Grad Gifts!

So a couple of weeks ago I posted about what to do for graduation gifts. This year the Mr and I were invited to 9 grad parties. Say what?? Grad gifts can get way out of hand on the cost really fast. We could just do a card or just do a card and a $5 or a $10 but that's kind of boring. So I decided to put together gift baskets for them with things that I could buy at the dollar store but things that we still be useful.

I ended up making 3 different baskets. 1 for kids from church that are moving away to college. 1 for kids from church that are staying at home and going to the tech here in our Nothern Town. And 1 for the kids that are on the Lutheran Youth Organization board here in NW MN with me (this last one I went in on with a bunch of adults).

So here they are.

Up first: kids from church that are moving away to college:

Apparently I forgot to take picture of them individually.

The ones for kids going away to college are on the left and the ones staying in town and going to the tech are on the right.

For the ones going away to college I made college survival kits. They have:

Reusable plastic plates, bowls, and cups for when you want to eat in your room.

Dish soap and a scrubbie to wash your dishes.

Microwave Mac'n'Cheese incase dinner in the dining hall is icky.

Microwave popcorn.

Hand sanitizer.

And ear plugs in case their roomie snores :)

Then it's all in a rubbermaid tote to keep and wash those dirty dishes in.

For the kids that are staying at home and going to the tech I made baskets that said "Just 'popping' by to say congrats!" And everything in the basket had 'pop' in the name. They include:
Pop

Pop rocks

Ring pops

Pop tarts

Blow pops or Tootsie pops

Popcorn

For all of these gifts, for all 9 kids I spent less than $90 at the Dollar Store. That's less than $10 a gift!! And I think, way cooler than a $10 bill.

We'll see how much I still like this idea when the Mr and I get invited to like 20 parties...

And for the kids on the LYO board I made these:

via

I forgot to take a picture of the ones that I made but the saying says:

LOOK at you, SMARTIE pants!

You SKOR'ed high on tests and reached the PAYDAY of graduation.

Don't listen to SNICKERS that say you're a DUM DUM or NERD

cuz you are one HOT TAMALE in this MILKY WAY

on your way to making 100 GRAND

Hope your FAST BREAK of a summer is MOUNDS of fun!

HUGS and KISSES

All of the capitalized words are candy bars. Although I'm not sure what a LOOK is.

I forgot the last line when I was shopping for ours so our kids didn't get fast break or mounds bars.

Then we gave them Bibles with our favorite verses highlighted and the verses that we've used at our synod gatherings for the past two years.

Between the number of adults that went in on the gifts and the nubmer of seniors we had, as adults we ended up spending barely over $4 per senior, for everything- the candy basket and the Bibles! Doesn't get much better than that!

Love, Mrs. K