It's always jewellry for me. And I still wear it all, from eighth grade graduation pearls, to a special watch for law school graduation. Plus there was a poodle for college graduation, that was an outlier ;-)

I have only boys, finding great, long lasting gifts to mark important occasions is impossible, even watches are off the table.

No, I can't even remember what I would have gotten. We weren't much on traditional presents. So I probably got money, always useful. Growing up, my grandparents gave the best presents (books exactly right for my age and interests; I have them all still and they will be the last possessions I let go of), but they were too frail to shop much when I graduated.

My DH loved a manicure(?) set that his aunt & uncle gave him. Gold colored nail clipper, file, I don't know what else. He accidentally left it in the hotel on one of his first business trips and never found another set like it.

I don't recall ever receiving a graduation present.

I do have achievement awards (pen set and a mantle clock) that I received at 2 different jobs, though, and they are in use.

No. I hold no special sentiment for any possessions, whether a gift or not,

Upscale pens can be nice, I used to buy myself good ones from time to time and enjoyed using them. But my inattention to keeping track of "things" and the occasional visits of sticky fingers in the office led me to stop that practice and turn instead to to disposable BIC and Pentel pens. They don't offer the same writing experience but their disappearances also doesn't cost enough to be concerned about.

I got a variety of Thank You mementoes for various activities along the way and some retirement gifts, I can't say I know where any are if indeed they were kept. They're all just things.

I didn't get one.

I still wear an opal and diamond ring I got for graduation from high school and think of my aunt, who gave it to me, fondly every time I wear it.

I still use a HS graduation gift from a dear neighbor, a travel-size, leather-covered sewing kit that I took to college. I have a couple of gold-filled pen/pencil sets, which might have been mine...or I've appropriated them from DH. He has an expensive and worthless Atmos clock, a retirement gift from his employer. (These will run for two years before they have to be recalibrated at a cost of $350 -- IF you can manage to package them up and mail them in.)

I only remember two. From high school I recieved a gold Cross pen which I used for a long time but lost. From college, my parents bought me a bed, as I had plans to move out. It is long gone.

Actually, my high school graduation gift came early. I had an opportunity to travel to Europe with a group of students, my parents called that my gift.

No, most anything I was given now long gone. A sewing machine that was not a model I'd ever enjoyed, several years later gave it to a sister in law. Lingerie, perfume. I do have the pearl ring my boyfriend at the time gave me, seldom wear it although pretty. One personalized lidded ceramic box from an elderly lady up the street that I have but am not displaying right now. She'd made it for my high school graduation, had her own kiln.

We have a few mementos for achievements over the years but DHs. A carved wooden box engraved with his name - holds cuff links etc on his dresser. A pretty wood clock thats on his desk still - I'd needed to replace the working clock parts a few years ago.

I do have a few things from long ago that are meaningful - but were not gifts.

I have the brass bell from the boat my dad was restoring into a family live-aboard when he became ill. In a closet. I come across it occasionally and think I should mount it someplace but can't decide where. Garden shed doesn't seem appropriate. Outside door to patio or our front entrance don't seem right either. It's pretty loud too, and I don't particularly want people ringing it at dinner parties and BBQs;0)

My graduation gifts were experiences. The best was for my high school graduation: dinner with my parents (divorced, but they got along in my presence) at a wonderful French restaurant, and then tickets to the original production of A Chorus Line. It's hard to overstate how groundbreaking that show was at the time (1975), and how much I enjoyed it. I've had a lot of wonderful moments at the theater since then, but that was the best, and remains indelible.

Like morz8, most of what I received for grad gifts are long gone. A 5 speed bike for high school graduation (that was traded a number of years later for a couch for my first apartment). Nothing for my first college graduation as I never went through the ceremony nor officially applied for graduation (long story). For my second college graduation in midlife, my spouse at the time gave me a pocket camera I still have but no longer use as my phone does a better job. And a variety of other small gifts from friends, some of which I still have. My parents were long gone by that time.

Oh gosh BFenton, I'm sorry you lost your house.

I was given mainly cash gifts so it is gone. I have found I like what I like and a lot of other stuff is clutter. I prefer pictures and stories and am good with that.

My parents gave me a set of dishes and flatware for college graduation. the last of the china broke several years ago, but the flatware has been in use now for over 40 years! Missing one knife, not a bad track record.

blfenton, I knew over time you'd had the loss to fire, but you must have taken it quietly (or too shocked to share) when it happened. I've never heard quite what happened. Finding the tray must have been a moving experience after all these months - I'm wearing a big smile for you now.

