Any inexpensive graduation gift ideas that dd & I can take to open houses that we attend?

[J'swife]

She's a junior and I know a lot of the homeschool graduates as well, We have at least three open houses this year, what's something that can be easily given that doesn't break the bank?

[gardenmom5]

a gift card.  a gift for  kid heading to college wouldn't necessarily be an appropriate gift for a kid heading out to work.

[momofkhm]

I have a friend who always gives a set of towels.

 

Last year in the fall, I noticed that Vera Bradley was having a sale on those little ID holders.  They were $4 each at the time.  I had dd give me a list of everyone of her friends graduating this year and ordered that many.  She and I will sit down next month and figure out who gets which one.  These are the lowest price ones right now:

 

http://www.verabradley.com/product/clip-zip-id-case/marina-paisley/154801_179994.uts?parentCategoryId=1092&subCategoryId=1130

 

I heard of someone giving everyone a check in the amount of the graduation year.  So this year everyone would get $20.15.

 

 

[ElizabethB]

Matching pen/stationary/magnet paper with their initial, a few plain sets just in case. Usually cheap from Michaels or a similar place.

 

ETA this is for girls, I don't have a good equivilent for boys off hand...

[clementine]

We gave flash drives :)  They are inexpensive and will definitely get used!  And they come in fun colors & shapes now too - dolphins, owls, and food items.  

[Luckymama]

We give gift cards ($10-20) or cash ($20-50, depending on how well and long we have known the student).

 

If I know where the student will be going to college, I try to find a gift card to someplace near the campus (Panera, Chipotle, Starbucks, Target, Barnes & Noble if they run the bookstore)---of course, you need to know the student well to know if she drinks coffee or eats burritos. Gas cards are always good, as are drugstore (RiteAid, Walgreens) cards.

 

Flash drives are a great idea! *tucks that thought away*

[Pippen]

$10 itunes card

[Ali in OR]

We go big for family, but otherwise it's been a really good chocolate bar for kids from church. We haven't yet hit the point where we have closer friends graduating. For an open house for disabled kids (slightly older peers of our disabled dd) we just did a $5 bill each.

[Kareni]

J'swife, What do you consider 'inexpensive'?

 

Regards,

Kareni

[idnib]

J'swife, What do you consider 'inexpensive'?

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

I would also find this helpful.

[QueenCat]

Gift cards or cash. For casual friends, we don't do much. Around $20. For close friends, $40-50ish. Family, a bit more. Inexpensive is subjective.

[Amber in SJ]

A beginner tool kit.  My dd was the only one with a hammer, screwdrivers, a level, etc on move in day.  Kids were dropping by to borrow the tools to assemble all the cheap bookcases & desks they had just bought.  I would add in a power strip & a handful of that removable hanger stuff.

 

Amber in SJ

[Tap]

We gave flash drives :)  They are inexpensive and will definitely get used!  And they come in fun colors & shapes now too - dolphins, owls, and food items.  

These used to get used here, but honestly my kids in public high school and college rarely use flash drives anymore.  The save/edit/submit most assignments on Google Docs or other similar programs, so instead of being on a flash drive, they are in the cloud.   We needed one recently and the kids had to actually go look for one, because neither of them had one that they were currently using.

 

Honestly, they should be backing everything up onto a drive, but they don't....and I guess, they will eventually learn that lesson the hard way.  

[J'swife]

$5-$10, these are not close people and don't really expect anything, but I don't really want to show up empty handed, I even thought of using a container and putting homemade caramel corn or something like that in it. Or a small jar filled with candy and maybe tucking $5 inside it.

[KungFuPanda]

The tool kit is brilliant. We have 'real' tools . . . somewhere . . . in the basement, but 90% of the time we use the Ikea tool kit I keep in the kitchen. I don't think it was even $20.

[QueenCat]

Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" ?

 

That used to be a favorite for me to give until I found out that most grads I knew were getting 4-5 copies of it.

[Spryte]

Cash.  :)  Gift cards - Starbucks, Chipotle, or gas.   I like the small tool kit idea.  Many many moons ago, mom gave me a copy of Illusions by Richard Bach.  I loved it, back then. The Dr. Seuss book is everywhere here, and grads get many copies of that one (at least mine, did), so we're skipping that one these days.  

 

 

[Tap]

That used to be a favorite for me to give until I found out that most grads I knew were getting 4-5 copies of it.

 

 

Cash.   :)  Gift cards - Starbucks, Chipotle, or gas.   I like the small tool kit idea.  Many many moons ago, mom gave me a copy of Illusions by Richard Bach.  I loved it, back then. The Dr. Seuss book is everywhere here, and grads get many copies of that one (at least mine, did), so we're skipping that one these days.  

 

:iagree:   It was a gift given to a grad on the TV show Everwood (a gift from his deceased mother with a letter from her) about 10 years ago.  After that, it seems like people started using it as a fairly common, 'I want to do something meaningful, but don't know what to do' gift.  

 

It is sweet and thoughtful, but definitely over done.

[Evergreen State Sue]

My son got a U.S. road atlas. 

[Chelle in MO]

When my oldest graduated 2 yrs. ago, one of his female friends baked cookies and put a few in a little glass jar .  She attached a little envelope with a $5 bill folded up inside. On the outside of the envelope, she wrote "Milk Money."  It was so cute and very much liked by my graduate!

[Denise in Florida]

I'm not sure what your limit is for inexpensive but one of my daughters received a 'laundry kit'

 

cute canvas tote (it folded down into a square)

tiny bottles of soap and softener

little pouch with $10 worth of quarters

 

thoughtful, useful, and unusual

 

 

 

[mommymonster]

My aunt made me a small sewing kit -- thread, needles, measuring tape, fusible webbing stuff (iron-a-hem), replacement buttons, scissors, thimble, etc. in a blue cloth zip-bag.  I graduated high school in 1991 (ahem) and still use it. 

[idnib]

I love the cookies and milk money.

 

Pier 1 has cheap picture frames.

 

Lottery tickets if the person is over 18 and the family won't be offended.

 

Mug.

 

Mini nail polish set from Target.

 

Fun keychain.

[momofkhm]

I'm not sure what your limit is for inexpensive but one of my daughters received a 'laundry kit'

 

cute canvas tote (it folded down into a square)

tiny bottles of soap and softener

little pouch with $10 worth of quarters

 

thoughtful, useful, and unusual

 

Great idea but skip the quarters.  Many colleges these days either include laundry in housing or the money comes straight off the same card as the meal card.  No more feeding the dryer, just swipe your card and restart.

[Kareni]

$5-$10, these are not close people and don't really expect anything, but I don't really want to show up empty handed, I even thought of using a container and putting homemade caramel corn or something like that in it. Or a small jar filled with candy and maybe tucking $5 inside it.

I think your ideas sound great. My daughter would have also been delighted with a card and a nice bar of chocolate.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Tap]

I am hung up on the title. Open house? What kind of open house? What comes to mind is a school's open house or house showing. Is an open house in this context basically a graduation party?

 

Cash in a card sounds good.

An open house party is one than spans certain hours and is open for people to come and go at their own leisure.  People can come for the whole time or just a 5 minute, stop and say 'hi'. There is typically o'derves set out for the entire span of the party, and typically a casual meal like sandwiches/salads or pizzas that arrive at a couple different times so they are hot throughout the party. 

 

It is nice for people who often have other commitments on that day, so they can come after church, before another party, or only certain family members arrive, but not all......etc.  Just very casual!