(Updated 2023)
High school and college graduation season will be here shortly. You can honor the graduates in your life with useful, quality graduation gifts without having to spend lots of money. Here is a list of graduation gifts under $25 to consider.
Disclosure: Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click one of the links and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission that will help support this blog. Thanks so much.
Graduation Gifts They Will Love And Use
-
-
-
- Portable Battery Charger-Graduates can easily tote this portable charger around so that can power up their devices on the go.
-
-
- Cookbook-Certain cookbooks have stood the test of time because they offer a range of recipes with easy-to-understand instructions to please lots of palates. Two perennial favorites are the Better Homes And Gardens Cookbook
and How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes For Great Food
- Cookbook-Certain cookbooks have stood the test of time because they offer a range of recipes with easy-to-understand instructions to please lots of palates. Two perennial favorites are the Better Homes And Gardens Cookbook
-
-
- Essential Oil Diffuser-These diffusers can help set the tone for anytime of day. From awake/alertness scents to soothing/calming for sleep, they come include with the diffuser.
- Road Atlas–Help the graduate plan out the next road trip. Even with GPS, it is always good to have paper copy on hand because we all know technology is not fool proof and recalculating is a word that the GPS says too often.
-
-
- LED Music Sync Lights–Nothing will light up a graduate’s room and eyes quite like these colorful 100 ft. of LED strip lights that feature Bluetooth sync to the beat of music.
- LED Music Sync Lights–Nothing will light up a graduate’s room and eyes quite like these colorful 100 ft. of LED strip lights that feature Bluetooth sync to the beat of music.
-
- University Bookstore Gift Card-Great gift for the high school graduate headed off to college. Who wouldn’t want to arrive on campus with a little buying power at the bookstore.
- Cosmetics Bag/Dop Kit/Shower Caddy–All handy gifts that can be used when traveling or if headed to college.
-
- Folio Note Pad Holder–Great for carrying around a note pad and portfolio essentials in a professional looking padded case.
- Initial Luggage Tag–Makes luggage a breeze to identify on these fun adventures.
As you can see, you can find a variety of great gifts for the graduate at reasonable prices. For more budget-friendly gift ideas:41 Ideas for Filling Spring Gift Baskets
40 Things to Put in Summer Gift Baskets
-
-
-
GREAT suggestions! I never thought about most of these. These would make great gifts!!
Always fun to give gifts that can be used again and again.
These are really great ideas. I don’t have any graduates this year, but I have several next year! Thanks for sharing with Countdown in Style!
Your posts always have great lists! I’m sure someone on my following is going to need this 🙂 Thanks for sharing this with us at Countdown in Style!
Thank you so much for the kind words. Always love linking up at Countdown in Style because it feels like being among family.
Great ideas! I still have and use the tried and true cookbooks you mentioned. Never thought about giving those as graduation gifts, but it’s a terrific idea.
I still have one that I was given to me as a high school graduation gift many a moons ago. Use it pretty frequently.
My niece is graduating but she’s staying home for college. These are much more practical ideas for her considering she won’t need to furnish an apartment or dorm. Thanks for sharing!
So glad these are gift ideas that will work for your niece. Thanks much for stopping by!
I have done a “Sewing Kit in a Jar” for my daughter and niece. I went to both a dollar store and a fabric store to get needles, small spools of thread, pin cushion, small scissors (good quality that will fit in jar), safety pins, seam ripper, pins, needle treader, measuring tape and put them in a wide-mouth jar (mason jar). Instead of making a pincushion by using batting and material, I put a “real” pincushion on the lid using carpet tape and studded the pincushion with the pins. I raided my button jar and put in various shirt buttons. I spent about $20 in materials.
I have also given small tool sets (hammer, screwdrivers, Allen wrenches, level) with small jar of various sized nails and picture hanging hooks.
Another good gift is a mini-first aid kit with Ace bandage, ice pack, heating pad, thermometer, tylenol, Benadryl, neosporin, tweezers, bandaids, Airborne, cough medicine, etc.
If this is a family member, I supplement the gift with a inexpensive 8×10 frame and print “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” on a sheet of paper with a space for me to tape a $20, 50 or $100 bill in the middle.”
These are such great ideas. Thank you so much for adding to the suggestions for practical graduation gifts.
What a great list. Not only do I have a son graduating high school this year (and all the accompanying expenses), but we also know quite a few other graduates. It’s great to have a list of ideas to stretch the gift-giving dollars. Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations on the graduate!
Great ideas! I especially like the road map 🙂
Excellent ideas! We have quite a few gifts to buy and this really helps cut down damage that will be done to my wallet. 😉
Glad to offer some affordable suggestions. Sending a twitter follow your way.
those are some neat ideas I like the magazine idea best
So many great magazines to choose from too.
Great list – I have found that gift cards and cash are the best bet. When my daughter graduated from high school, she left for a mission trip, so the gift cards came in very handy!
So many gift cards available these days that it make for easy shopping.
I love your suggestions! The cookbook one is my favorite… when I went off to college, I was given A Man, A Can, A Microwave, and it’s my go-to book for any graduate. Since I was limited to microwave cooking, it gave me great ideas, and when everyone else was bringing Taco Bell and packages of ramen to our dorm movie potlucks, I was bringing cake, fudge, and even sweet and sour meatballs to our parties. Needless to say, that cookbook made me a LOT of friends.
Thanks for the great ideas! I may put together a little gift basket of a couple of them for the graduates I know this year!
I am going to have to check out A Man, A Can, A Microwave. When I was in college I about wore my microwave out.
Great suggestions! I would add in Gas Cards if the graduate will be bringing their car to college, or will be commuting to a local college.
Love the gas card idea. Thanks so much!
Well, I might not have needed that tripod in college but now? Send it on over!
I love the covered casserole dish idea. College students seldom have the tools in their cupboards that they will need. That is one of them!
Yes, isn’t that tripod neat. And so much better than dragging a big one around.
Great list! I especially like the idea of a gift card to the university gift store. That’s genius!
Thanks so much. Yes, a university store gift card can be so handy.
Great list! Thank you for sharing at Merry Monday!
Enjoy Merry Monday each week. Thanks so much.
Thanks for sharing at Let’s Get Real Friday Party. Great ideas however, I probably wouldn’t get the road atlas. I think young people use their phones/computers and google maps or mapquest to plan their trips.
I hear so many stories about the crazy directions that mapquest and
GPS apps give along with my own experiences. Often a good ole road atlas is so helpful. Found that they are among the bestsellers in the Travel section on Amazon, as well.