Regarding the Sunday article by Claudia Buck about gifts to graduates other than cash: I have one to add to her list — a First Aid kit. About 13 years ago my oldest niece graduated from high school and wanted to move in with a girlfriend. My mother and I didn’t want to give her money to spend on cigarettes, so I made up a pretty nice First Aid kit for her. When you just move into a new place, you don’t always have bandages or tape, let alone tweezers and calamine lotion and or a thermometer that a more established home usually does.
I did give her and my other nieces and nephews a bit of cash to go with it, but I did it in a fun way. One got crisp $1 bills in band aid wrappers (they reseal, like a Post-It resticks for a while), another got a “prescription” of presidential gold dollars in a medicine bottle. I made up a fun label with his name, put his grad date as the number, and put “No Refills” on it also!
My first niece ended up living at home with my sister for a few more years, but when she did move out, she was able to take care of herself if she got a cut or a bug bite.
My mom’s gift to each of her grandkids was a really nice watch for the boys, and a nice necklace and earring birthstone set. (she spent around $200 for each.) She wanted them to be able to look back in 20 years and say “my grandma gave me that.”
(By the way, my niece quit smoking not long after.)
Mary Shoemaker
Marysville
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