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5 Totally Practical Gifts Your Grad Doesn’t Know They Need
Spring is coming and with it comes a fresh batch of newly-minted high school and college graduates – ready to take on the world. Be kind. You know where this is headed.
Whether they’ll be off to college or headed to work, within a few short weeks after the graduation party, your new grad will be short on every essential – time, space, and cash. If you want to give them a gift you know will really count, but balk at giving generic gift cards, consider these options that are both practical and personal.
Auto Club Membership – Remember those cash-strapped years after school, when putting two dollars’ worth of gas in the car was all you could afford? If your grad needs to keep a car to travel to work or school, emergencies on the road are the last thing on their mind. Ease their worry and yours with a gift membership to an auto club that can come to the rescue when you can’t. Throw in a gas card and be a hero!
Graze – If your high school student’s eating habits were bad, your new grad’s diet will probably be worse. Give them the gift of healthy munchies to offset the fast food and energy drinks. Graze is a subscription service that will send your grad a hand-picked variety box of nutritious snacks every few weeks. For grads on the go, a Graze.com gift voucher lets the recipient fill out a custom profile to let the folks at Graze know which snacks they’ll love and exactly where to send them.
Amazon Prime Membership – An Amazon Prime membership gives your grad the convenience of free two-day shipping on millions of items including the groceries and basic household supplies you know they forgot to buy. Memberships include access to Amazon’s popular music service and thousands of streaming movies. A discounted program for students is available, but doesn’t include some of Prime’s most popular features.
Transportation Pass – Whether the destination is an urban college where public transportation is a must or work via an expensive toll highway, a prepaid transportation pass will be a welcome relief for cash-strapped grads and it beats wrapping rolls of quarters!
Smartphone – Gone are the days of paper, pens, and even printers and ink. Today’s grads do it all from their phone, so whether it’s e-mailing a research paper to their professor, ordering pizza or paying bills online, a great cell phone replaces what used to have to be put in a suitcase. Make it a group gift and consider a top-of-the-line model. Don’t be afraid to go big and buy the case that will survive Armageddon – you know they need it. And throw in an unlimited calling plan. With a little guilt and your number conveniently pre-programmed on speed dial, it will be a win-win.
No matter what life or Murphy’s Law has in the works for your new grad, there will be a few surprises that come with the freedom of adulthood and most of them will be the light at the end of the tunnel we all know is a freight train. Giving them a gift they can really use may be more practical than personal, but it comes with the love and wisdom that says – “You’ll be needing this.”