Anything and Everything Graduation

by PaigeMarie

Gift Ideas For Graduates

I listed some of my favorite gift ideas for your graduate, ranging from medium to high priced products. If you are looking for gifts for a friend but are not wanting to spend too much money, going in with a few friends on a nicer gift is a great idea! My friends and I do that every year for birthdays and it makes gift giving so much more fun, because you are able to give higher priced and quality items.

Gift Cards

Gift cards are live savers for your graduates that are ballin’ on a budget!! Making a gift card basket is super cute and useful at the same time!

  • Uber: Uber cash is the best gift to receive/ give during grad season. I did not realize how amazing my Uber gift cards were until they were the only thing saving my bank account towards the end of the semester.
  • Amazon: Amazon has all the essentials, so it’s the perfect add in to any graduation gift.
  • Restaurants: Restaurant gift cards are AMAZINGGG!!!!! Look up popular restaurants or food chains near where your graduate lives and treat them to some options for those nights they don’t feel like cooking or for when their dining hall just simply isn’t cutting it. I had a few Starbucks and Chipotle gift cards coming into my freshman year and they were SO amazing for going out to eat or study with my girl friends.

Home/ Dorm Decor

  • Urban Outfitters: Urban is my favorite place to shop for home/ dorm decor, but their products are all higher priced. Asking for a specific comforter, throw pillow or even bath set is a great idea for a graduation gift. Their home products are great quality and very trendy. I personally decorated my dorms around my Urban Outfitters products and loved it!

Jewelry

Jewelry is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Giving your graduate a nicer piece of jewelry that they wouldn’t typically buy for themselves can mean a lot and become very sentimental to them. I listed higher priced brands as well as a medium to high priced one so that there are plenty of options! Next to each brand are the links to some of my favorite pieces!

Clothing/ Shoes/ Accessories

  • Tory Burch Sandals: Popular at southern/ SEC schools! I love mine!! They go with absolutely everything! My brothers girlfriend and her family gifted them to me for my graduation because they knew that they were popular at Mizzou, and I was SO excited!
  • Lululemon Athletic Wear: Perfect for everyday wear, but higher priced, so receiving their products is always a treat.
  • Black Cross-Body Purse: Having that every-day going out purse is essential in college, so treating your graduate to a better quality purse is a great idea. Some of my favorite options are Peta & Jain Gia Crossbody, Perry Bombe Matte Mini and Jet Set Medium Quilted Leather Camera Bag

Cap Decorating Ideas

Pinterest has TONS of ideas for cap decorating. You can decorate with a quote, a joke, your school mascot/ letters and even photos! Make your cap unique and let it tell a story in itself! I choose to decorate my cap with my school, and I absolutely loved it. All I did was print out my school’s letter/ mascot and glue it on top of sparkly paper from Michael’s! There are more examples of cap decorations under the Graduation Photo Shoot Ideas portion!

Graduation Photo Shoot Ideas

Group

I am SO happy that my friends and I had a graduation photo shoot!! We went to a nice park with a pavilion and had one of the dads shoot it for us! It didn’t cost us anything, and it gave us memories that we’ll keep forever. Definitely have fun with this and try lots of different poses so you have tons of options to choose from!

Individual

My brothers girlfriend asked me to take her graduation photos at Mizzou, and here’s how they turned out! Finding the perfect backgrounds was the key to shoot! Unfortunately the sun was not working in our favor, but thank god for editing!

Graduation Party Decoration Ideas

My favorite part of graduation was getting to decorate for my party. I know graduation parties are being put on hold at the moment, but hopefully they can go on this summer!! Hopefully these pictures/ ideas from mine can help you guys out! I absolutely LOVED making all of the decorations/ putting the party together. I bought most of my decor from Hobby Lobby and then decorated it myself. The mason jars that I used as flower vases were actually from one of my friend’s graduation party the weekend before! Passing along decorations was the BEST idea!! My friends and I passed vases, photo wall props, hanging decor, and 2019 decor. This not only saved us money, but made all of our parties super cute! Everything from my party was homemade (besides the food of course) and turned out perfect!!

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