<p>Last year this was a great thread with good ideas for small, thoughtful gifts to leave behind when your child moves into their dorm. My favorite was a pillowcase with a sentimental thought in permanent ink. Any other ideas?</p>
<p>Not sure if it’s thoughtful but our favorite works only for freshmen. We taped a $20 bill between the bottom sheet and mattress pad near the foot of the bed. A partner note read something like, “Call home when you find this.” You can take bets on how long before they wash their sheets.</p>
<p>I mailed a letter to my D about a week before she moved in so it was waiting for her the first time she checked her mail. I told her how proud we were of her and how this will be a fabulous time in her life. I said she should try new things but be true to herself, accept people for who they are, work hard, have fun, and fall in love - or maybe just “in like”. She wrote back(YAY!) that she was crying her eyes out in the middle of the dining hall while reading it but that she loved having the letter and would keep it forever.
I think it meant more than any other gift thing I could buy.
PS I think she folowed my advice on all counts!</p>
<p>I’m thinking Starbucks cards. Maybe a Barnes and Noble card too.</p>
<p>I like the hiding the money idea in the hiding respect. Kind of like an Easter egg hunt. =) I know I would be excited to find that my mom left something hidden in my desk or closet.</p>
<p>As to the what, I know it seems juvenille, but my roommate freshman year received a build-a-bear package from her dad with a dog that had a sound box. When you pressed its sound box it said “I love you (her name)!” I thought that was so cute and wished my mom had thought of it. Now, that would only work for a girl probably, and would depend on her personality.</p>
<p>Other than that, if there is a Target in the area of the school, Target gift cards are gold.</p>
<p>Along the same lines as Woody, I write a personal letter for my children and hide it somewhere in their room where they will find it a little later. It’s always so hectic during move in that I have no problem finding a little spot while my child is occupied. It’s my chance to tell them how proud I am of them and offer some special words. My kids loved it and I enjoyed having the chance to put in writing what was in my heart.</p>
<p>I got this idea from someone on CC, but after I dropped D off and left her at her dorm, I drove around town and picked up gift cards at various places near campus. I had researched ahead of time to find restaurants and shops that I thought she would enjoy discovering (frozen custard store, bookstore, movie theater, pizza place, etc.). I bought gift cards or gift certificates (about $20 per so she could take a friend or roommate for some of them). I got enough so I had one for each month she would be at school.</p>
<p>When I got home I bought a box of pretty notecards and put a card/certificate in each. I wrote the month on the outside of the envelope. I wrote a short note with each, too, telling her how proud I am of her, good luck on upcoming exams, can’t wait to see her at break, etc.</p>
<p>Then I mailed the whole batch of them to her with instructions to open the envelope for each month on the first of the month. She absolutely loved this whole thing.</p>
<p>Two benefits of this:
- She got off campus and discovered some places she might not have found freshman year otherwise. One of my own college regrets is that I did not get off campus much my first couple of years, and I was in a GREAT college town. I wanted her to discover the resources around her the first year.
- It gave me something to do after I dropped her off so I didn’t just sit in my car and cry :)</p>
<p>^^^ This is a great idea! I may try this for my son. I can totally relate to sitting in my car crying. hahahaha… Oh my, I drop my last one off next Saturday. I’m already getting teary.</p>
<p>These are all great ideas. I already was planning something like what intparent wrote but never would have thought of the $20 bill on the fitted sheet! lol</p>
<p>You parents are all so cute- I can’t help but chime in. I entered college as a premed student, and my mom bought a t-shirt from my school’s medical school, folded it, and put it in the bottom of my shirt pile in my dresser with a lovely note. It was a very cute, unexpected, and useful surprise.</p>
<p>I’m going to be leaving D a personalized Winnie the Pooh watch because this is our special quote:</p>
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<p>Love these ideas. Will store them away for next year when I will need them altho NOTHING will stop the tears.</p>
<p>Really? Was that necessary, zmom??? WAHHHHHHHH! And I hadn’t cried once today.</p>
<p>Another idea: a digital picture frame, filled with photographs from home/childhood.</p>
<p>Wow, I’m crying now. Especially love the Winnie the Pooh quote - just added it to my son’s going away letter. Taking him to school far away 2 weeks from today (sob)!</p>
<p>Aww, you moms are all so cute. I wish my mom were more sentimental. She’s pretty emotionless when it comes to this stuff. Comes with the territory of working with hospital patients in critical condition every day.</p>
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I consider it my solemn duty to make you as weepy as I am.</p>
<p>XU, don’t count on it. She’s probably trying to hide her emotions from you that way we are from our kids. And we do that by posting on cc. :D</p>
<p>zmom, making me cry is not too tough of a goal! ;)</p>
<p>I left our daughter a little teddy bear on her pillow with a note and a $20 in it. Left son a note under his pillow with a $20 in it.</p>
<p>Nicely when I got home from drop off with both kids, THEY had left nice notes for US on their pillows!!</p>
<p>thumper, that’s so sweet. I am so not holding my breath, lol.</p>