It crept up fast. Ideas appreciated from parents or students. DS1 is 18 and will be at UCSD in the fall. Thanks!
For your DS or his friends?
We gave our kids a smartphone and a new laptop for school.
For the friends: DD1 says the best gift she got was the tool kit. Plus, cash is always appreciated.
Money, money, mney - cannot go wrong with the check, much more appreciated than anything
For DS. Thanks! What tool kit do you mean for the friends? Small repair kit? On another thought did you get any present for recommenders or other teachers?
Target has a $15 tool kit with small hammer, screw driver, a few nails’brads, tape measure, etc. DD is a junior and she says that was the best gift. Has had a lot of use.
For teachers, she wrote a nice note and we included 2 passes to the summer repertory theater in our town. I’m in to consumable gifts.
I have to say that the one gift I see repeated over and over to purchase is the tool kit. For that reason, I would NOT give one! - too much chance of duplication!
On another “grad present” thread yesterday a small size Brita pitcher is suggested at a very reasonable cost. Gift cards to restaurants near campus always appreciated if you don’t want to give cash.
We agree for our own we got them their new laptop computers for school with protection plans 
It was not usually there at graduation so they got a picture in a box. We shopped the school web sites and sales to find best bang for the buck over the summer. The phones tended to be birthday presents. For friends gift cards or cash.
As gifts, we would give the white board for the outside of the dorm room door, for leaving messages.
Gift cards to the campus bookstore are always a good option. Students can use them to buy books, supplies, logo clothing, or even just snacks throughout the year.
For your own kid? Our grad present IS college.
@abasket Good call on the water filter. DS is somewhat of an athlete who goes through chilled water like anything. Which reminds me - need to find out what the fridge situation is in his dorm/college.
Here’s the thread with the Brita chat - seems that you can buy a small, thin pitcher from Walmart for about $11.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1779620-a-successful-and-affordable-graduation-gift-idea.html#latest
@Alfonsia Well certainly the tuition room and board is the main gift. But HS graduation is a celebration with relatives and so on. Nice to have a little something wrapped for the festive occasion. Doesn’t need to be a car.
I would buy DS a car.
If she already has one, think about upgrading it.
It would make things a lot easier on campus to have a car, in addition, it has the benefit that she can help out friends with trips and things like that.
For San Diego, definately think about a convertible. The BMW 2 series is nice, and going with the iDrive would be a great addition.
^^^ Student- driven opinion??
DS = darling SON not a “she”.
You know us parents…always want to make things “easier on campus”!!
I think about a grad gift as I buy all the things my son needs for the dorm room. We bought the cutest littlest retro mini fridge that I’ll get to keep if the roommate brings one , a Keurig coffee maker, and still need to buy a small microwave. Son got the computer he wanted, Alienware, for Christmas, and a cell phone for Grad Bash. So gift? It’s hard to nail one down when you’re trying to furnish the necessities at the same time. I’m leaning toward fun money or an inspirational book, maybe an autobiography.
One thing we bought when S was a freshman 2500 miles away was a little picture frame from Ross that we put in a photo of the family at his HS graduation. I think he liked it and finally brought it back to his bedroom after college graduation. We got the kids laptops for college–maybe that was their grad gift? Also made S a “desk kit” which was a soft zippered case with all the essentials that are “borrowed” from around the house–legal sized envelopes, postage stamps, small stapler & staples, ruler, mechanical pencil & leads, sharpie, pens, scissors, whiteout, blue painters tape, scotch tape, packaging tape, etc. It was the first thing that we opened in his dorm room to start getting things organized!
I gave my son $200 last year. We also got all his stuff for college but didn’t call it a gift. He didn’t use his toolkit. Grandma was rumoring about a “trip” for him last year, but she didn’t like any destination ideas he had, even tho she kept asking him where he wanted to go, so that fizzled. She’s not even bringing it up with daughter this year. I expect I’ll give her $200 as well. Wifey says it was from her too last yr, but it wasn’t, it came out of my bank account, we have separate finances and split everything. Then she says the grad party was his gift but it wasn’t cuz she used my aunt’s inheritance money(that my aunt gave ea kid). Wifey gets off scott-free, oh well.
This is pretty far in advance, but I’m hoping that DS’s dorm room, wherever it is, enough space for a small electronic keyboard. If so, that will be his grad gift from me.
DS de-stresses by playing the piano. He stopped lessons in jr high, so he’s not super great, but good enough for his purposes to play whatever sheet music he downloads. I’m guessing that sometime during senior year he’s going to realize that getting to a piano at college won’t be as easy as at home, and he’ll be nervous about other more talented people hearing him play.
We’ve been working on his tool kit over the years–more STEM focused so he already has his own soldering iron and multimeter.
If you want a non-practical gift for UCSD:
-a gift certificate from the Torrey Pines Gliderport (across the street from UCSD) for a tandem parasailing ride $200
-a gift certificate for the La Jolla Kayak tours
-a surf board
-Triton cash(although he may need a UCSD ID card first)
-Long board skate board for getting around campus or a bike
More practical: gift cards to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or Chipoltle- all are near campus and are a nice change to dining hall food
Go pro camera