HS Graduation Gift opinion needed

[DisneyHardin]

I vote for tool kit. Cash is king, but with the amount that you need, I completely understand your need for at $10 limit and a cash gift of $10 seems a little wimpy. With the tool kit you could wrap it in nice paper and maybe include some sort of "pintresty" poem/card about being on your own and needing tools.

 

[mousestruck]

I think the tool kit is a great idea! Where I live, the kids generally do not bring gifts to graduation parties -- except when their families are attending. The gifts come from family and the parents' friends!

 

[sk!mom]

Just to clarify, we (DH and I) will be stopping by many of these parties too. DS will be with us for some, and others, he will stop by with friends. That may or may not have any bearing.

It will be acceptable for you and DH to attend a party with a gift that is $10 or less? I would do cash but can't imagine doing less than $20-25 if we went to a party.

 

[HopperFan]

I know my DD was a hit in the housing as she was the only one with a tool kit, and 6 years later it's done her well in a few couple apartments. So it's a great gift for kids going away to school, but if they aren't ... not much use.

And I am also one who hates to give cash as it's not memorable or special. I stopped trying to give creative gifts as sadly most don't care but to satisfy myself and dealing with the same situation of many kids.... I got the multi packs of $10 Starbucks gifts cards. Assuming most the kids were going to college and would have late nights I placed them in a graduation card covered by piece of plastic (craft store) and taped down on all sides. I wrote with sharpie something like "In case of emergency aka exams, papers and long nights".

 

[PerfessorZ]

When I went to college, I'd already had some tools my dad had given me. What I didn't have was enough $ to pay for 4 years of tuition.

A tool kit is great for anyone who doesn't already have one.

Cash is handy for all people, even if they already have some.

 

[HM]

I had two favorite gifts that came in handy while in college and later. A pocketknife (swiss army style) and a large canvas tote bag. I recommend either.

 

[Shmily1]

Cash! Gas money for that age is big!

 

[Darcy03231]

Here's another vote for the tool kit.

When ex-Dh and I got married one of his father's friends gave us a rechargeable flashlight as a wedding gift. At the time I thought it was an odd gift, but plugged it in the wall and wrote a nice thank you note. 25 years later I bless that man every time the lights go out! I don't remember anything else we got that day, except for that flashlight.

 

[MommaBerd]

I'm going to vote for pizza/subway/starbuck's/movie theatre gift card. To me, a $10 GC "seems" like it will go farther than $10 cash. With that amount of cash, it would get put in my wallet and then "mysteriously" disappear with no real thought as to where it went.
I had *no* money when I went to school and I would have really appreciated a fast food gift card so that I could have "treated" myself to lunch or dinner one day.

 

[Maddie2]

It will be acceptable for you and DH to attend a party with a gift that is $10 or less? I would do cash but can't imagine doing less than $20-25 if we went to a party.

Fully acceptable. It's the norm here when you have a graduate and are attending each others kids open houses. By going to a party, I mean stopping by, signing the guest book, having a cup of punch and a small nibble or two to be kind, wishing the graduate well and hearing about their future plans, talking to the parents for a minute or two and then moving on to the next party. You may have a sandwich at one party, but you can't eat at all of them.

As I mentioned before, my son's closest friends will get better gifts. The above mentioned friends are classmates who we've known most of their lives, but who aren't overly good friends. That sounds awful, but you know what I mean.

 

[Maddie2]

I'm going to vote for pizza/subway/starbuck's/movie theatre gift card. To me, a $10 GC "seems" like it will go farther than $10 cash. With that amount of cash, it would get put in my wallet and then "mysteriously" disappear with no real thought as to where it went.
I had *no* money when I went to school and I would have really appreciated a fast food gift card so that I could have "treated" myself to lunch or dinner one day.

Hmmm, I think food gift cards are another good idea. There are Subways in pretty much every town in America, big and small, aren't there? Starbucks is good too, but not real prevalent where we live.

Yep, lots of Subways. Just looked it up. According to the numbers from 5 years ago, there were 23,750 Subway restaurants in America. And surely that has gone up since then.

Thanks for complicating things even more. J/k.

 

[MommaBerd]

Thanks for complicating things even more. J/k.

Always happy to help!