<p>This is more of a going to college present, but I’ll share it as it was very heart felt!</p>
<p>When I was moving into college, before my parents left my Dad said he had a present for me. I opened up a roll of duct tape! My Dad said with this gift that “Duct tape mends everything, even broken hearts”. I had already known the utility of duct tape, but the symbolism was great and it was nice knowing my Dad had confidence in me going away to college.</p>
<p>Fast forward to today (well 2 weeks ago), when I got married. After my father-in-law (also his best man) gave the toast, my father stood up and said he had a gift for us. He was holding two gifts that looked circular wrapped in tissue paper. As he was going on about his thoughts on marriage to us, I shouted out, “You’re giving us duct tape, aren’t you?”. Lo and behold, he gave both of us a roll a duct tape to start our marriages off on the right foot with the proper mending materials!</p>
<p>The symbolism really got me and I think it’s a very clever idea as a simple gift on top of any other gift you may want to get your child for graduation/going off into the harsh world of reality (plus freaking darn useful)!</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>As for a real gift, I remember my father giving me a very simple ring from Tiffany’s before I graduated from high school (or maybe it was 18th birthday). I still wear that ring to this day, it is one of the few pieces of jewelry I have been given that transcends fashion!</p>
<p>Well, I’m with altmom – our main gift to our D was/is paying for college! A couple of other gifts, though (1) a photo collage page that was a full page ad in her HS yearbook. I spent hours finding photos, cutting, arranging, & rearranging them. I got the original page back and then framed it for her. (2) I also spent the better part of a day writing her a letter that I slipped into one of the boxes she took to school, along with a framed family photo from our vacation last spring. I cried buckets over that letter, so in many ways it was as much for me as for her – all the “remembering when,” etc. etc. She loved both gifts.</p>
<p>This is an idea for someone else’s child or for a graduate you may not know well. My daughter received a Syracuse University blanket with her name embroidered across one corner. They are not expensive and can be ordered on the internet from the university bookstore. She uses it in her “reading corner”, a nook she made in her dorm room. Most universities have them. Just an idea!</p>
<p>I made a slideshow “Off to College!” for DS and his two close cousins all going off together (same year different colleges) starting from when they were babies in 1986 through kindergarten, summer days at the lake, etc. through to hs graduation. You get the idea. Played it at a late August “Off to College!” party for the three of them. My young niece spotted DS teary-eyed as he watched it.</p>
<p>I only knew how to set it to music from one track. By the time he graduates college, I plan to make one where I can dub in different riffs from different songs for each slide, fade in the music, fade it out and who knows what all other special effects.</p>
<p><em>it was a present to me, too; as I loved doing it and still love pulling it out to watch from time to time</em></p>
<p>Like altmom and CBB, our gift for college graduation was that our son graduated owing zero money! We also bought a really nice frame for his diploma. (Which he must like since it hangs on the wall of his hip urban apartment even though it’s a very traditional dark wood frame!)<br>
His HS grad gift was a photo scrapbook from birth until graduation. I titled it “Book I: The Early Years” although I don’t intend to be in charge of Book II or beyond.<br>
For D1 I was stuck doing a reprise of the scrapbook - had it finished through kindergarten by graduation day but done by the time she took it off to her dorm room. She gets the B.S. degree next month and we have the diploma frame on order.
D2 graduates from HS next month and heck if I know where any of her childhood pictures are. My filing system has deteriorated to piles on my desk and shoeboxes in the closet. Can I have “do-overs” for Senior year and come back more organized?</p>
<p>jmmom – I wish you were my mom! wonderful idea – where did you get the time to dig all those photos out – and scan them? I think because these kids all need computers when they leave for college that it’s an obvious (and necessary) gift – but where’s the heart? In my day – I got a Smith-Corona electric typewriter. Not much heart there, either, but I did manage to work my way through college (pizzas and beer) – at 50 cents a page – typing other people’s papers.</p>
<p>I have kept scrapbooks for each of our children since they were born. After their baby books were all filled in, it seemed a shame to just stop, so I started using 3-ring binders. I’ve been able to cram toddlerhood through 12th grade into two very full binders for S1. the kids enjoy looking through them from time to time, but I have to admit I’m ALWAYS at least a year behind in keeping them up to date.
