<p>Gift cards for books on amazon.com or half.com are great as well</p>
<p>I started knitting when D1 started her college search process. Now that D2 has made her decision to go to URochester, I made a felted mobius bowl (she wants to study physics) in UR school colors,found little iron on yellow jackets (UR mascot)at the craft store, scattered a few of those on the bowl, filled it with shredded pages of her SAT prep book, found a blown glass frog (her personal favorite), also printed 8 family pics that I mounted on 8 white stars (8 stars on the Ak state flag) that I put stick on magnet strips (she'll be able to stick them on something in her dorm room, also a small piece of copper ore from Ak and a small piece of sandstone from the state where she was born, it is said you should always have a rock in your pocket to keep you grounded, this way, no matter where she goes,she'll be connected to home. Not alot of money, not alot of time, but a whole lot of love. And the process helped me wrap my brain around the whole thing.</p>
<p>most of what i got for high school graduation gifts were money.. luggage, and some baseball cards and a guitar strap.</p>
<p>for college graduation i got money, some drawings, and some various little things.</p>
<p>Now that ipods are so popular, lots of kids would probably like to have i-tunes cards for downloading favorite music to take to school with them. My son got these cards from relatives and loved it.</p>
<p>There are lots of books on the subject of surviving your freshman year, from the useful to the humorous. </p>
<p>Inspirational books: the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go". There is a similar book that follows the story of the "Little Engine that Could." </p>
<p>I made a scrapbook at my son's graduation party where each of the guests made a page, including memories, congrats and good wishes, jokes, etc. </p>
<p>Of course, ca$h is always appreciated.</p>
<p>The most used gift given to my children by someone other than me was a REALLY HUGE sturdy laundry bag sewn in local (batik) fabric. It is big enough to last for a month of laundry.... You could use fabric that is specific to your area, school, etc...</p>
<p>I gave kids Starbucks mugs from our home town and maps of the U.S....(might not be so useful for kids who have lived in the US before (most of my sons' friends had not)....I like the idea of giving a little something from 'home' to remind them...</p>
<p>Checks made out for $ 20.06 will be going to graduating friends. The kids always get a kick out of the graduation year being the amount.</p>
<p>I've always intended to do this but haven't yet - make a quilt out of their old t-shirts from all their activities and interests. This could include competitions, sports teams, concerts, vacations, etc. I saw one once that was very cool. I've still got all the shirts, so maybe one day . . . </p>
<p>I gave mine a (fake) check for $160,000. He got a laugh out of that and has it in his dorm room. Unfortunately, the $160,000 amount is not a joke.</p>
<p>Used the iphoto program on my mac to create a picture book that illustrated the essay my son wrote for his college applications. Since it dealt with his life and experiences, it was easy to find photos to go with his words. You can publish full quality, hard bound, double sided books through Apple. He took it to college with him. That was my gift.</p>
<p>Finally someone mentions "Oh The Places You'll Go"</p>
<p>Also, a friend of my family made me a quilt with photographs from my past on one side, and personally notes written on fabric from friends and family on the other side. It's amazing!</p>
<p>I had my aunt make a t-shirt quilt out of my college t-shirts and I love it and use it to this day...so I second that idea for HS grad.</p>
<p>I got a great gift when I graduated from high school that I still remember. One of my mother's friends gave me a big basket. In that basket she put all sorts of supplies like a stapler, note pads, pens, mechanical pencils, staple remover, hole punch, etc. At the time I thought it was sort of odd. However, when I moved into the dorm I was SO glad to have it!!!! You really take for granted all of the minor supplies that are in the junk drawer at home. At school you go hunting for them and realize you didn't think to buy all of those odds and ends. Honestly this is one of the few graduation gifts I remember because it was so useful.</p>
<p>I just remembered another great gift. My mother's best friend gave me an antique compass (I want to be an architect). Antique tools of the trade are amazing gifts! You can find them on ebay and whatnot for pretty cheap.</p>
<p>lolol, the antique tools is a great idea...reminded me that I got a typewriter and a math encyclopedia. Darn thing of it was I ended up sharing that typewriter with my whole fraternity before buying my first Commodore computer my sr. year of school, rofl. I probably couldn't give my s the typewriter without having my w divorce me. </p>
<p>How about a small refridgerator? Also for you cost conscience, a gift certificate from the kids college/univ. bookstore is good too since you'll be able to write it off on taxes as it qualifies as education expenses/fees paid directly to the institution. </p>
<p>glta</p>
<p>My D handed me a box of her old T-shirts last weekend..."Mom, can you make me a quilt out of these?" Guess I better get to work!</p>
<p>since our local high school is less than advanced in technology, i plan on giving the kids a usb flash drive. prices are all over the place on this, so you could spend what you wanted. i think my son is the only one in his class that has one--so i am sure most kids will appreciate having one at college</p>
<p>digital camera</p>
<p>I'm giving several of my daughter's friends hammers. The kind that have all different sizes of screwdrivers inside the handle (right down to the smallest kind to fix eyeglasses).</p>
<p>Leatherman Micra with scissors was a favorite with my D (it includes several screwdrivers, including one that does glasses). My son has a Radio Shack Leatherman that includes wire strippers instead of the scissors, which he likes (he bought that for himself); that's really only appropriate for a very narrow group of people. I gave fountain pens for quite a long time but found only some people liked them (although those few are still using them). </p>
<p>I always think gift cards reek of "I have no clue what you'd like" and it's not a message I like to send. </p>
<p>I made quilts for both my kids when they went to college, and my D often mentions how much she likes hers. My son had several friends who tried to persuade me to make one for them, too. My son's quilt was made of washable wool, which I washed in hot water and put in the dryer before I made the quilt. It felted the wool some but not badly and that way I didn't have to worry he'd wash it and ruin it! And I didn't have to worry he'd be cold in Boston.</p>
<p>We gave the guys beach towels. I shopped around until I found very high quality, low gaudy beach towels (at Sams Club). They won't fade too much when washed on high with other clothes, are big enough to truly wrap around a guy, work as a rug and as a beach towel.
Gifts my daughter received that she liked - simple toolkit like previously mentioned, picture album, set of plastic cups for her dorm room, and a stadium blanket in one solid color of her college's colors. the family that bought the stadium blanket is not wealthy, so I know it wasn't expensive, but it has been very handy for her and thoughtful - the Mom called all the other Moms to find out which colors to get.</p>
<p>ctmom--your idea of a quilt is great. One of my friends just e-mailed me a link showing quilts made out of show ribbons. My daughter is an international equestrian and has ribbons "up the wazoo". I'll have to cleverly ask questions to see if she would mind if the ribbons "went somewhere else"...</p>
<p>I love this site. I just wish I had found it a year ago!</p>