Anonymous wrote:We got her a new car. She had a tough year and her old car was totaled while it was parked out front so we wanted to do something really nice for her.

I was surprised it took so long to see this one.

The rich/UMC kids I knew got cars.

Anonymous wrote:I feel so lane rrwading these responses.
I was going to do a fancy balloon, flowers, and a hoodie with the college.

Maybe I'll run out to Costco now instead and see what laptops they have on sale and have sibling gift the hoodie. Yikes!

Your gifts sound great, seriously. Just add a card with some sincere words of praise and you're perfect.

College. I give my high school graduates college.

We got her a new car. She had a tough year and her old car was totaled while it was parked out front so we wanted to do something really nice for her.

I am giving mine:

$500 cash, which is roughly the equivalent of what I gave her brother (he got tickets to something instead of cash).
Balloon bouquet
Dinner out with some of her friends and some of our family.

Not sure what her mother will do.

I

We’re planning on an Apple Watch. She doesn’t have one so we figure this is something nice to have before college that many teens and adults already have.

We gave DS a big trip that was of the variety that likes--adventure travel, rather than our usual types of trips (Europe, museums, skiing, that sor of thing).

College and dorm stuff we didn't really think of as a gift.

I actually feel that the more money we have, the less gifts like this matter. I grew up poor and gifts were a big deal. But my kids seem to understand the trips and the privileged life they have ARE the gift (and a token gift too.)

We always do photo album from infancy up to this point in our family, heartfelt note, etc. Shutterfly now makes that easy. Celebration with immediate family and extended that live nearby.

Anonymous wrote:I feel so lane rrwading these responses.
I was going to do a fancy balloon, flowers, and a hoodie with the college.

Maybe I'll run out to Costco now instead and see what laptops they have on sale and have sibling gift the hoodie. Yikes!

they don't need a new laptop if the one they have is working well. I only got one because DC's laptop is dying.

DC's bday is around graduation, and DC's phone just cracked. So, we got them a good quality used iphone 14 or whatever it was.

My DC said to me that we don't need to buy them anything because of how much we are spending on college, including a new laptop, but since it is also DC's bday, AND I haven't bought DC much in the past two years given DC has been working and paying for their own stuff (including the previous iphone, laptop, desktop), I was happy to buy them the iphone. And DC also got some merit aid so that saved us a lot of $$. The laptop + iphone amounts to a fraction of the amount we are saving from the merit aid.

I feel so lane rrwading these responses.
I was going to do a fancy balloon, flowers, and a hoodie with the college.

Maybe I'll run out to Costco now instead and see what laptops they have on sale and have sibling gift the hoodie. Yikes!

My kid is graduating tomorrow and I bought a card. We will have dinner with friends.

The "gifts" will be paying and outfitting him for college! 65K a year, new clothes, laptop, and dorm stuff for this year.

Anonymous wrote:A nice roller bag/suitcase and an Apple Watch

Suitcase or good backpack (like for backpacking) is a great idea for travel back and forth.

I never expected a gift, though flowers would have been nice.

I love the letter idea. I think I'll do a letter and flowers, but save the letter for when we're at home.

A nice roller bag/suitcase and an Apple Watch