Have been collecting favorite pics of S1, who is graduating, and would love to do some sort of photo book for graduation. The dvd sounds great too, though am afraid I’m too intimidated by the computer!</p>
<p>Also-- even though they’re probably enjoying their new college teeshirts and sweatshirts at the moment–
Once they are away from home they might (might) like something of their high school, to show where they’re from rather than where they’re going… Our HS store has scarves, jackets, mugs, etc.<br>
Will also try to get a group shot of S’s team and stick it in a cheap frame. His sport has meant a lot to him, and they’re a really nice group of kids.</p>
<p>jym626 – Funniest ever! Forget college; my S (HS sophomore) needs this now!!! He still uses the Nickelodeon alarm clock that we got him when he was headed to Kindergarten. This past year it just hasn’t done the trick, and I’ve about had it with yelling at him to get out of bed every morning. :)</p>
<p>jym—that’s great. I’m going to certainly check out the Sonic Boom alarm for D2. When her sister leaves for college, I’ve realized that the getting D2 out of bed in time for school job will go back to me, and I’m dreading every bit of it. She will set multiple alarm clocks to go off right beside her head and sleep through every one of them.</p>
<p>I bought the Sonic Boom alarm for S2 earlier this year. It does work great, but he always forgets to reset it each day. I usually come in his room and set it if I think about it, but he’s going to have to remember it himself once he gets to college. If that clock had an automatic reset, it would be perfect :)</p>
<p>I recommend the Full Spectrum Desk lamps you can get at Brookstone and such places. The ones with full spectrum light give your student’s gloomy desk, so often stuck under a lofted bed a less depressing light during night study hours. They are infinitely better for one’s mood than cheap florescents. worth every penny. I bought them “rebuilt” to save money from Sharper Image Outlet. I bought one for my son’s desk and a floor version for his fold out couch area under his loft (cheap couches will appear over the summer at Pier One with no springs, easy to carry up stairs, smaller option to big futons, fold out as foam mats for those constant hall visitors.) Hallmates come into my son’s room and pick it up and move it easily when guests come. But normally he sits on his little low foam couch to read and talk with friends. For girls, I recommend a Pier One Gift Cert. The place turns into Bohemian Dorm Room Chic on sale for all girly girls in August, but “sigh” my son would not be hanging colored bead dividers or buying brightly colored funky rugs and other fun dorm room items. If only I had a daughter…she would also call me often, I am sure!</p>
<p>We had planned to give S money for h.s. grad. (his request) but right after graduation he was invited to go on a trip to Mexico with a friend’s family. All he needed was the airfare. So we paid the airfare and said Happy Graduation. He had never been out of the country before. Heck, he had never been out of the south before. The trip was the chance of a lifetime for him and I know he will remember it far beyond $ in his bank account. </p>
<p>My parents sort of gave themselves a gift for my graduation (in addition to a beautiful necklace that matched some earrings I had gotten for my birthday a few months before…my moms reason was that a few hundred bucks spent before the thousands they would drop, for even instate tuition, was nothing). My mom had a photo frame engraved with my name all around it, and then put a really really nice picture of me from my graduation night in it and put it next to one of my sister’s college grad picture and my brother’s “graduation” from elementry school/6th grade. We each had the same frame, and it was really nice to see us all lined up above the fireplace, and i’m sure my parents look at them every single day =)</p>
<p>I made tshirt quilts for my D. One was comprised of all her road race shirts as a runner. I even found “girls running” fabric for the sashing. The other had all her activities/clubs/teams shirts from hs. The sashing was a fabric that incorporated her school colors.</p>
<p>Many colleges have their own procedures/materials for lofting beds. I would wait to see what a college has/requires before spending money on an individually owned lofted bed.</p>
<p>at my son’s college, two vendors were present in front of the dorms with crews on move in day…but you can “shop” for the little couch or futon to put under the loft. Sometimes desk goes under loft…which is why I say get a full spectrum light desk lamp for a senior.</p>
<p>I ordered the “sweetheart” sonic boom (a cute little red heart alarm clock, but still comes with the “bed shaker” mechanism. I showed it to the older D, who currently has to get nasty with D2 every morning to wake her up. She laughed hysterically and said it was the perfect b-day gift for D2…and sort of a goodbye present from her current “alarm clock”!!!</p>
<p>I love the idea of the “Words of Wisdom” book from the first page. I’ll be looking into that one, I’m sure everyone in the family would like to participate.</p>
<p>D’s birthday and grad day are only a couple weeks apart, so we got her a joint bday/grad gift of a round-trip ticket to Ireland. We have tons of family she can stay with over there, so she’ll be there for a month.</p>