Graduation Gifts from the Heart

by Carleton Kendrick, Ed.M., LCSW

If you want to venture beyond the standard graduation gifts, you might want to consider giving your graduate one of the following gifts from the heart. Use these ideas to trigger thoughts about unique gifts from your heart that your child will treasure for a lifetime.

• Make a photo collage of her life, from infancy up to present date, and frame it.
• Make a videotape of family, friends, and important people in her life (coaches, teachers, mentors) sharing their thoughts and feelings about her and wishing her the best for her future.
• Make a CD of your child's favorite songs. Siblings and friends of hers will most likely know her favorite songs and possess the technical skills to make this recording.
• Make a CD reminiscing about your relationship with him throughout his childhood. Talk about your special times together, why you cherish and love him, and how much you believe in him.
• Make her a graduation dinner of all her favorite homemade foods, from appetizers to desserts.
• Have a graduation movie festival. Rent his favorite movies and watch them with him.
• Watch the sun come up with her at one of her favorite places.
• Write him a love letter.
• Get a star map. On a night when the stars are bright, look up at the night sky with her and rename the constellations.
• Make him a sweet graduation breakfast. Prepare and purchase his favorite desserts and serve them to him for breakfast. Use your finest table settings.
• Make up fortune cookies with your own congratulations and predictions inside them for her future happiness, success, and well-being.
• Plant a flowering graduation tree or perennial garden with her.
• Volunteer your time in her name to a charitable group of her choosing.