note: several friends are already getting him gift certificates for food near campus next year- He has a suit
Paying for college?
Honestly we had a nice family dinner at one of their favorite restaurants and that was it. There was plenty to for us to buy as the kids got ready for college.
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Are you asking what friends and relatives can give him?
We asked close family members to write heart felt letters. They were beautiful. Maybe like Target or Amazon gift cards for dorm stuff??
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Emergency/dorm room kit? Bandaids, Tylenol, Duct tape, a few packages of Command hooks of different sizes/weights, screwdriver and small hammer, hand sanitizer, small bottle of Goo be Gone and a small canister of WD40? Nobody is doing major repairs (or treating themselves for something serious) but it’s nice to be able to fix an annoying hook which has come off the wall or treat your own headache without leaving the dorm!
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I love gifting, so this is a fun post!
A few memorable gifts my husband I still remember were: a nice set collapsible luggage (duffle, sling, organized toiletry bag) that fold flat for stowing in dorm when not in use; a laundry kit with a collapsible basket, dirty clothes sack, laundry sheets & soap and $ (we received quarters but don’t know if that’s even a thing anymore); a high quality pen/pencil set; a watch.
A few we have gifted when we asked nieces and nephews or their parents to give suggestions: a clear bag/backpack for game day security, noise cancelling headphones, a nice small satchel, quality charging devices and extra long cords, AirTags, gas gift cards/airline gift cards/amazon $ for dorm delivery, leather man multi-tool, nice towel & sheet set, fold up small picnic blanket, sunrise alarm clock, a quality camera. (Our daughter also requested a camera, which was a combo 18th birthday & grad gift; she is an artsy film kid).
On the sentimental side, “letters from home/open me when,” monogrammed item ( for boys could be a watch, pen , money clip, iPod case, etc), ring engraved with a message, small photo album/memory book or framed photo (novel for the digital generation), nice journal with a personal note inside, star/starchart, playlist/Spotify$, digital slide show of old pics.
Can’t wait to see the suggestions!
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One of our gifts to our S was an antique surveyors compass with a card reminding him to stay true to his path.
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Old school but my son asked for and recieved a nice watch.
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I agree that paying for college is the biggest present (if you’re doing that). But I think adding a letter about how proud you are of how he’s grown and the kind of person he is would be very touching.
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We wrote a heartfelt letter and paid for the new laptop (the old one was truly dying, as a parental hand-me-down from 2011).
We also did the application and paid for Global Entry since he’s applied to go abroad – would have just done TSA precheck if he’d not been planning international travel. The process isn’t quite finished yet, but he’ll be so thrilled to have it once it’s done.
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That’s what we got our boy, an old school self winding watch.
A dear friend of ours passed away a few years ago in his mid 50’s, his daughter just got married. His wife (also a dear friend) made an absolutely beautiful speech and said she wanted her husband to have a part in the ceremony, so she read a moving letter from him to his daughter that he had left behind when they dropped her off freshman year. Not a dry eye in the house.
We gave our kids new laptops for HS graduation, they really needed them.
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Both kids got nice laptops that met the specs of their intended majors as their HS graduation gift.
I am putting together a “wet” shaving kit.
It will include a double-edge (DE) razor, a nice brush, a variety pack of DE blades, a nice tub of shaving cream (not soap nor foam … we all deserve better than that, a nice cream like Taylor’s of London) and a collapsible silicone shaving bowl (for travel, these are nice and I just don’t think a proper ceramic shaving skuttle or mug would survive dorm life).
Doing the same for D24 as we did for D20…a “plane ticket voucher”…basically, if during her college years she makes plans for a trip (for spring break, or a summer trip with friends), we will pay for her airfare for it (just once, after that, she’s on her own to fund her travels).
Other than that, we just bought her the laptop she’ll need for school and dropped a fair amount of $$ on a big grad party, where family and friends gifted her with enough money to cover all of her spending money needs for next year. So, I’m going to call that good.
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