Those are beautiful pens Rob! Nice memories.

Not a one. I had a paper route that paid for pretty much anything in high school....my 1st car. There really wasn't anything people could "buy" me. By the time I'd worked my way though college, I was married and we owned a house @ 24yo. .

Nope. My boyfriend( now husband) gave me a Parker pen and pencil set. My parents gave me a Bulova watch which I might still have but haven't even thought of let alone worn in decades. Tiny watch face has been replaced many times over, the last years with an Apple watch.

I am another person who didn't receive any graduation gifts.

Yes, I just cashed in all my high school graduation bonds. It was a little financial boon for me. They've been collecting dust in the safe deposit box. I also still have a dictionary given to me for high school graduation.

I don't think I received much for graduating. Some luggage and a pair of pajamas.

I got luggage. Two pieces. I took it to be sorta like good-bye!

I received cash for HS graduation. One unusual and precious gift is a cross which my (Later) husband gave me. It is made from the windshield of a downed German plane. He made it while awaiting transportation home after four dangerous years overseas.

Senior Gal

I still have a bottle of Jade East cologne (in the shape of a Buddha) that I never used, as I cannot stand the smell of it, but I did like the bottle.

I think it might be collectible - my bottle is green instead of orange - but I have no idea of what it might be worth. I don't want it anymore.

I have an Austrian manicure set that I still use, but somehow it is no longer complete.

I don’t think my parents got the memo that they were supposed to give a gift. They were generous at other times in my life where it counted more than the standard gift days.

I honestly don't remember what I got as graduation presents, but I do have a couple of special pens that I like. I'm wondering if I can still buy refills for them. They're not Mont Blanc or Cross, I just like them.

I gave Tom a Mont Blanc pen for his birthday one year, and I tried using it. It's too slippery, I like having some rubber for my fingers to grasp, so I sold it.

Whoops, I forgot boyfriend did give me the collegiate dictionary too which I did use a lot before computers, Plus others gave me money.

I had forgotten that I also got a gold watch for graduation. It was beautiful and graceful, but the face was so small and hard to read I never wore it. It is sitting in a box somewhere in the safe.

I got a strand of beautiful cultured pearls for my high school graduation in 1970 from my uncle who was living in Japan at the time. They were stolen when we had a house burglary about 16 years later. I was heartbroken. My DH surprised me with a new strand of pearls when he took me out for dinner on my 40th birthday. Made me cry. The last time I wore them was at my FIL's funeral 6 years ago.

I got a giant catholic family Bible for graduation. I do not still have it and have no clue where it is. I surely would have remembered throwing away something that big and heavy. I don't miss it as I never used it. Graduation in my family was not seen as an accomplishment. It was simply not an option. You graduate. Its what you are supposed to do and you don't get rewarded for doing what you are supposed to do anyway. The Bible i assume was meant to remind me of the perils of temptation in adult life. 🙄

I may have received a watch from my god-parents for high school graduation -- the watch was for some special occasion. Nothing from anyone for my university degree. I take that back; my then-husband gave me a Picasso lithograph -- from a large edition of maybe 500 or more. I still have my Picasso of a Christ-like shepherd holding a faintly cubist creature in his arms. Many years later, at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, I saw the original.

Yes, my parents gave me a lovely silver watch with some diamonds. The back is engraved with my name and the date of my graduation. I had it repaired a few years ago and got a new band. My wrists are chubbier than when I was 18! I also have a pen set that was a college graduation gift from my sister. I keep it in my desk drawer.

My parents gave me a portable typewriter which is strange since I was a terrible typist. They had no plans for me to go to college so that wasnt the reason. My mother thought I was no where near smart enough. Oh. I eventually passed it on to a sister who could type. Who knows where it is now. I remember a nice initial brooch. It is somewhere here as it survived my house fire. I have such sympathy for those who have this happen. It makes you feel bereft. I have said before how sorry I am to Bl but I think about it every time you post. No one needs that in their lives.

My college graduation gift was T boned by another car and totaled 18 months later. Loved that Chevy Chevette.

I have a ring I bought with graduation gift money and a monogramed silver cuff bracelet from H.S. graduation.

