I got a suitcase. I was leaving for boot camp shortly after graduation. . It was a powder blue Samsonite medium case that was used well for 33 years.

I got a round trip ticket to Europe. They held the return ticket till I was ready to come home. I stayed awhile...played starving artist to support myself. I laughed at the earlier post about sending the boys to Hawaii. As I was only 15 when I graduated and my parents sent me to travel all over Europe.

I got a mirror and $100 and a camera for my trip to Mexico.

College tuition.

I got a wrist watch...still have it and it is 63 years old, as I graduated in 1953. (is that right?)

My parents gave me a heavy silver charm bracelet with charms representing my life up till then. I still have it.

A strand of pearls from an uncle living in Japan, a briefcase and umbrella from my dear 2nd grade teacher, and a sewing kit from my mother - I still have the scissors and pinking shears. This was 1970. Sadly, the pearls were stolen along with my other jewelry when our home was burlarized. My DH surprized me with a new strand a few years later for my 40th birthday. Made me cry lol.

I was 17 when I graduated in 1970 (I skipped kindergarten because it didn't exist in the one-room school - grades 1-8 - in the 2-blocks big town I started school in) and I got a Timex wristwatch from my parents and a bible from my then boyfriend, now husband. I still have both gifts.

I was given an electric typewriter, boy did I use the heck out of it!

I was given a Singer sewing machine by my mother. A pearl ring from my then boyfriend, and No, I didn't marry him ;) I have the ring still, not the sewing machine. The old singer I have and still use is the one I learned on, one my mother bought herself in the early 50's.

Grainlady, I graduated at 17 too....mid Sept birthday. I had a part time clerking job lined up in the forestry office at Weyerhaeuser for after classes at the junior college. Weyco wouldn't let me begin until I'd actually had my birthday, had to be 18 to work there.

From my parents for high school, it was a watch. After I got my BA, it was a check. And nothing for my Masters, not even a card. But I was 29 at the time, married and living far away. I might have got cash from other relatives for high school and college. I can't remember.

Can't remember getting anything. Neither of my parents even went to my graduation. My dad watched on the local tv but they called my name out of order and he turned it off before I walked.

I got nothing too. Just wasn't done...

Like Moni, it wasn't done around here either. Despite having older brothers and sisters I was the first one in my family to graduate. I can't even remember if there was a graduation ceremony and that was 1975

I remember it being a very busy weekend, and there was a big family dinner. My aunt and uncle, whose house the dinner was at, gave me a "college survival kit". It was a small box with everything from a sewing kit to Pepto tablets to coffee. I can't remember what anyone else gave me at all, though there were other presents. I'm pretty sure my big gift from my parents (I know they gave it to me, and I think it was for graduation) is a long string of heishi with fetishes, which was made for me by a friend of theirs.

I got a hope chest, dishes, towels ,sheets, etc. do you think everyone thought I was getting married! I was 16, bought myself a brand new Camaro and went to Wyoming for the summer. Came back in the fall and started college.

I remember getting small token jewelry from my Aunts and Uncles, that is the only thing that I remember getting.

Because of my large family, the house was often noisy. My DF was often telling one of us to turn the radio down, or off. My graduation gift was a portable RADIO!

I graduated in 1984. My parents gave me an electric typewriter. I loved it!! My 2 older sisters gave me gold earrings. I even have a picture! LOL Obviously I also got flowers but I don't know from who (I guess my mom or sisters). The plaque I am holding is my award for winning "Student of the Year". My aunt made my graduation dress. It was a custom for all the girls to wear long white dresses (and the guys wore black or grey tuxes).

Parents gave me a tiny Bulova watch I still have but never wear. Probably couldn't see the numbers. BF (later husband,) gave me a Parker Pen set and a Thesaurus.

I too got a watch and it seems to me it was a Bulova watch. I would never be able to read the numbers now. That was in 1971.

Electric typewriter from my parents. Money from most other relatives. Most memorable gift was Chanel No. 19 cologne and bath powder. That was 1973, and I still love Chanel No. 19 today.

When I graduated from high school, my dad gave me a dainty Elgin watch with the black band that looked like a double satin rope. I loved that look and still do. A family friend gave me a blue rhinestone necklace, earrings and bracelet, which I never found an occasion to wear.

