Graduation Gifts
One gift that actually spans most possible relationship types is the ever popular money in any form cash, check, money order. Currency that can be converted by the recipient to fit their own personal needs. Everyone can use cash and many people prefer to personally select their own items to fit their existing lifestyle, taste and immediate needs. There is nothing worse than getting a gift that is worth $200 when what you really need in is the $200. So if you are fearful of making a wrong choice, want to make sure your gift is well received and is something that can and will be used, you really never need to stray from money regardless of how close or how distant your relationship might be.
In the instance where you have a personal relationship with someone which includes knowledge of places they are likely to enjoy shopping, items that they currently need or locations they may be headed after graduation the field of possible appropriate and useful gifts broadens considerably. Now instead of giving generic cash you can confidently give the slightly less generic gift certificate. People who enjoy shopping as an art form are always pleased to be shopping with gift certificates – all the fun for free. People who only shop occasionally will be much more interested in taking turn around the mall if it leads them to a free purchase at their favorite shop.
Nowadays gift certificates are available at almost any commercial establishment. So for the young person going on to college a perfect gift might be a hefty gift certificate for use at a grocery store, national fast food chain or for the more discrete a very nice restaurant. They will thank you when they receive the gift and think of you months from now when they stop somewhere totally new for a bite to eat or have dinner with a friend on you. If the recipient of your largess will be living in a city environment you might want to consider some type of metro pass , health club membership, tickets for the theater or sports events. Any gift certificate that helps young people to cut some necessary expenses like phone, electric, gas or heating bills may not be the most exciting gift to open but come the end of their first month living away from home the gratitude will definitely be bumped up a notch. While these types of gifts may lack the sentiment of something perceived as a more personal gift, often to the young recipient they do say “I recognize you as someone moving into the adult world and I want to help you on your way.” Many graduation gifts are pure fluff , if the graduate you are rewarding has just a touch of common sense they will be pleased to get a gift with some real teeth.
For some special cases you may want to move away from the monetary gift into a whole different kind of giving. For family members, close friends, graduates with whom you have a special relation and with whom you share a comfort zone you may want to try giving the gift of self. There are at least three ways to include yourself in the gift you are giving. The first is reminiscent of the coupon books that children often give parents on Mothers or Fathers Day. Inside a well selected card you simply include, instead of the customary cash , a prepared coupon which tells the graduate what service you have decided to give to him or her to commemorate their graduation. It could be something as simple as taking over a siblings chores for a week after graduation or driving the graduate to work for two weeks. The type of graduation gift giving this opens up is really only limited by the nature of your relationship with the graduate and your own skills and availability.
You can also give the gift of yourself by arranging for and of course funding a special activity that you don’t just provide for the graduate but rather that you provide for the two of you to share together. This gift is perfect for any graduate with whom you have a strong personal relationship and with whom you know sharing time will be a joy for both of you ( not just you). Here again the type of time you plan to spend together will depend on you and the graduate. It can be expensive or hardly touch your pocketbook. It can be a walk in a park or a 5 course meal at a multi star restaurant. Whatever it is the key element is that the gift brings the two of you together for a time of sharing and enjoyment. There is no doubt that the gift that in some way includes the giver is unique, memorable and actually one that the recipient can help to choose or plan.
Their is a final avenue of giving to someone who you know well and with whom you feel very comfortable. For that truly special person graduating from high school or college why not celebrate the occasion with the gift of a pre-planned shared day of service. That’s right welcome the graduate to join you in putting their now documented skills, knowledge and ability to the good of others. Together do something that makes a difference for someone else, something perhaps that you and they will remember for a long time to come. It make take some effort on your part but there are plenty of local and not so local places where you and your graduate could provide meaningful service. Call your library, hospital, Boys and Girls Club, Rotary Club, animal shelter or soup kitchen. Or try Habitat for Humanity, National Park Services, Oxfam America or the National Red Cross. Spending a day or part of day working side by side on a project or for an organization important to both of you is for sure a gift that will mean as much to you and the graduate as to the group you serve.
Finally there really are no bad graduation gifts, but you have the best chance of expressing your own pride and joy in the accomplishment of a graduate if you really think first about the nature of your relationship and the person on the receiving end of your graduation gift.
