Your son or daughter is finally graduating! Celebrate your student’s four (or more) years of hard work with these graduation gifts. These practical and fun gifts are a great way to show your pride in your college graduate!
Technology
- Laptop: After four years of use, your student’s laptop might need to be replaced
- Pay for 6 months of internet/cable to help your student get started.
- Subscription to Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+
- Tablet: These can be a great tool for showing off a resume or portfolio!
- Helmet Cam: For active students or just for fun, these can be a surprising but enjoyable gift!
Apartment
- Basic cooking utensils such as pots and pans or grown-up dishes and silverware
- Making sure to keep the size of the size of the apartment in mind: Bookshelves, a dresser, a couch, or a bed
- Curtains, lamps, and art can go a long way in making an empty apartment look like a home.
- A vacuum, microwave, toaster or iron and ironing board
- An online interior design and home decorating package for their first apartment after college from Havenly
Low on cost but highly meaningful
- Put together a cookbook of some of your student’s favorite recipes, plus some quick, easy meals she can make on the run. Include a basket with the spices or even jarred sauces your student will need for the recipes.
- Set your student up with a file box that already has folders for her important documents. Include places for health care forms, records and bills; tax information; financial records; and housing documents such as the lease, maintenance requests, and any other correspondence with her landlord. This is a great time for your student to learn how to organize and manage her important documents, and your guidance will be especially helpful.
- Get a frame with multiple openings, and fill it with photos from your student’s life. Photos can brighten your student’s day when she’s feeling far from home.
Miscellaneous
- A briefcase, nice pens, and a business card holder
- Professional clothes for interviews or work: Looking sharp can help your student feel more confident! (Give your student a gift card or gift her a shopping trip; it’s important for your student to be there to try things on and pick out what she likes.)
- A good quality rolling suitcase in a unique color or pattern. (Black, dark blue, and dark green suitcases are hard to spot. Try bright colors or bold patterns to make bag claim easier.)
- An experience: cooking classes, a ski pass, surf lessons or a gym membership are out-of-the-ordinary gifts that can help your student make friends in her new area.
- Send a VRBO gift card so they can plan a trip with friends!
Capture the memories
- Diploma frame
- College memorabilia (sweatshirt, alumni license plate frame, coffee mug)
- Photo album
- Plane ticket to visit college friends or return to campus for Homecoming
- DVD/professional photos of graduation ceremony
- Class ring
- Camera
Prepare for a job
- Briefcase or leather portfolio
- Engraved pen
- Suit (or gift certificate to a professional clothing store)
- Elegant professional accessories — tie, belt, scarf, jewelry
- New smart phone, tablet, or laptop
- Business card holder
- Session with a life coach or resume-writing service
Be sentimental
- Collection of family recipes
- Scrapbook of childhood
- Family heirloom
- Letters of love and congratulations from family and old friends
- A family night with student’s favorite meal, games, movies, etc.
- Engraved jewelry
- Monogrammed stationery
- Monogrammed jewelry box or travel case
- Monogrammed leather passport holder
Prepare for a home
- Send a food delivery subscription
- New bed and bath linens
- Coffee maker
- Dishes and silverware
- Glassware
- Welcome mat
- Crock pot
- Cookbooks or cooking magazine subscription
- Portable grill
- Cookware set
- Toolbox
- Picture frames
- Wall art
- Globe or world/U.S. map to keep track of adventures
Be practical
- New car tires
- Six months of car insurance
- Membership with AAA
- New bike
- Deposit on an apartment
- Sports equipment or gym membership
- Roll-on suitcase or weekender duffel
- Moving truck costs
- Help moving from college
- Free rent at home
- Money clip with money
- Gift cards to clothing or home furnishing store
- Restaurant and grocery store gift cards
- Gift card to salon or barber shop