Suitcases - get out of the house!

SheilaJoyce said, "When I graduated from high school, my dad gave me a dainty Elgin watch with the black band that looked like a double satin rope."

My parents gave me a dainty Elgin watch with a black band that looked liked a double satin rope for my 17th birthday. I still have it!

For graduation I got exactly what I had asked for and had been wanting -- a new stereo on which to play vinyl albums and 45s. Sadly, it was stolen when my apartment was broken into 4 years later.

For high school, my gift from my parents was a graduation party for close relatives. For college, it was a graduation party for close relatives and friends. :)

ETA: these were parties at home where they cooked all the food!

For my HS graduation I got a blue suitcase, $50 and a tennis racket! Seems so strange now! haha

Suitcases, I think they were trying to tell me something!

The only gift I remember is a little leather-bound sewing kit that a neighbor gave me to take to college. I still have it.

For high school my parents gave me a car so I would have transportation at college. My dad had a little diamond ring made for me. I still have the ring safely put away. College graduation some beautiful flowers from my parents, my husband was with me, don't remember what other gifts I got. For another one my dad got me a beautiful gold ring and passed down to me a family heirloom, a small gold pocket watch extremely old and it still works. It is also put away safety.

I don't remember, but I know I got something. Maybe a suitcase.

I don't remember what I got when graduating high school (1975) -- like cacocobird and others here, it may have been a luggage set since I was heading away for college in the following September. I still use that set, although I've since picked up a rolling carry-on suitcase for ergonomic reasons.

But I do remember my wonderful college graduation gift.

I got a five-day trip on a small Maine schooner, tooling around Penobscot Bay. The weather was wonderful, and while my parents didn't go with me, the folks I met (crew and fellow passengers) were tip-top fun. One evening we had a lobster dinner on an uninhabited island. Mid-week, many of us (since there was no shower aboard) took an icy plunge overboard with Ivory soap to clean off. BRRR!

It was great to have a gift that provided memories, rather than a simple object! It's something I'd like to do again.

Suitcases to use when I went away to college.

I was given my first sewing machine, a Singer.

I got the traditional graduation gifts, a pen & pencil set (yellow pencil and bic pen) and a computer (cheap solar calculator). For real rather than funny, I got an LLBean large backpack and a Samsonite hard sided suitcase.

Like several others, I received an electric typewriter for HS graduation. Most of my friends received similar sorts of gifts, small amounts of money, and items to use at college. I don't recall anyone taking big trips. Although that would have been nice! I didnt receive anything for college graduation.

When I graduated high school in 1970, my parents gave me an opal and diamond ring. I still have the ring, but I "misplaced"' it for about ten years. I was broken-hearted it was lost and actually afraid to tell my Mother. Happily, it was "found" before she died and I was able to tell her I still had it. Of course, it's in a safe place now.

No, no gifts from my parents. They weren't big on giving gifts for any occasion and they probably had no idea that anyone gave their kid a gift for graduating. One gift I did receive from a friend of my mother's, was a clutch type wallet. Since that time in 1965, I have never carried a purse.....just that style of wallet. When people ask me....I tell them my truck (or car) is my purse....and I keep everything I would need in there.

My family was so poor, my grandparents and mom went in on a watch. Not even a gold one, just a watch! Someone else gave me monogrammed notes and I still have one or two left. I think a lot of people just gave money, and I treated myself to my first shopping spree ever (it was a few hundred total). And, last, but not least, the typical engraved pens with my name on them.

I received a light blue suitcase and carry-on, which my daughter is using today. :)

Neither of my parents (divorced) gave me anything for graduation. I was the fourth of their kids to graduate, and I'm sure the older three had not gotten a gift either. It was just not in their financial abilities. There were no gifts from relatives. I had not even realized that gifts were ever given for graduation. So it surprised the heck out of me when a neighbor, my mother's friend, gave me a graduation gift, a dress shirt! I still remember that very shirt. I didn't have many clothes, so that was a great gift.

my mother found a "re-made" (they took apart a diamond pin) and reset diamond in a heart...very tiny but very pretty..it was from (so cal) bullocks...

What Gift Did You Get for Graduation?

Freedom!