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The annual round of college graduations held around the United States leads to plenty of creative, functional, and downright silly graduate gifts. You can use the following tips to help you find gifts for grads that won’t disappoint.
Traditional Gifts For College Graduates
While family members and friends may want to give college grads cutting-edge gifts, the traditional gifts for college grads remain popular. A traditional college graduation gift that never goes out of style is a personalized pen with an engraving of the graduate’s signature. This pen can be carried around to interviews, meetings, and business trips to help the graduate remember his college days. If you live in a major city, you can head to a stationary store and ask about its engraving services for graduates. You can add a simple black carrying case for a few extra dollars to complete the gift.
Another standard gift for college grads is a briefcase or attache case. This tradition is typically assigned to MBA and law school graduates, but college graduates with jobs lined up already can use this gift. Gift givers can insert pens, legal pads, gift cards, and cash inside the briefcase for a welcome surprise on graduation day. Leather Tree© (http://www.leathertree.com) carries portfolios, briefcases, and carryalls that are popular gifts for business, communication, and marketing students upon graduation.
A final traditional gift for college grads is a nice watch. This tradition symbolizes the transition into the professional world, as graduates are able to couple their watches with suits, skirts, and other business attire. The best watch for a college grad has a classic silver or gold plating, clear face, and a comfortable band that won’t break or snag. Your best bets for graduation watches are Baume et Mercier© (http://www.baume-et-mercier.com) for a classic look and Tag Heuer© (http://www.tagheuer.com) for a more modern timepiece. If you purchase your watch from a jewelry or watch shop, ask about engraving the graduate’s initials on the back plate to make your gift more special.
Career Gifts For College Graduates
Your college grad may want practical gifts to prepare for life after college. You can meet this request with a few career-related gifts that do not cost a fortune. A great gift for grads who are concerned about finding a job after college is a resume set. Instead of purchasing expensive services from a resume consultant, you can make a package with resume books and high-quality paper. Every major bookseller has a career section complete with resume books that describe the type of format and content desired by employers. Office supply companies in your community likely carry cotton-fiber paper that is ideal for professional resumes.
Another career gift that your grad will appreciate is a leather-bound planner. While mobile phones and computers have excellent organizing features, your graduate needs a hard copy of his appointments and interviews handy at all times. You can find leather and faux-leather planners at places like Office Depot© (http://www.officedepot.com) for less than $50. Some good complements to the leather-bound planner are a pen set and legal pads that will be used on a daily basis.
A greater number of graduates are telecommuting and working on their own than ever before. To help these graduates get off to the right start, you should consider giving a desk organizer as a graduation gift. A desk organizer is a simple box with several drawers that can be filled with paper clips, pens, staples, and other supplies. If you don’t feel comfortable giving out an empty desk organizer from Stacks and Stacks™ (http://www.stacksandstacks.com), you can fill the drawers with $5 bills, gift cards, and little mementos.
College Graduation Gifts For The Home
College students are often anxious about living away from the comforts of home or the dorm after graduation. You can alleviate these fears with a good graduation gift for a student’s home away from home. An inexpensive but powerful gift for grads is a scrapbook filled with remembrances from childhood, high school, and college. Parents and close friends can compile photos, ticket stubs, quotes, and other memorabilia to include in the scrapbook. A single trip to Scrapbooks Etc.® (http://www.scrapbooksetc.com) can help you get this meaningful graduation gift in order.
Another graduation gift that is easy to put together is a care package filled with food, cleaning supplies, and laundry accessories. This care package can be placed in a simple footlocker from C&N Footlockers (http://www.cnmfg.com) for safekeeping during the big move. If you want to focus your attention on a specific section of the house, you can switch out a footlocker for a laundry basket for laundry accessories and a kitchen organizer for food. In addition to the items placed in the package, you can print off tasty recipes and directions on basic household repairs to make the gift more practical.
College graduates who have lived on campus for their entire time at school are unaccustomed to making basic repairs. You can help your graduate save money and take charge of household maintenance with a toolbox. If you don’t want to buy a full tool kit or feel basic kits are insufficient, you can start with a toolbox from a local hardware store. The College Toolbox© (http://www.thecollegetoolbox.com) sells every tool and accessory needed for a graduate living on his own. By including a hammer, screwdrivers, pliers, and other tools in the toolbox, you encourage the graduate to take care of plumbing and lighting problems without calling in maintenance people.
Another great gift for college grads that is useful around the house is a stereo system. While stereo systems and speakers are typically given to high school students, college students may need new systems after four or more years of dorm living. Best Buy© (http://www.bestbuy.com) has a full selection of stereo systems, speakers, and accessories along with warranties that can be fulfilled anywhere in the United States. If your graduate wants to boost the power of his iPod™ instead, you can substitute iPod™ docks and speakers from Belkin© (http://www.belkin.com/ipod/).
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