College Graduation Gift for DD

[Shughart]

Smart watch or a new phone if she'll be moving to her own plan?

 

[MomToOne]

This is a great idea. I asked my son about it right after he got hired. He said he wanted to wait and see if it was something his company would pay for before we spent the money ourselves. We both agreed it’d be totally worth it even if we had to pay for it.

It sounds like he is on the right road and has a good head on his shoulders. Honestly, working professional services can be a blast, ESPECIALLY when you are young and have all that energy LOL You work long, hard hours, but the good firms take good care of their employees and you see a lot of places and get a lot of great experiences with all sorts of different people. And the reward miles/points rock - I've taken many a memorable personal trip on those that there is no way I would have taken otherwise

Good luck to him!

 

[MrsPete]

Smart watch or a new phone if she'll be moving to her own plan?

A new phone ... that's what I'm getting myself for her graduation. And one for her Daddy too. We want to ditch the expensive Verizon plan, but it's kinda the only game in town in her rather remote college town, and I can't leave them 'til she graduates (one year from now). I'm just hoping that our phones (which aren't new now) will hold out 'til graduation.

 

[scrapquitler]

We didn't really feel a need to buy a big or extravagant graduation gift for our daughter since we paid for school. However we did buy her a piece of computer software that would help her with her job, and it cost about $250.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

It sounds like he is on the right road and has a good head on his shoulders. Honestly, working professional services can be a blast, ESPECIALLY when you are young and have all that energy LOL You work long, hard hours, but the good firms take good care of their employees and you see a lot of places and get a lot of great experiences with all sorts of different people. And the reward miles/points rock - I've taken many a memorable personal trip on those that there is no way I would have taken otherwise

Good luck to him!

Thank you!!! He is so excited to start his career. All through college he knew he wanted to work as a consultant. When he got an internship in corporate finance instead of consulting the summer after his 3rd year, he thought he wouldn’t get the chance. But he re-recruited hard when he got back to school in August and made it happen. I am incredibly proud of him!

 

[ski_mom]

Our oldest DD just graduated and in addition to money, we gave her a throw with her school name and class of 2019 embroidered on it.

 

[Anthony1971]

I would give her some cash or a gift card to a place she likes to shop or maybe a Amex Gift card -- I would mention Visa but some have a lot of hidden fees just be careful-- This was she can buy something on her own and enjoy her new found true independence with a card that says similar -- from school and being taught and told etc.... not from parents -- this is the start of her own life where she is truly in control of everything......

 

[wishuponastar1984]

The other thing we were thinking of getting him was luggage because he starts in August at Ernst and Young as a business consultant. He’ll be traveling most weeks Monday through Thursday. He’s going to need good luggage. But we decided to wait until he takes a couple of trips to see what his luggage needs actually are.

Not to be a Debbie Downer but he may not be traveling as much as he thinks. It is standard operating procedure to tell potential hires that they "could" be traveling M-Th but it is also very likely below the manager level to be slogging it on local projects so a good computer bag is essential. I say this as a current 20-year management consultant at one of the other Big 4 firms. One thing I will mention is most of the management team men all carry Tumi computer bags and rollaboard bags. Computer totes for women take on more varied options but they are still almost always black and from a high-end maker. Your computer bag is like an extension of yourself and not a place to skimp. My parents thought I had lost my mind at 23 years old when I bought a USED Tumi rollaboard on ebay for $100. They couldn't fathom why I would spend that amount of money on used luggage. That bag has well over a million miles on it (literally) and is a workhorse. The warranty is fabulous and I have brought it in for maintenance many times but it keeps on ticking.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Not to be a Debbie Downer but he may not be traveling as much as he thinks. It is standard operating procedure to tell potential hires that they "could" be traveling M-Th but it is also very likely below the manager level to be slogging it on local projects so a good computer bag is essential. I say this as a current 20-year management consultant at one of the other Big 4 firms. One thing I will mention is most of the management team men all carry Tumi computer bags and rollaboard bags. Computer totes for women take on more varied options but they are still almost always black and from a high-end maker. Your computer bag is like an extension of yourself and not a place to skimp. My parents thought I had lost my mind at 23 years old when I bought a USED Tumi rollaboard on ebay for $100. They couldn't fathom why I would spend that amount of money on used luggage. That bag has well over a million miles on it (literally) and is a workhorse. The warranty is fabulous and I have brought it in for maintenance many times but it keeps on ticking.

Thank you for the info on the Tumi bags. I’ll pass it along to DS. I am kind of relieved to hear that the 4 days a week travel might not start up right away. That may give him a chance to get his bearings in his new city.

 

[sk!mom]

DD22 graduated last May. If we hadn't already paid for her college, then we would have put anything we could afford to paying off debt. She didn't need to take on any debt in college so we bought her the very special- Washer and Dryer. She and her boyfriend (now fiancé) were moving to a new city and an empty house so their major grad wishes were house needs.

In your case, OP, if you have the money already saved to pay off her college debt, I'd 100% do that. I can't imagine a better gift than knowing that you are starting the next chapter debt free.

For those thinking of luggage and brief cases/bags, DD got her bf one of these for grad last year https://nutsac.com/collections/all/EDC and Away luggage is very popular these days. https://www.awaytravel.com/shop/suitcases