<p>For those who will have a COLLEGE grad in a few months, what are your plans? </p>
<p>Son will be graduating on May 7th (almost exactly 4 months away…Yikes!!!)</p>
<p>I know he’d like a trip somewhere…so that’s on the table as a surprise…but don’t know what other options are possible.</p>
<p>What are your plans? Or what have you done in the past for a college grad?</p>
<p>Ha - this was brought up yesterday at the dinner table by my other two children - “are we going to have a big party for D’s graduation??!” </p>
<p>Probably a get together to celebrate with just close friends and family (unlike the “open house everyone come” high school party!).</p>
<p>As far as a gift - depends. Might be help w/furnishings if she gets a job and an apt. Might be some help with a downpayment on a car if she decides (or if the current car doesn’t make it) she needs to replace it. Might have considered funding a small trip, but D has actually expressed just wanting to bring her closest college friends up for a weekend at our cottage - and that, for us, would be VERY affordable!!! :)</p>
<p>D actually just texted me a picture yesterday - her school’s common building (cafeteria, mail room, etc.) has a photo “wall of fame” of sorts - very large pictures of students over the years during different campus events. They just hung up some new pictures and one of the large ones is a GREAT shot of D! I told her that we are going to steal that sucker at graduation. 
(teasing! Maybe…)</p>
<p>An iPhone 4 so we can have face-to-face chat time :)</p>
<p>We sign over to each college grad the well-used yet well-maintained car they have driven when home along with a cash gift to start them off on their new adult life. We also will pay for grad school apps.</p>
<p>That burser’s bill marked “Paid in Full”. An actual physical copy of the bill, stamped in red, may even frame it.</p>
<p>I gave my son COBRA until his job started and his benefits kicked in. Not exciting, but it was a valuable gift.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>LOL…but I think with new insurance changes, S will be on our insurance for awhile…he’s going to grad school.</p>
<p>I know this semester will go pretty fast for him (and us). He has all of his req’ts finished; this semester is just for fun…taking Italian and a few other interesting classes. </p>
<p>I know that he wants to go to Italy to try out a bit of the Italian that he’ll be learning. The prof does an annual summer trip with students, so that may be a possibility.</p>
<p>We rented a house on the lake by D1´s school for the graduation week. Our relatives (whoever could make it up) could stay with us. We are planning a barbecue at the house for D1´s friends and families one night. </p>
<p>As far as a present, D1 wants a piece of jewelry, not sure what it´s going to be yet.</p>
<p>I think she should buy us a present.</p>
<p>A kiss on the cheek for congratulations and a kick on the butt to send him tumbling off to college…:)</p>
<p>An i-phone, a good computer plus 20-30K per year cost of attending college.
Parents are born to be slaves to their children.</p>
<p>Sorry, my S is graduating from High school…Wrong place to post this…</p>
<p>Haven’t thought about it yet. I might be more inclined to think about a gift when I hear he has a JOB or is at least actively looking for a job.
We have reserved a couple of hotel rooms. Need to book reservations for dinner. My son is a last minute person so I don’t have a clue as to how many to reserve for. He has 2 remaining classes so summer school starts 2 days after graduation.</p>
<p>Haha Oldfort, I agree!</p>
<p>College is our gift to them!</p>
<p>Will be flying to the left coast for the event, will go out to dinner on the day, will pay health insurance and start loan repayments till the first paycheck.</p>
<p>May 2011 Graduate S and I are going to raft the Taos Box. I’m going to pay.</p>
<p>For S1 ('09) we bought a nice (less than $100) watch and had his school’s initials and grad year engraved on the back. We gave him the rest of the money left in his college savings acct. to use for starting life. grad. school, partial house down payment, whatever he needed it for. I had his diploma framed. DH signed over the nine year old truck to him.</p>
<p>DH and I took S1 and his roommate to a dumpy Mexican place across from the university for the after grad. dinner. We offered to go somewhere nicer but it had been a long day and S really just wanted to meet his friends for a grad. party that night and relax.</p>
<p>Plans right now include bringing both sets of grandparents cross-country to graduation and then kissing him bye-bye. We’ll return to New England and he will be off to San Francisco to start his life.</p>
<p>Bought D a new laptop (MacBook). Will do the same for S1. At the end of 4 years of college, their laptops had/have gotten pretty outdated and beaten up.</p>
<p>No parties, trips, etc. If they want that, they will have to organize and pay for those on their own.</p>
<p>D1 graduated last May. She graduated with no debt, a car and was one of the lucky ones to get a job. We figure that was our gift! We did take her out to a great place to eat and split the cost of a grad party with the family of her boyfriend. We then paid for a trip to Florida for her and BF and she came home engaged. Now we have a summer wedding to pay for…another gift already! ;)</p>
<p>We don’t have a graduate THIS year, but we have in the past. We gave both kids the same gift…payment of their Stafford loans for a few years…a bargain compared to what we paid for college costs.</p>
<p>DD also got to take the train home from CA…a bit more pricey for that sleeper car than a plane would have been but she loved it.</p>
<p>DS got cash towards a new musical instrument.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m giving my son a framed copy of the last tuition bill that reflects the 4 year running statement. We’re giving him the title to the car he’s had for 5 years. We’re telling him we’re going to pay 1/2 of his Stafford loans (or the first 1/2 of the years). And, we might take him out to dinner!</p>
<p>My parents are letting me cook dinner at their house for my grandparents and fiance. That’s probably all, my younger sister is graduating high school at the same time and that is the big production. She’ll have a big party and get a new computer.</p>