Gifts for the College Bound High School Graduate

It is graduation season, and there are tons graduates who you will want to reward. Handing every graduate a $100.00 bill may be a little taxing on your budget. Instead, there are some very valuable and useful gifts you can give that will cost you less, but they will appreciate just as much. You can control the costs of these gifts by bargain shopping and limiting the amount of items you purchase to match your budget.

Give the college bound high school graduate a gift of bath supplies: Fill an under the bed box with enough toiletries to last the graduate a whole year. Find out from their parents what their favorite brands are. Fill the basket with six bottles of shampoo, six bottles of conditioner, six bottles of bath gel, or a 24 bars of soap. Add q-tips, cotton swaps, toothpaste, and shaving paraphernalia. If you shop carefully, you should be able to fill the basket and have some money left over for washcloths and towels too.

Give the college bound high school graduate a gift of bedding: Fill a Rubbermaid container with everything they will need for their bed, but they might not think of. While they may want to choose their comforter themselves for style reasons, you can still provide two changes of sheets, a mattress cover and down or memory foam pad, sheet suspenders to keep the sheets in place, and a thermal blanket for those extra cold nights.

Give the college bound high school graduate a gift of laundry supplies: Fill a plastic laundry basket laundry detergent, fabric softener, colorsafe bleach (to prevent boo-boos), stain remover, and an iron. Consider adding a couple of rolls of quarters if the college they plan to attend has a coin laundry.

Give the college bound high school graduate a gift of stationary: It is hard to determine exactly what the college student will need, but there are some basics they will certainly be able to use. Fill a plastic dairy crate with pens, pencil, loose-leaf paper, printer paper, paperclips, index cards, ruler, single subject notebooks, folders, stapler, scissors, hole punch, and tape. Throw in a box of envelopes and some stamps too.

Hopefully these ideas will help you find the right gift for your college bound high school graduate. The key to choosing the right gift is to anticipate a need they will have when the get to college and fulfill it. Also choose a container to pack it in that will be useful to them at college.