<p>A mini-tradition in my family was monogrammed towels for when we went away to college. I received a set with my first name on them (still around here somewhere, likely used for washing the dog at this point … ) when I went away, and I gave my younger sister a set with her initials when she went away to school. The theory was that way it would be easier to ensure they didn’t get lost / stolen. </p>
<p>Is that still an appropriate gift for a senior going off to college, or is that just not done these days? Would it stick out like a sore thumb? Also, would this be ok for a boy (assuming an appropriately masculine color / monogram of course) or was this just a girl thing that we did?</p>
<p>Here’s what my older (by 13 years) sister did for me, her son, various cousins when they went away to college. She made them special pillowcases, embroidered with their name and then some symbols appropriate to them. A set of two pillowcases. An obvious labor of love and everyone loves them. My S is kind of the next generation, so he doesn’t know this is coming so it will be a pleasant surprise. I wonder what she is planning for his symbols … hmm, he played water polo and the piano, so there are some obvious ones. Or maybe symbols for CA if he end up going to school OOS.</p>
<p>I think it’s fine but more so for girls than boys only because girls tend to care more about stuff like that. As long as the typeface of the monogram is not girly/swirly and the colors are very basic (white towel and black monogram or bright primary color?). Besides, it’s easy enough to hang a towel so the monogram doesn’t show, so you can have the fun of giving it and the kid can simply not display it if he chooses not to. Years ago my son was given a nice giant-size bath sheet with his name and the college’s name on it in the very un-masculine colors of his school. He used it on and off, rarely did laundry, and eventually lost it after graduation by leaving it somewhere, possibly at a friend’s house during an extended visit. Not deliberate, just typical of him at that time.</p>
<p>I think monogram towels sound like a nice idea–especially if you share tradition behind it. My Ss still carry initials on their backpacks with no qualms. (If you want to be subtle, just do monogram in similar color to towel for a tone-on-tone effect.)</p>
<p>^^landsend towel set with monogram is my usual HS graduation gift. School colors w/block initials for most young men, unless I happen to know their favorite color. It depends with the young women, if they are very girly or not girly at all. There are lots of choices.</p>
<p>I think that’s a wonderful idea. I’ve always thought monogrammed towel sets look lovely in a powder room…my mother had them but I never did.</p>
<p>One Christmas I had first names embroidered on bath sheets for everyone. My own disappeared and a year or so later I found it in S’s dorm room. </p>
<p>When the kids were young I color coded their towels so we always knew who the culprit was who just dropped their towel on the floor.</p>
<p>I gave nieces monogrammed towels years ago and their mom returned the favor this fall for my daughter. She loved them. There are certainly great colors available for boys. You could do a thread color that isn’t too much of a contrast. Now, my brother in law gave both of my kids the towel that is brown on one end and white on the other–one end says face and the other says butt. We think they are hilarious, but as I have said before: we are easily amused.</p>
<p>I think giving monogram towels is a nice tradition especially for girls. If you decide to give them to the boys, I would suggest a tone on tone approach. The best contemporary monogramming I have found is thecompanystore.com.</p>
<p>I have been giving monogrammed towels to both boys and girls for the last 4-5 years. Neiman Marcus/Horchow have great towels and if you catch the specials for free monogramming and free shipping, you can get a monogrammed towel for about $13-14 each. Depending on how close we are to the kid, they get 1 or 2.</p>
<p>My mother got my D monogrammed bath sheets and towels from Neiman Marcus/Horchow for graduation. We had to wash them seven, yes seven times for them to stop shedding. The towels are smurf blue, and it looked like one exploaded all over my laundry room from shaking them after each wash. They are fine now, and we were very glad we washed them at home instead of having to pay for the dorm washers!</p>
<p>DS got three sets from various individuals the bday before he left for college. I thought it was a great idea. FWIW, two had his initials, one set had his first name (which is not common)–that’s the one he ended up taking with him. (Although maybe he just liked that color more? Kind of a royal blue.) (And I’m using the lovely, thick white ones with blue monogram initials.) (And don’t get brown–nice quality towels, just did not look right.)</p>
<p>I dunno. My instinct is that giving a boy monogrammed linens is like giving a paraplegic great track shoes.</p>
<p>I think the towels we sent to college with my son were the towels left over from when we were in college. (None of which were monogrammed, by the way. Our younger selves would have tossed those back. Our older selves don’t appreciate it all that much, either.)</p>
<p>I gave my D hot pink towels with her whole name monogrammed on them when she went to college. They came home after college. My son made it very clear that his name on anything would be terminally embarrassing. I gave him a stack of white towels from Costco, which I never saw again.</p>
<p>Def. would not put a boy’s first name on a towel. Makes me think of the “nap towels” they had in kindergarten. Initials would be OK if block letters and a dark color.<br>
My S’s would prob. use them but would not think them any more special than any other random towel. </p>
<p>A few months ago when visiting S2’s college dump of a house, I noticed one of those large barrel coolers (the kind you see in stores full of ice with soft drinks stuck in) filled with towels floating in suspect looking water. I recognized the bath towels I had sent from home plus others. I started pulling them out…13 towels in a cooler.</p>
<p>Asked S2 about it…“oh yeah, the frig. exploded last week. Tons of water was running out so we just grabbed all our towels and started soaking it up. They were so wet, we just tossed them in the cooler. We’ll get around to washing them…eventually”.</p>
<p>Nothing is sacred to college guys…or maybe mine are just Neanderthals.</p>
<p>I’m with JHS on this one. Even my daughter would think it a bit too precious, unfortunately. I think they’d feel it reveals a background of “comfort and privilege” that they may not want advertised. (and we’re what I’d consider comfortably middle-class) Mine are a bit sensitive about anything that gives the impression that they came from anything more than living under a bridge in their pre-college years. ;)</p>
<p>PackMom - when my friend visited her son’s apartment at NYU she noticed that the bathroom floor was covered in a thick layer of damp clothing. She asked him if there was a plumbing problem and he seemed genuinely baffled. He said no, that’s just where the dirty clothes go. She left and never returned.</p>