From 8th grade graduation I still have a groovy pencil can and a matching cloth flower that fits over a pencil.

The only gift I can recall was college--it was a TV I want to say it was B/W but maybe it was to replace my B/W?? but no it no longer is a part of this world. LOL

Boy, it's really the gamut! I'm sorry if you didn't get a gift. Maybe it wasn't as big a tradition for your area? Friends and family couldn't afford it? I can't even imagine. We were poor. We didn't have a graduation party as is typical in other places. My watch? It took all my mom had to offer and her parents to pay for it. It wasn't spectacular, just something I'd been admiring for years at our local shop. Mom knew it and offered. Did that one other time too, and this time it was far more expensive, gold and diamond heart pendant on a gold chain. Still have it too. Mom had one when I was younger and I adored it. Greatly. She knew it. Only two pieces of "real" jewelry she gave me.

We both have hundreds of pieces of jewelry (maybe thousands if you added our collections together). We had lots of fun shopping for them and wearing them; I miss doing that with her. Now, I just say, it was my mom's, when someone compliments a piece. All of it is costume.

blfenton, I cried. I'm happy you found any link to your past. We do call them treasures (regardless of price tag) for a reason.

jasdip, I buy ink refills at our local office place, Office Depot. Including my very old pens. You could try there.

Thank you all for sharing!!!

You got graduation gifts?

???? Toronto Vet??? I started the thread, so I must've? Or do you mean YOU got graduation gifts? ;)

I may have missed the specific sense of the question. My HS and college graduation gifts from parents were cars, like rho said above had been her gift. For me, the HS gift was half the purchase price. I'd worked and had enough for half. I'd bought the car a year earlier and the gift was forgiveness of the loan they'd made to me for the second half on a cash purchase. From college, the gift was cash to cover the difference between the trade in value of #1 and the price of another new car. Much appreciated but of course long gone.

Yes! My answer will be long because both are very special in my heart.

My parents gave me a Kenmore sewing machine for my college graduation. My mother had taught me to sew so we all well knew the sentimentally behind the gift. It has generated lots of joy through making clothes, craft items, and quilts. In 2019 it began having problems and I purchased a dual purpose machine. But just recently I have decided to have it repaired/tuned because it’s always been a great machine and I can jump on it to do basic sewing and piecing if the newer machine is set up for embroidery.

The other gift is this Royal Doulton figurine my sister gave me for my high school graduation. We would go to the mall together and I would stand and just stare at these ladies in the display window. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I opened it. They were expensive! She offered to buy me another - that I could choose myself! - for my college graduation. I never did. Partly because they were even more expensive. But probably mostly because of the enormity of the decision for which one. To this day it is

always centered and featured in my hutch.

After rereading my words I’ve realized that the greater value of these gifts is the meaning and love they symbolize. My parents were wonderful people and there is no better big sister than mine. Today is my father’s birthday, he passed away two years ago ( my mother five years). My sister is driving 7 hours south to visit. While I’ve been able to go to her state during the pandemic she has not been here since early 2020. So forgive me being sentimental today.

carabubble - no apologies needed. Hope you have a wonderful visit with your sister.

"???? Toronto Vet??? I started the thread, so I must've? Or do you mean YOU got graduation gifts? ;)"

It was facetious - as in 'You got gifts? I never got gifts. Was I supposed to get gifts?"

I really was confused! I would've gotten your tone (I love dry humor) had we been in person.

Toronto Vet, maybe it's not a tradition here to get graduation gifts, lol. We typically went out to a restaurant for our celebratory 'gift.' Barbarian's Steak House or a restaurant in Yorkville were special places to celebrate. I guess we were more of a dining family than a gift giving family, for graduations.

Honestly, I always thought graduation gifts were things they did in the movies.

Then high school came and other kids outside of our social group were getting gifts like cars for drivers licences, trips and jewelery for grad, etc.

There are high income families, middle income families, and low income families. Then there are the no income families.

I got a pair of birthstone earrings (aquamarine set in a gold tiffany settin) upon high school graduation, from my parents. Sadly they were stolen in a break-in 20 years ago.

When our daughters graduated, we gve them cash, as neither wears a lot of jewelry and both wanted to travel.

Carabubble, that figurine is wonderful. Just look at her, ready to celebrate her accomplishments, and dance towards the future. She is full of hope. and confididence. What a perfect graduation gift! I’m so glad you shared her picture!