Grad Gifts

I’m hearing less talk of BMW convertibles as graduation gifts this season, more chatter about Smart Cars. Less obsessing about keeping out with the way the neighbors are indulging kids; more about how to set a new tone of financial consciousness.

If you’re still agonizing over what to give your niece, your best friend’s son or your own grandkids or child, consider gifts that will have lasting meaning and stand out for their creativity—in an era when sending the right message to the next generation has become much more important…

• To encourage that next generation philanthropist, sign them up for a subscription to Good Magazine (http://www.good.is/). Put a copy of the magazine in a box with a check to be used to make a contribution to a cause of their choice.

• The grad longing for a new car might be happy with a new Smart Car –and will spend less money on maintenance, while establishing them as green leaders as they enter –or leave college—not a bad combination. http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/

• And Zipcars now live on over 100 college campuses. (www.zipcar.com) Give the grad a membership to zipcar. All the convenience with none of the hassle.

• A gift certificate to fund a Kiva.org entrepreneur makes a difference and introduces social enterprise. Available in $25 increments http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=gift&action=giftpromotion

• For the aspiring engineer, give a gift certificate to be used on http://motoredbikes.com/ He/she will be able to buy/build a motored bike that will get about 130 miles/gal. of gas to get around campus. Or fr the fashion plate who doesn’t want to do self assembly, How about a fully assembled Trek Bike (www.trekbikes.com/us/en/ with or without the Trek vacation to go with it (http://www.trektravel.com/).

• And if the independent trip to China or Europe was last year’s great graduation gift, how about a family vacation with Habitat for Humanity? Even if that young grad grumbles a bit, it is a week no family member will ever forget. http://www.habitat.org/

• If you aren’t a hammer wielding family, consider a family tour with poet David Whyte (http://www.davidwhyte.com/tours.html). Storytelling is the art of passing legacy from one generation to the next. As a poet, Whyte inspires appreciation for that lost art.

• Watches used to be traditional and appropriate gifts for grads, but today’s wired generation use cell phones to tell time. If our grad is expected to pay their own cell phone bill, you might provide a month’s subsidy.
  

• An on-line subscription to the Wall Street Journal may seem very boring to June’s seniors. But come Sept., they will seem very cool/worldly to their friends. And if they read an article every now and they, they might even absorb some useful information.

• Pearls were so timeless. But today’s environmentally sensitive grads may have a new POV about harvesting the sea’s pearl oysters. For these kids, consider sustainable pearls. http://fairtradejewellers.com/pearls/

• And at the risk of being a little self serving, consider the perfect mother/daughter gift: Independent Means’ Fashion and Finance, June 26-28, This weekend retreat in Santa Monica, Ca is a great introduction to financial intelligence using fashion as the vehicle. www.independentmeans.com or 805-965-0475 for more information.
  

Whatever you give this season, give from the heart—and give a message that will stand the test of time.