I have 12, yes 12, friends and family graduating this year

We want to buy a little something for each. All but 2 are going to college. My DH was thinking of compact umbrellas since they would come in handy at school. Any other ideas?

Thanks!

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Nutella,....
proving some of the best things in life come in a jar.

I always buy a small bottle of laundry detergent (like Tide) when it goes on sale and tape a roll of quarters to the top of the bottle and put a gigantic bow on it! Voila - laundry away from home!

Some laundry machines in dorms no longer take quarters, but the recipients can ALWAYS find use for the 10 bucks inside the roll, so I still give this gift.

You are so generous to be thinking of them ALL!

I usually do money for boys and photo albums for girls. We have 6 graduations this year - some we anticipated, 1 for sure we didn't. My dh says the boy doesn't even talk to him even though his dad is dh's supervisor. Sounds to me like an invitation for cash. Won't be going to that party.

I always do cash.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Cash is great if you know them or want to give a substantial gift ($5 in an envelope is a little impersonal and seems smaller than a gift card of the same amount somehow). But since you have 12, I actually love the idea of an umbrella, or the laundry gift.

Some ideas I had:
gift cards to Starbucks
gift cards to Barnes and Noble

........if you know the student and want to give something a little more personal, then a gift card to the bookstore of their college.....that first semester is a real sticker shock to buy books.....it was over $600 for my son's first semester.
(we learned after that to get library books, or buy off the internet). But it is a way to make it a little more personal, but still not have to spend much....it would still be ok for that to be $5-10 gift cards.

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DS is graduating this year and I wanted to do something for all of his friends that are graduating too (it's a tight group). I am buying insulated tumblers from Starbucks. The bottoms screw off and you can insert photos. I am going to make a collage of a bunch of their pics, and run a bunch of color copies at Office Max to insert inside. I may add a small Starbucks g.c. as well. I figured this would be something compact that they can take to college w/ them and something they would all use. I think they are about $11. I did one for my dad's b-day and it turned out really nice.

I mean this in the nicest way possible....how many 18 yr olds do you know that actually use an umbrella?

Cash is king with grads.

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bite me and get a brain!

We give cash or check. We have 3 this year.
The amount depends on how close we are to them.

I always give cash, but with 12 all I can say is yikes.

We only have a couple grads this year, and I plan on giving cash. One is going to college but going to live at home. The other is not sure what he will be doing.

I definently think that a compact umbrella would be good for a grad going away to college. It is something they would not have thought of to pick up and although may not use it all the time, but there would be those times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When it is needed!!

I think I am going to give gas cards or grocery gift cards to the ones heading off to school. I will probably try to figure out a cute way to package them. Any ideas?

I like the laundry detergent idea. You could include a net laundry bag for a few dollars more.
Another idea would be a desk lamp. They have organizer desk lamps on clearance at walmart's web site for $12 each.
A gift card to Walmart would be good, because you can buy just about anything there.
I would stay away from the gas cards though. I think that they are a pain to use. Many that I have had you had to go into the gas station to use them,
rather than paying at the pump like you do with a credit card.

For my son's graduation last year, he got a plant with 5 and 1 dollar bills tied to the leaves. It was really cute and quite a conversation piece. The bills were folded like an accordion.

As far a fun packaging, I once gave a Starbucks gift card in a plastic (disposable) cup. I had not intended to do that, but my DS was with me and wanted water. They served it in one of their clear plastic logo cups (the ones the cold drinks come in). After the water was gone, I saved the cup, washed it out, wrapped the gift card in green tissue paper, wadded up some more green tissue and put it in the cup, inserted a straw and tied a ribbon around it. I also like the idea of putting it in an insulated mug, especially since Starbucks will let you use your own cup.

This would work for any restaurant that gives clear cups, or you could use a plain cup for any food gift card.

For the grocery gift cards, I would see if you could find small brown paper gift bags (Micheals may have them) that look like grocery bags, but much smaller -- stuff the bottom with tissue so the gift card sticks out slightly (like a box of something on the top of the bag). For a gas card, maybe you could attach it to a Matchbox car or something like that.

Another great way to package gift cards so they don't get lost is to tape them to a giant candy bar. CVS often has the large size Hershey bars for $.99, so it's not adding a lot of cost to your gift. You can also make your own 'wrapper' out of copy paper and tape it on top of the sealed wrapper. My kids like to do this and I let them decorate the paper with stamps, markers, crayons, etc. I tape the gift card to the bottom of the candy bar so when it's set on the table, people looking at the gifts don't see it, but when the recipient picks it up, they will see it.

My mom used to give buckets filled with school supplies and other usefull college dorm type items (roll or quarters, laundry bag, safety pins, etc.). She would buy thing on clearance throughout the year for very inexpensive and save them up until she needed a graduation gift.

Sarah.....mom to Jason & Devin

Cash may be the preferred gift. However, how many students spend that cash with nothing to show for it?

I know the speedway gas cards can be used at the pump. I put my gas money on one every time I get paid. It keeps me from spending my gas money!

my son was a college freshman this year at a big college so there was alot of walking to get to
classes and this spring he did take one of my compact umbrellas back with him as it was a
rainy spring (but it had to be a black one for some reason.)

Another thought would be if there are any fast food resturants with in walking distance and a gift
card for those...the kids did get tired of cafeteria food and this was a nice break from that.

also in my son's dorm they used the cash that was tied into their i.d. card to do laundry so they
did not need change but a laundry basket and laundry soap and even fabric soften is a good idea...

A great gift for college students is a small tool kit. Ikea sells a really nice one for around $7. I bought it for my son, and it came in so handy I went ahead and picked them up for others I knew were graduating, including my other two kids who were 2 & 6 years younger! It is in an orange plastic case, so it works for girls, too!

IKEA | Furniture care & hardware | Hardware | FIXA | 15-piece tool set