Graduation Tassel Guide: Colors, Charms, and Ceremony Traditions
This graduation tassel guide covers everything a senior advisor or commencement coordinator needs to know about ordering tassels for a graduating class — what the colors mean, how the year charm works, where the tassel goes during the ceremony, and how to spec a bulk order without overbuying.
What a Graduation Tassel Actually Is
A graduation tassel is the cord-and-fringe accessory that hangs from the cap during commencement. The traditional tassel is roughly 9 inches long, made of polyester or rayon yarn, with a metal or plastic year charm at the top where it attaches to the cap button.
Tassels are worn on either side of the cap during the ceremony — right side before the diploma is conferred, left side after — and the “turning of the tassel” is the symbolic moment of graduation. More on that ceremony tradition below.
For schools, tassels are typically ordered separately from the gown and cap, in school colors or in honor society colors, with a current-year charm.
School Color Tassels: The Default Order
Most schools order their grad tassel supply in the school’s primary and secondary colors. Single-color tassels match the school primary; two-tone tassels combine primary and secondary in a 50/50 blend. Most public high schools use two-tone tassels.
Quantity-wise, plan one tassel per graduate plus 5–10% buffer for late additions and replacements. For a graduating class of 250, order 270–275 tassels in the standard school colors.
If the school has multiple graduation cohorts (multiple high schools in a district, multiple programs at a university), each cohort can use the same color base with different year charms or distinguishing details.
Year Charms and How They Work
The year charm is the small metal medallion that attaches the tassel to the cap. It’s embossed with the graduating year — 2026, 2027, 2028. Most schools order tassels with the current year charm pre-attached.
Year charms are typically gold-finish for general graduation, silver for some honor designations, or specially finished for commemorative classes (50th anniversary cohorts, milestone graduations). The standard gold charm in 2026 reads “2026” in numerals 0.5–0.75 inches tall.
For schools that want to keep tassels generic and reusable, a charm-less option exists. Most don’t bother — the year charm is part of the tradition, and graduates value the year-specific keepsake.
Honor Society Tassels and Distinct Colors
Honor societies often have specific tassel colors that differ from school colors. National Honor Society uses gold and white. Phi Beta Kappa uses gold and pink. Cum laude graduates often wear a gold tassel; magna cum laude adds a second color band.
For a graduating class with honor society members and Latin honors, the practical order plan is: standard school-color tassels for everyone, plus society-specific or honor-specific tassels as add-on orders. Each society tassel ships in society colors with society emblem on the year charm if relevant.
The Turning of the Tassel Ceremony
The turning of the tassel is the moment in commencement when graduates move the tassel from the right side of the cap to the left. Traditionally, this happens after the principal or president confers the diploma and welcomes the class as graduates.
The order of operations: graduates wear the tassel on the right side throughout the ceremony, the diploma is conferred (either individually or class-wide), then the master of ceremonies announces “Class of 2026, you may now turn your tassels,” and graduates simultaneously move the tassel to the left side. It’s a small gesture but a meaningful one — the visible moment of becoming a graduate.
For the ceremony to work, the tassel needs to attach cleanly to the cap button and pivot smoothly. Quality tassels with stable charm attachments make the turning look crisp; cheap tassels twist or tangle and look fumbled.
Ordering Bulk Tassels
Order tassels 8–10 weeks before commencement. Production for a typical 200–500 tassel order takes 7–10 business days, plus shipping. Year charms are stamped per order, so confirming the year and quantity at order time is key.
Most schools order tassels and gowns from the same supplier, but they don’t have to come together. If your school orders gowns from one source, you can still bring custom tassels in from us as a separate order for color matching, honor variants, or a more durable charm than the standard gown package includes.
Want to order tassels for your graduating class? Request a quote with your school colors, ceremony date, and graduate count. Free artwork in 24 hours, and we keep the design on file for next year’s class.
