Cheap, Thoughtful Gifts for the Grad

July is here which means you probably have a few graduation parties to attend this month.  And I'm going to bet some of those parties are for people that you're friends with, but you're not super close.  Maybe you played a sport together or you were in the same math class, and because you really like this person you want to get them a thoughtful gift, but you don't know them well enough to know what kind of jewelry they might like and you don't want to break the bank.

I was invited to a few grad parties this year for girls that I played tennis with and came to that exact circumstance.  So I decided to get them practical gifts that I thought would be useful for their freshman year of college.

I decided to make them each a little survival box of items I found helpful to have during my freshman year.  I got everything from Target except the Yankee Candle fragrance spheres and each one cost around $15 total.  *This gift is aimed for High School Graduates as it contains things useful for the dorm room.

I wrote each girl a card and explained the purpose of each item. Band-Aids because accidents happen, from razor cuts while shaving to hang nails, to bug bites.  Yankee Candle Fragrance Spheres because most colleges don't allow candles and these are a really easy way to keep your dorm room smelling nice and clean.  Kleenex's because when you go to college you are exposed to new air and new germs.  I never got sick (aside from allergies) until I got to college and lost my voice around Thanksgiving.  Also, being away at college can be sad and sometimes you're just going to need to clean yourself up after a good cry.  You should definitely bring a normal sized box of tissues to college with you, but these are nice to keep in your backpack.  The tweezers and nail clippers I bought because I found it incredibly helpful to have a "home set" and "dorm set" of whatever I could.  This includes tweezers, nail clippers, razors, shampoo, conditioner, brushes, nail polish remover, and whatever else you don't want to bring back and forth every time you go home for a break.  Q-Tips because there useful in so many different ways.  You can use them to clean your ears (which I think is the most common, but you're actually not supposed to do that), clean your keyboard, remove nail polish, and so many other things where Q-Tips are a great size for.  And some Chapstick, because like the kleenex's, a new environment means new air and it's usually very dry so it's important to keep your lips hydrated.  Also, I put everything in a small bin instead of a bag so that the bin could be used as a storage container because storage is everything in college.

Another friend of mine is going to be attending school in Arizona so I decided to make her kit a little bit differently.

  

I decided to make hers more of a flight kit instead of a dorm kit because when you go to school so far away you're going to be on a plane a few times a year.  So I got her Kleenex, hand sanitizer, Chapstick, and hand cream because airplanes are kind of gross since everyone is breathing the same air and it's not uncommon to feel sick a few days after being on a plane.  I also got her a sleep mask for the flight incase she's on the red eye.  I'm not going to lie, the Band-Aids and Q-tips were mostly because I was already buying them, but you never know whats going to come in handy on a plane.  I did wrap this by putting it in a bag because I didn't want to give her anything that would be annoying to travel with like a bin.

I wanted to personalize these gifts somehow to show the girls that I knew it was for them and I didn't find all this stuff lying around my house.

I did this by buying a wooden letter of their first name and painting it rose gold.  But you could personalize the gift any way you wanted.  If you had a good picture with the grad, that would be nice or maybe a small piece of jewelry.

I liked this gift because it was thoughtful, but useful and you could have easily added a gift card or something else to it if you wanted to or were willing to spend more money.  Good gift cards for Grads would be Amazon, iTunes, or Coffee.  Money is also greatly appreciated by Graduates.  This gift was also a little bit more than just a gift card, because even though gift cards are great, I sometimes feel like gift cards can say, "I had no idea what to get you and you might as well be a stranger to me so here you go" so personally I don't like to give them (But I like to get them.  I don't know why I'll like this) if I can help it.

How would you feel if you got this gift for your graduation?  What was the best graduation gift you ever got?  What was a thoughtful gift that you gave?  Let me know! 

Smile!  I'll talk to you soon!xxx