The ultimate collection of high school graduation gifts! Graduation gifts for her, for him, or really anyone! Everything from printable graduation cards you can fill with money to DIY graduation gifts you can make yourself!
And of course if you want something a bit easier, the best graduation gifts you can buy for any age graduation – high school, college, or even those little kindergarteners!
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The Best Graduation Gifts
It’s been a while since I personally graduation from anything – high school, college, and especially kindergarten. But I don’t things have really changed that much from years ago when I graduated.
And I’ve given a lot of graduation gifts in the past few years as I’ve worked with the young women in my church and had tons of cousins graduate!
This list is mostly geared toward high school graduation gifts but you could totally use any of these for college graduation as well. Or just change them up a bit to work for graduations of other ages!
I’ve broken it into a couple of different categories to make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for – personalized graduation gifts, graduation gifts for her, graduation gifts for him, DIY graduation gifts for anyone, and then some of my favorite graduation gifts you can buy!
And for bonus points – wrapped gifts double perfectly as graduation party decorations and are perfect for gifting after playing some of these fun graduation party games!
Personalized Graduation Gifts
Let’s get this graduation party started with some of my favorite personalized graduation gifts. These are ones that you can either make yourself or buy and have them personalized for your graduate. Personalize with a quote, their graduation year, their name – whatever you want!
These type of high school graduation gifts are special because they tell the grad you are thinking of them specifically, not just getting everyone the same thing!
Let’s get real – most graduates are going to be really happy to get money and/or gift cards. This personalized card box from Play Party Plan is a fun way to make giving gift cards even more fun!
Another favorite is a personalized piece of jewelry with a special quote and their name on it like this personalized graduation bracelet from Fashion Jewelry.
If you want something that you can make at home, print out some pictures and use this great tutorial from Life is Sweeter by Design to make paper mache photo letters they can keep as a keepsake of their favorite memories!
Set up this DIY advice tree at the grad’s graduation party and collect advice on life from family and friends (can do either in person or virtually). You don’t realize it but sometimes those notes and pieces of advice are some of the best gifts they’ll receive!
Get the graduate a Personalized graduation gift box filled with confetti and their favorite treats (or other things that remind you of them) for a surprise that’s both fun and personalized!
Speaking of favorite memories, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love a t-shirt quilt.
Even if you don’t actually use it, having all of your t-shirts in one place to remember those memories is seriously amazing. I have one that I love! Make one for your graduation with this easy DIY tutorial from Stars for Streetlights.
Some of my favorite memories from college are watching FRIENDS with my friends! If your grad loves FRIENDS, this Personalized Friends graduation tee would be the perfect gift!
Money High School Graduation Gifts
I said it once before but most graduates would be extremely happy to get some sort of money or gift card. Here are some more fun ways to give money or gift cards!
Add one of these printable “dough” gift tags from Play Party Plan with a few little items and some cash for a gift any grad would love!
Make this Adventure Fund DIY Graduation Gift from Crafts Unleashed to give your grad a headstart on their adventure and travel fund!
This Oh the Places You’ll Go Printable Graduation Gift Card Holder from Lil Luna is a fun play on the popular Dr. Seuss book Oh ‘ The Places You’ll Go and a great way to gift a gift card!
Forget the actual cake and get one of these graduation money cakes instead! Pretty sure this is the sweetest gift you could give!
Speaking of money gifts – make this DIY money lei with as much money as you want to give!
This Smartie Pants Graduation Card from Landeelu is another fun way to give money and a little treat! And bonus, who doesn’t love being called smart??
Or go a little less obvious and hide the gift card inside of this DIY graduation cap card holder from Skip to My Lou. It’s way easier to make than it looks!
Have a graduate with a sense of humor? These welcome to adulthood cards from Studio DIY are a funny way to celebrate your graduate!
Forget the cards and just put the money out in plain sight – or in a creative DIY money cup like this from A Little Craft If Your Day! And bonus, they get to keep the fun cup!
Or if you’d prefer to do it with a mason jar, here’s another simple graduation cap jar tutorial from Must Have Mom.
And out of all of these ideas, this DIY umbrella for a rainy day gift from This Little Street might be my favorite ever. Can you imagine their face as they open the umbrella and realize there’s actually money inside?
DIY Graduation Gifts
I know some of the high school graduation gifts in the list above include a bit of doing them yourself, but these gifts – these are the real DIY gifts.
But because it’s me and I don’t do anything complicated, these are simple DIY graduation gifts you can make it minutes! And those few minutes will make a huge difference in the graduate’s reaction – guaranteed!
I also included a few simple gift basket ideas in here as well because well you do have to do those yourself, put them together at least!
How cute is this laundry kit with free printable gifts tags from Hip2Save? The perfect way to introduce a high school grad to real life or at least laundry!
Speaking of laundry, instead of just doing a laundry kit – why not put together an entire college student care package and gift it to them for their big day!
Make this Chalkboard and Tassle Frame from My Sister’s Suitcase and fill it with a picture of you and the graduate (or one of their favorite pictures) for a fun memory to have in their place!
Fill up this DIY wooden graduation cap box with money, treats, or things that remind you of the graduate!
This Oh the Places You’ll Go Hand Lettered Basswood Plaque from Walnut Hollow Crafts is not only cute, it’s a great reminder of how great the graduate is!
This graduation candy bouquet is guaranteed to be the sweetest gift the graduate receives!
Or go light on the sweets and stock up on some college essentials with this hope the school year is smooth college gift basket idea from Play Party Plan!
Stock up a container with tons items to make this Freshman Year Survival Kit – even better if it includes some fast food gift cards or other late-night fun!
Last but not least, give them a silly gift by making these DIY surprise balls. They’re darling and if you fill them with the right surprises, they’ll bring a smile to your grad’s face!
More Fun High School Graduation Gifts
These are the graduation gifts you can buy that graduates will still love to receive! I’ve put together an entire list of my favorite unique graduation gifts on Amazon – I know if I was graduating I’d love to get any of these!
You could also just get them a handful of board games for game nights – these are some of my favorites!
Or if it’s someone with a really good sense of humor, this might make them laugh!
How to Choose Good Graduation Gifts
And all of these graduation gifts are even better if you put one of these with a gift card or cash! Are you noticing a theme for the best graduation gift ideas?
It’s not too hard if you stick to a couple of rules:
- Money and gift cards are always appreciated
- Something personalized is better than not
- If you can’t do something personalized, do something that says you know the graduate!
- Stick with something small or that they’ll want to take with them. Parents of high school graduates don’t want all the stuff left behind when kids move out!
- See rule #1!
Need more graduation ideas? These graduation party ideas are some of our favorites!
- Graduation party games
- Graduation party decorations
- High school graduation party ideas
- Graduation announcement ideas
- Sherbet punch recipe
- Mocktail recipes
Don’t forget to pin these high school graduation gifts for later!
Tom Biehn says
Choosing the right graduation gifts for graduates is really a hard task. What gift should we give, whether they like it or not, what are their preferences! There are many other questions like these that keep one indecisive or confused about which gift to choose. I really like your gifting ideas. Especially the ideas of graduation money cakes instead of giving old school actual cake. Graduation money cakes will be appreciated by the graduates for years because money is the thing that a graduate will need most at that time. Great article!
BritniV says
thank you!
Michele says
I want to do a virtual advice tree, how would you suggest I do that? (Considering we’re social distancing right now!)
BritniV says
Have friends and family email you and then you can print them out and add them to the tree or you can put them in a picture binder so they can take those messages with them to college.