College Graduation Gift from Parents?

[luvdisney00]

I think a nice dinner is better than a party at that age, she will probably enjoy it more, and close friends and family may give her a gift when they come to her brother's party. A piece of jewelry is a really nice graduation gift that she can keep always and remember the occasion. My parents gave me a gold bracelet that wasn't overly expensive but was very nice and I still love it years later. DBF at the time (who is now DH) gave me money towards a trip I was taking with a friend and I remember thinking that was a dumb gift. I would have rather had a "gift", but maybe that's just me.

 

[ekmom]

DD graduated from college last May. Parties for college graduation aren't the thing around here, that's for high school graduation. We went out to dinner along with the grandparents after the ceremony. We bought her a bedroom set for graduation. She'd never had nice bedroom furniture, just cheap and hand me down stuff so she was thrilled. We let her pick out the set herself.

 

[taximomfor4]

I don't know anyone who ever received a college graduation gift. Nobody in my family/friends circle, for sure. If you really want to give something, maybe a nice dinner is really enough?

 

[drcmk]

My college graduation fell at the same time as my 21st birthday and my learning that I had been awarded a very generous scholarship to graduate school. My parents were very keen to celebrate. They threw me a fancy, dress up party at a tony restaurant for about 75 family and friends and paid for my best girlfriend and I to go on a weekend cruise. Those are very nice memories.

I have a sixth grade graduation in my family this year. We will just take our family, grandparents and maybe a friend or two out to the graduate's dinner of choice. We'll have a ninth grader graduating in 2011 and we'll probably celebrate that in the same way. I haven't thought far enough ahead to plan HS or college graduations for my kids.

I am starting to think about sweet sixteen . . .

 

[monarchsfan16]

I graduated from college in May. My parents went overboard; personally I think their gift of education with no debt was more than gift enough, but they apparently wanted to do something extra. I will preface this by saying that I went to school about 45 minutes from home, so there were virtually no travel expenses for my parents, just two trips to campus for honors convocation and for commencement.

My mom and stepdad own DVC, so they sent me to Disney. They used Disney Visa reward points to pay for most of the park ticket, so total cost to them was about $300 (plane and remainder of park ticket). I was there for a week, and covered my spending money.

My dad took the whole family (my sister, stepdad, mom, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparents and me) out to dinner after graduation. He took us to a nice place, and because he's there so frequently (he goes once or twice a week for salad and wine) and is friendly with the management, they put us in a private room at no cost, did up an incredible cake (at minimal cost), and treated us to appetizers and champagne. Honestly, I think that dinner was my favorite gift. It was nice to have those couple hours to celebrate with those that had supported me the most. My grandparents had treated the whole crew to dinner closer to school the night before, following honors convocation.

Dad also got me a new TV and TV stand for my apartment (I'm in grad school now). He has admitted he "didn't know what to get" and that this one was for his benefit as he didn't want to haul my old tube style tv that weighed about 30 pounds up 3 flights of stairs again Evidently he'd thought about upgrading my laptop, or replacing my car, but my laptop that I got for high school graduation still works fine, and my sister's at an out of state school, so the car was a bit out of the budget.

Some other ideas based on things my friends got: luggage, a starter professional wardrobe (essentially some basics), their first student loan payment, new computer if going on to grad school, a couple pieces of Ikea furniture for a new apartment.

 

[MrsPete]

If finances allow for something very nice but not over-the-top extravagant: I'd give her a nice piece of jewelry as a keepsake of the occasion, and on a very practical note I'd also give her a $1000 IRA and a book on beginning to save for retirement from an early age.

 

[malibuconlee]

This will not be the popular answer, but $$$$.

Seriously. My DH has several young guys that graduated last May that work for him. The company gives a small moving allowance for the new grads. I know at least one was having problems coming up with all the money they needed to move. U-haul, gas money, first months rent, deposit on apartment, deposits on utilities. These things all add up.

I understand you may want something that will "last" but help them take the stress out of starting their career.

I had a friend when we were younger that had to take out cash advances on all of her credit cards to come up with the deposits and first months rent.

OH, a new wardrobe is also something many college grads need help with.

 

[kymmyk13]

My mom gave me a pearl necklace and my sister gave me a Tiffany Vase. I still treasure both, especially now that my mother has passed. Also we had a casual BBQ at a friend's house, that was his present to me.

