach who changed things for them
  9. Senior portraits: your favorite outtake
  10. Thanksgiving: what they're grateful for this year

Winter: the in-between

  1. Their room right now, before it changes
  2. The holiday tradition they still insist on
  3. Their go-to snack, playlist or show this season
  4. The friend group, and how long they've been together
  5. A decision or acceptance they've been waiting on
  6. Something they're surprisingly good at
  7. The car they learned to drive in
  8. A snow day, a sick day or an ordinary Tuesday
  9. Something they taught you this year
  10. Valentine's: a note about who they've become

Spring: the countdown

  1. Spring break, wherever it was
  2. Their decision: where they're headed next
  3. Prom: the details you'll forget otherwise
  4. Senior skip day, senior prank or senior night
  5. The last first game, show or meet
  6. Cap and gown arriving in the mail
  7. Their favorite memory from each year of high school
  8. A letter from a grandparent
  9. The last day of high school
  10. Graduation day, and what you want to tell them

Keep it private, and hand it to them at graduation

I started Cap & Caption because I loved watching Senior Sunday posts, but my daughter isn't on social media. I wanted the memories somewhere I could actually give her. Cap & Caption sends you one prompt a week by text or email. You add a photo and a caption, and at the end of the year it becomes a hardcover book. Building it is free. You only pay if you print.

Free: questions to ask before graduation

Our favorite prompts for capturing senior year — before it's gone.