A kit list for an LSE graduation: the ID card that gets you your tickets, why everything has to travel light, and what your guests need from you before the Peacock Theatre doors open.
An LSE ceremony day moves between four buildings: the Old Building for your tickets, the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre for photographs, the Peacock Theatre for the ceremony and the Marshall Building for the reception. You carry everything with you the whole way, because there is nowhere on campus to leave it. So the packing matters, and most of it comes down to one card, one phone and a bag you would happily hold all day. Below is the list, plus what your guests need from you.
The one thing you cannot forget is your LSE ID card. Your tickets, and your guests' tickets with them, are collected by you, in person, from the Student Services Centre on the ground floor of the Old Building, and the desk asks for the physical card. Lost it? A passport or driving licence works instead. A photo of either on your phone does not: LSE accepts no digital copies of ID.
Time matters as much as the card. Tickets can be collected until 30 minutes before your ceremony starts, and after that you may not get them at all. Graduands are seated half an hour before the start too, so plan to be at the desk well ahead.
Your gown is the part you can do early. Graduands hiring from LSE's official supplier can only collect their gown at the Student Services Centre Atrium once they have their tickets. Renting from us, you pick yours up the day before or early that morning, so you turn up wearing it and the tickets are your only queue.
Travel light, properly light. LSE has no storage facilities on campus and asks graduands and guests not to bring luggage or bulky items at all. The Peacock Theatre's cloakroom takes small personal items and prams while you are inside, but everything has to come out with you at the end.
Your phone will carry a lot of the day: the confirmation email with your date and time, messages to whoever is meeting you, photographs between buildings and the broadcast link for family who couldn't travel. Plug it in overnight and bring a small power bank.
That is the core: card, phone, gown and an early start. Lay them out before bed; the rest of this list is about comfort.
"There is strictly no access to the theatre after the start of your ceremony."
— London School of Economics
The most useful small thing to pack is a few safety pins or hair pins, and LSE suggests them itself. The hood sits over your shoulders and drifts as you move; a pin at the front of a buttoned shirt or blouse holds it where it belongs all day, on stage and in every photograph.
You won't need to keep the hat on for the stage. LSE tradition is that hats aren't worn there: you leave yours on your seat, or carry it in your left hand as you cross. If you want it on for photographs, a couple of hair grips help it stay put outside.
Shoes deserve a moment's thought. You climb steps to the stage, cross to its centre and come down the steps on the other side. If you're wearing heels, bring a pair of flats, leave them in the Peacock Theatre cloakroom, and change when you collect them at the end.
Dress for the walk outside. London in December averages about 3 to 9°C, by the Met Office's long-term records, and the day moves between buildings, so a coat is worth bringing; in the theatre, a guest can keep it on their lap. July averages about 14 to 24°C.
For photographs, Tempest runs the official studio on the first floor of the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre. There is no booking: you walk in, get instant proofs and order on the day or later. Tempest also frames degree certificates on the spot, and photographs every graduate on stage, with those pictures ready within about a week.
Fix the hood with a pin at the front of your shirt or blouse as soon as you put it on, in front of a mirror rather than in a queue. Then all that is left on campus is the ticket desk.
Work back from your start time. The Peacock Theatre on Portugal Street opens about an hour before the ceremony. Ticket collection closes 30 minutes before the start, which is also your deadline for being seated; guests sit down by 15 minutes before. Once the ceremony has begun, nobody else gets in, so allow for delays on the way.
LSE's own campus tour points you to Holborn Underground station, on the Piccadilly and Central lines, at the corner of Kingsway and High Holborn. From there, everything is a few minutes' walk.
You can ask for two guest tickets, and they are free. Children over two need their own ticket and seat, and every child sits with an adult guest rather than with you. Anyone without a ticket can watch the ceremony live in the Old Theatre or in the Weston Cafe on the sixth floor of Saw Swee Hock, and family abroad can follow the online broadcast. If they need a visa, LSE provides a digital invitation letter, which you request once your booking is confirmed.
Straight after the ceremony, you and your ticketed guests go to a drinks reception in the Marshall Building, about an hour long; your ticket says which room. Keep the tickets on you until then, and collect everything from the cloakroom on the way out.
Your suitcase, or any large bag: campus has no storage. A screenshot in place of your ID card, which the ticket desk won't accept. Any plan to have the degree certificate handed to you on stage: taught graduates collect it separately during graduation week, and what you receive on stage is a ceremonial scroll. And the idea of wearing the hat across the stage, which LSE tradition rules out.
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