 

[punkin]

My mother took me on a trip to California. It was really nice.

 

[peggster]

My family took me out to dinner after graduation to celebrate. For a gift, they gave me a choice: either a class ring or a set of cookware. Being ever practical, I chose the cookware, and still use the pots and pans to this day (nearly 18 years later).

 

[Praise2Him]

Last year our oldest DS graduated from college in Dec. 2008, our DD from high school in May 2009 and our middle DS from college in June 2009. So since they all graduated within 6 months of each other, we took a family ski trip to Colorado in April to celebrate.

Also, we had bought a $100 Certificate of Deposit for our oldest DS when he was little and it had matured to about $1000, so we gave it to him when he graduated from college.

Since we hadn't bought one for our other children, we gave middle DS the equivalent in cash for his college graduation and will do the same for DD when she graduates.

 

[skip323]

My parents offered a 4-6 week trip to Europe after graduation. My brother did that but....I didn't have anyone who could go with me and they wouldn't let me go without someone (even though I was significantly more responsible than my brother....still an issue I bring up with my folks) so, instead, they gave me the equivalent in $$ for a downpayment on a new car.

When my stepdaughter graduated from college she had A LOT of, frankly, unnecessary bills...things that she had wanted to do that she really didn't have the $$ for so she neglected other bills, or charged etc. We gave her about $1,000 to do with what she pleased and I think she did actually pay off some bills.

 

[miknsusn]

My parents gave me a string of pearls and a tourist guidebook to New York City, where I was headed to grad school.

 

[louey]

I didn't have a college graduation party, nor did I expect one. My parents paid a lot of $$$$ toward college, I (and they) figured that was enough. In fact, instead of getting gifts from our parents, DH and I GAVE gifts to our parents when we graduated from college to show our appreciation for the sacrifices they made so that we could go to college.

That is so nice to hear , my daughter graduates college 2011 and is planning on going to Med School. She realizes that it is a bit of a hardship for us and is very thankful. We will probably just have imediate family at a nice restaurant when she graduates.

 

[kmvand1]

My son graduates for HS this June and we are planning a very small party, then a 4 night trip to Disney, then a four night Carnival cruise.

 

[hopemax]

My parents took DH (then DFiance) and me to WDW for the 25th anniversary celebration.

I actually had a lot of family (for me) come for my college graduation. My grandma, 2 aunts, uncle and 2 cousins. They all came from Illinois to Washington. Only my Grandma and parents attended the main ceremony, but everyone went to the event that my program offered. We also all went to a Seattle Mariners game.

 

[Ava]

The summer after I graduated from college, I spent 6 weeks traveling through Europe. My parents bought my Eurail Pass as my graduation gift. I spent almost every penny of my savings on that trip but I don't regret it at all; it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Obviously my trip was to the extreme - it was something my best friend and I had planned & saved for for years - but maybe your DD would like to go on a trip to celebrate?

 

[Ennazus8810]

My parents gave me my cedar chest for my college graduation. I wanted something that I would have forever.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We did give our kids a college graduation party. We also gave them each $500.

Now next year DS graduates from Law School. I think we're just taking family (our family, grandmother, 2 aunts, 1 uncle and 1 cousin) out to dinner. We're going to give him a good briefcase and new suit and some cash.

 

[daughtersrus]

Thank you so much for all the replies and ideas! I'm glad to hear that most people didn't have a party for college graduation. That makes me feel better about not doing that!

We really don't have enough money to send her on any kind of a vacation right now. She is holding most of her student loan debt and we are helping with it as best as we can. We also still pay her car insurance and her cell phone to help out.

I really like the idea of a nice necklace. I bought her a knockoff Tiffany necklace in NY last year. A real one would be a fabulous gift! I'll have to look into that!

Thank you again for all of the suggestions. It's getting the brain wheels cranking a bit!

This is the necklace that we got DD.

http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/Ite...-p+20-c+287465-r+101323338-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+

She loves it and has gotten so many compliments on it.

Although DD graduated in Dec(two weeks before Christmas and only a few days before her 23rd birthday), we're planning a party for this summer. In our area, it's very common to have college graduation parties. It will be something similar to her high school graduation party with an open house BBQ in our backyard.