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!
2025 High School Graduation Gift Ideas
Fingers crossed that we’re back to regular graduation celebrations this year compared to the drive-thru graduations of the past few years!
No matter what type of celebration, it’s still important to have a great graduation gift, and I’ve put together some of the best!
These are the best high school graduation gifts you can make, buy, and give in 2025! And anyone graduating this year needs a good gift with what they’ve been through the past few years.
This list is mostly geared toward high school graduation gifts but you could totally use any of these for college graduation as well. If you change them up a bit they work for graduations of other ages not just for a high school graduate.
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 personalized for your graduate. Personalize with a quote, their graduation year, their name – whatever you want to give it a personal touch!
These unique gifts are some of the best graduation presents because they are the best way to tell the grad you are thinking of them specifically, not just getting everyone the same thing!
Graduation Bracelet
Personalize a piece of jewelry like this bracelet with their graduation year, a special quote, and their name on it. This thoughtful graduation gift is a great reminder of your grad’s big accomplishment.
Get the recent grad 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.
I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love a t-shirt quilt. I have one and can’t tell you how much joy it brings! I love the simple reminder of all the good times had with good friends.
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 graduate using all their high school shirts (the ones they don’t wear) with this easy DIY tutorial from Stars for Streetlights.
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 to help get them started on the next chapter of life.
“Dough” Gift Baskets
Add one of these printable “dough” gift tags from Play Party Plan with a few little items and some cash for a grad gift all college-bound grads would love!
Gift this adventure fun box to give your new grad aa a head start on their adventure and travel fund! Everyone needs a little adventure after all the hard work and changes of the past few years!
This Oh the Places You’ll Go Printable Graduation Gift Card Holder 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 to help with those real world expenses!
Forget the actual cake and get one of these graduation money cakes instead! Pretty sure this is the sweetest gift you could give and a great way to celebrate a major milestone!
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 and perfect for this special occasion!
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 water bottle!
And out of all of the list of high school graduation gifts, this DIY umbrella for a rainy day gift from Skip To My Lou might be my favorite ever. Can you imagine their face as they open the umbrella and realize there’s actually money inside?
This fun pizza inspired money graduation gift is not only clever but also hilarious! Plus, graduates will love getting a little cash in this clever packaging.
I love gift baskets because they’re a great way to gift personalized items, be clever, and still give the graduate things that they’ll want! These are some of the best graduation gift basket ideas I could find!
College Gift Basket
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!
How cute is this laundry kit with free printable gift tags from Hip2Save? The perfect way to introduce a high school grad to real life or at least their own laundry!
You could also just put together a college care package that includes laundry items and other goodies!
Survival for Life Kit
This cute graduation gift is a great option for someone who’s on a budget, gifting things to lots of people, or teachers giving gifts to their graduates! It’s filled with plenty of fun treats and trinkets to help the graduate as they enter real life!
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!
Another good graduation gift is to give them a silly gift by buying these surprise balls. They’re darling, you can get them in a bunch of different colors and they are filled with just the right surprises to bring a smile to your grad’s face!
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 can sometimes make the perfect graduation gifts!
If you want something that you can make at home, print out some pictures and use this great tutorial to make paper mache photo letters they can keep as a keepsake of their favorite memories! Would make a great present for a couple of best friends.
Get this cute wooden frame 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!
This Oh the Places You’ll Go Hand Lettered Basswood Plaque from Walnut Hollow Crafts is not only a cute thoughtful gift, it’s a great reminder of how great the graduate is!
Make an adventure journal for your graduate to track their future adventures then add a little gift card in this cute envelope to help out with those adventures! It’s not only a useful gift but a great way to get them excited about everything to come.
Gift a trip or funds to be used for an adventure in this fun and creative way that surprises them as they get closer to the end of the chain! The perfect high school graduation gift from a parent or grandparent to celebrate this important time in their life.
I always try to avoid giving someone money or a gift card because it’s not personal enough, but graduation is the perfect time for it. Those graduates are going to be on their own soon and money and gift cards can really make a difference as they’re on their own!
More Creative Gift Ideas
You’ve been booed ideas – all sorts of creative gifts to give along with Halloween boo signs!
30th birthday gift ideas – 30 creative ideas to give to someone turning 30 (not too far after graduation!).
Orange gift tags – orange you glad you’re my mom, my teacher, my friend – all sorts of fun orange themed gift ideas!
Date night cards – gift an entire year’s worth of dates in this fun DIY gift idea! Plus over 150 date night ideas!
Candy gram ideas – all sorts of fun ideas for giving someone sweet treats (with tons of fun sayings!).
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.
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!
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