What are some Ideal Graduation Gifts
Graduation time is coming for high school and college seniors. The ideal gift will recognizes this milestone. Whether your gift is silly or sentimental, fun or functional deciding on what to give you new graduate is part of the fun. Knowing you picked the gift that brings a smile to your graduates' face is the rest. Here are a few suggestions to brighten your graduate's day.
General Gifts
1. Digital Camera: A digital camera is a wonderful way to record those last memorable days of school. Do your graduate a favor and give this gift a week or two early so they have it for all the graduation festivities.
2. Cellular Phone: If your graduate has a cellular phone this might be a time to upgrade, if they don't have a phone now is the time to get them one so they can keep in touch with their family and friends. Include a pre-paid years worth of service as part of your gift. Include a small address/telephone book with an inscription that encourages them to fill it out so if something happens to their phone they haven't lost their information.
3. Luggage: Luggage makes a great gift whether your graduate has immediate plans to travel or plans to travel sometime in the future. The patterns on the luggage can be plain or fancy to reflect your graduate's unique taste. Adding a special luggage tag can make finding luggage a breeze on the airline turnstiles. Other surprises can be added inside the luggage such as travel blanket, pillows, or an iPod for the journey.
4. Travel: Travel can be expensive but it will give your graduate a unique view of the world. Sending your graduate on the trip of a lifetime can be an enriching life experience.
Setting Up Home Keeping Gifts
5. Pantry Shower: It is expensive to purchase the staples for your first kitchen. A gift of items such as flour, sugar, salt, pepper, condiments and spices can be perfect when paired with a gift card for perishables.
6. Laundry Basket: A laundry basket filled with laundry soap (hopefully, environmentally friendly) spot remover, a roll of quarters, and a book on how to do laundry is a useful choice! Additional items, such as bath towels, a shower curtain, and kitchen linens can also be included.
7. Book: There are so many things your new grad will need to know once they are living on there own. Unless your grad likes to wear all pink clothing which is what will happen when they mix hot water with their red and white clothes, you may want to give them the book, "How to Do Just About Everything" by Courtney Rosen. It reviews doing laundry, mending clothing, unstopping sinks and the one my newly graduated daughter keeps referring to is the page on making hard boiled eggs.
Nostalgic Gifts
8. Diploma Frame: Is your graduate the nostalgic type? Even if they aren't they worked hard for that diploma. Getting a frame for their diploma would be a wonderful to remind them of their hard earned accomplishment.
9. School Tokens: Nostalgic graduates would enjoy like objects that remind them of the school they have graduated. Today, many high schools and colleges have gift shops where items with the school name or logo on them such as clothing or blankets can be purchased. Graduates also look forward towards getting these same types of items from their choice of college or technical school if they have plans for continuing education.
10. Children's books: Children's books are popular choices for gifts for graduates. They touch the heart of the child in children of all ages. Dr Seuss's The Places You Go comes to mind when thinking of an appropriate choice for a graduate. Other choices would be, I Knew You Could: A Book for All the Stops on the Way, which is a spoof on the Little Engine that Could. And for the Curious George lover there is Curious You, You Are on Your Way.
Technology
11. Technology: In the last several years there have been many technological advances. It is hard to imagine being without a laptop in today's society. Laptops are "needs" not "wants". For those planning future education, laptops can assist in finding much needed scholarships and choosing that next school. If the laptop is for school, check with their chosen school to see if the school requires a Mac or PC. Macs can be built to order at www.apple.com/; Hewlett-Packard can be purchased at www.hp.com and Dell's can be purchased at www.dell.com. Your graduate may also like having a 4-in-1 printer, fax, scanner, and copier for the convenience they afford. Shredders also make nice gifts.
Gift Cards
12. Gift Cards: Gift cards can make great gifts. Sometimes malls will have a gift card that can be used in any store or restaurant in the mall. Talk about options. This way you'll know they won't get the same thing twice. Gift cards to budget stores like Wal-mart, Kmart, or Target offer the new graduate a wide assortment of gifts from which to choose.
Enjoy as you celebrate your graduate's accomplishments. In some ways, you are graduating too. You were there to support them through times of good and bad during their years of school. Congratulations to you and your graduate.
