It’s that special time of year when the invitations begin to inundate your mail. Graduations, high school, college, even kindergarten, are a huge part of everyone’s spring social calendar. It can get expensive. It can be overwhelming. It can be difficult, especially if you’re invited to a party for your co-worker’s child (the one you’ve never met) or the if you get the invitation that I consider the granddaddy of them all…from one of your own students.
While you want to mark the day and make said graduate feel special, if you have a “Graduation Party Crawl” for any given Saturday, it can add up quickly. Here are some ideas for you to help share that special day.
1. Laundry bags and soap: Here’s a news flash for those of us who went to college when John Hughes movies were still relevant; they don’t have to pay to use the washing machines anymore. They conveniently tacked this charge to the tuition. While the students think it’s free, they still do, in fact, need to have supplies. Tide pods are the preferred method of choice because they’re much easier to transport with all your filthy wardrobe possessions. You can just tuck one in your pocket. You can find really cute laundry bags at Marshall’s and TJ Maxx and honestly, if you can give a gift they’ll use, it’s all the better.
2. Gift cards: $5.00 gift cards are perfectly acceptable for college kids. Buy them in this increment from places like Starbucks, Fro-Yo, Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts etc. That’s about all you spend to eat there. Don’t give just one, but put a few into a card and it becomes the perfect gift. (I’ll tell you honestly, they may end up being a trade off for a ride somewhere to a kid who has a car on campus, but that in itself serves a huge purpose.)
3. Toiletries: Think pain relief, cough drops, Vick’s and a thermometer. Their mothers will have to buy them anyway and it’s something you can put into a little plastic container for their closets. With a card, and maybe a little “boo-boo bunny” it’s a thoughtful gift. When flu season comes to roost on the 3 South dorm, those cough drops will be much appreciated…by everyone!
4. Snack foods: ALL the kids on the floor appreciate when someone has snacks. Look for nonperishable items like popcorn, crackers and peanut butter. You want food that can handle being thrown around in a closet and not end up being a bag of potato dust. Twenty dollars at the dollar store and you have well, obviously…
5. School and Dorm Supplies: Colored pencils, markers, notebooks, you name it. College kids are always looking for two sided tape and that weird sticky stuff like gum that holds even on cement block walls. Command strip hooks are a really great gift. You can hang everything from Christmas lights, (that are NOT dorm approved) to a bathrobe with them. Cleaning supplies are also good as well. Lysol wipes and Swiffers are in big demand because housekeeping does not have to clean their rooms. If they’re living in a townhouse or a suite, they’ll need even more comprehensive cleaning supplies because then they’re in charge of their own bathrooms. I know, gross. You might want to throw in some flip-flops.
6. Stationery supplies: Even though most kids today don’t know how to address an envelope correctly, (I’m serious, ask them to do one,) they will still need this skill. Buy a box of greeting cards for them, a package of thank you cards and some plain envelopes with paper. Add a sheet of stamps as well. As kids get more and more involved with professors and community internships, they’ll need to have paper to correspond the old-fashioned way. The greeting cards are a nice touch so they can stay connected with people at home as well. Depending on how well you know the student and his or her family, you can tuck in a sheet with addresses and a list of birthdays for them to remember.
7. A copy of something by William Shakespeare. Beautiful looking copies of Shakespeare’s plays are featured all over the place in bookstores today. A copy of Hamlet is something you’ll keep forever. No one should have a bookshelf of any kind without a copy of something by The Bard. I think it’s a law in a some European countries. (I’m kidding.) It’s a nice keepsake and it’s a reminder that learning is a life long journey.