<p>lololu, My church gave us all that book as a graduation present!</p>
<p>I’m a decent photographer, so I took my best photo of their prom group and framed an 8"x10" of it for each of them.</p>
<p>No one prints pictures anymore. A few of them told me it was the only photo they displayed in their dorm rooms.</p>
<p>My daughter loved this Spiral Pop-up hamper from BB&B when she was a freshman. It is far sturdier than most, and the wide sturdy shoulder strap helps a lot of there are stairs between the dorm and the laundry room.
[Spiral</a> Pop-Up Hamper - Bed Bath & Beyond](<a href=“http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13566720&RN=152]Spiral”>http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13566720&RN=152)</p>
<p>I gave it to a dear friend at church who graduated same year as son (and has the same name - together in Sunday School since age 2). Mostly I just give cash or check since teens always can find good uses for money;)</p>
<p>just saw in Brookstone- Epad lap desk- on sale for 29.95 or 39.95 with speakers-I remember having these as as child</p>
<p>[Padded</a> Lap Desk?Ideal for Use with Your Laptop?at Brookstone](<a href=“http://www.brookstone.com/epad-portable-laptop-desk-cushioned-bed-lapdesk.html?his=2~46337~2~root_category%40kwd~epad&bkiid=searchResults|C4CategoryProdList1FDT|9140481]Padded”>http://www.brookstone.com/epad-portable-laptop-desk-cushioned-bed-lapdesk.html?his=2~46337~2~root_category%40kwd~epad&bkiid=searchResults|C4CategoryProdList1FDT|9140481)</p>
<p>Amazon gift cards and bath sheets are both really cool ideas. I buy stuff to outfit my dorm on amazon all the time, and I just got my first bath sheet and will never go back to regular towels again.</p>
<p>Gift cards for places local to the college town are a really good idea too-- they get those shy kids out of the dorm and making themselves at home in the new city.</p>
<p>BB&B carries a “backpack” type laundry bag in black ($8 after coupon)…I take them (I think last year about 13 of them!) to a local embroidery place and have their names embroidered on the flap ($5). Add a tide stick, some Purel laundry sheets, and instructions on “How to do your laundry in the Dorm”…memorable and useful for $20 or less. They tell me they use them…esp. to go back and forth from home to dorm…they hold a lot!</p>
<p>Also did a lot of $20.10 checks…most kids use them to buy their own laptops…so it’s not just spending money.</p>
<p>Small and useful: their own toolkit for move-in day and beyond. They’ll need a screwdriver to raise their beds into loft beds; a bit of picture wire, wire cutters. These often come in a little plastic snap-close kit, availble at home/hardware stores. The tools snap into holders so the inventory is maintained. Go ahead and use a sharpie to write their first name on each tool handle. They will be the most popular person on the dorm floor on move-in day, and others will immediately borrow tools from them; the names help them get returned properly.</p>
<p>Kits cost around $20.11.</p>
<p>^Those only hold a lot if you don’t want the seams at the top to rip within a month. >.< Mine was mended with duct tape to make it last a semester before it finally really bit the dust. Maybe mine was just defective.</p>
<p>My S would say just give a college-bound student a year’s supply of duct-tape rolls!</p>
<p>One mom made a ton of laundry bags for all the kids she knew–included step-by-step laundry instructions and a roll of quarters!</p>
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<p>Just an aside - since this was mentioned a couple of times - my son laughed at me when I bought this little plastic dispenser that holds a roll of quarters for him to take to school. Apparently a lot of schools, his included, use a card swipe for washing machines. I’m so 20th century, apparently! :)</p>
<p>My school changed over to using the swipe cards after I left if I remember correctly. We could swipe our cards to buy food and stuff at the store though.</p>
<p>The swipe cards are great. My daughter’s school used the swipe card, but my son’s dorm is still using quarters.</p>
<p>One gift I gave a lot of grads (when I had the time & energy) was personalized desk kits. I bought inexpensive zippered cases from the dollar store (or similar) & stocked with with pretty much everything that I thought would be useful for their desk that they might not have in their dorm/apartment that they were used to having. Included were a hole punch, white-out, postage stamps, highlighter, all kinds of tape–masking, scotch, & blue poster tape, scissors, glue stick, ruler, mechanical pencil with spare lead, permanent marker, envelopes, sewing kit, measuring tape and a bunch of other stuff. You can make the gift as comprehensive & expensive (or inexpensive) as you like. It was one of the first things we reached for & used in moving S into his dorm room.</p>
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<p>For my older daughter, she gave each friend a role of duct-tape, wrapped in a bandana; the bandana was one of the colors of the school that the recipient was attending.</p>
<p>For my younger daughter, we may get the gaffers tape in colors to match the school…</p>
<p>Great ideas for HS grads. How about college grads? We have both this year: friends of S1 (college - going on to grad school) & S2 (HS).</p>
<p>gift cards from bed bath and beyond is what I gave last for all the grad party</p>