Graduation gifts

[DrPublo]

I graduate from college in a few days, and my parents want to buy me a gift but can't think of anything good. The best idea they've come up with so far is a NICE watch ($1500 range), which is really a nice gesture but I just bought myself a perfectly adequate $200 Citizen like a year and a half ago. I feel like I would never have occassion to wear a really fancy watch.

So, two part question here:

1. Does anyone actually own a fancy watch that they wear only a few times a year?

2. Do you have a good idea for a graduation gift? (Stay away from computers/electronics because I'd rather buy that stuff for myself)

[diddle]

yes. it's a casio G-shock

[fluxrad]

any more than a couple hundred on a watch is just overkill (though I would love to own a Sinn).

also, what do you like to do? you could have your parents spend money on one of your hobbies (new mtn. bike, etc)

[jakethebake]

Ask for a gun.

[Los Feliz Slim]

In my family, the high school graduation gift of tradition is a nice watch and some luggage - "time to go", get it?

Anyway, my watch was a nice Tissot (this was in 1991). Since then my father-in-law gave me a Rolex. I never wear either, except the Rolex when I play poker live. But, even though I never wear it, my high school graduation watch is a memento that I value, and I'm glad to have it.

[wh1t3bread]

Take that $1500 and use it towards taking a trip with friends somewhere. This will be much more useful than a watch which you will be afraid to wear.

[wh1t3bread]

P.S. Make sure you take this trip before you start working and make it a goal to get into as MUCH trouble as possible.

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Does anyone actually own a fancy watch that they wear only a few times a year?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, a movado. its nice but seems like a waste (hs graduation present from my grandparents). i wear it for formals/etc, and occasionally when i play live.

[ QUOTE ]
2. Do you have a good idea for a graduation gift? (Stay away from computers/electronics because I'd rather buy that stuff for myself)

[/ QUOTE ]

a really nice pair of speakers (i have dynaudio audience 52's (http://www.dynaudiousa.com/products/audience/52/aud52.htm) )

[durron597]

Down payment on a car.

[SippinSoma]

A hooker is a great graduation gift.

[beta1607]

Get a couple of nice suits and tie for job interviews.

[scrub]

[ QUOTE ]
I graduate from college in a few days, and my parents want to buy me a gift but can't think of anything good. The best idea they've come up with so far is a NICE watch ($1500 range), which is really a nice gesture but I just bought myself a perfectly adequate $200 Citizen like a year and a half ago. I feel like I would never have occassion to wear a really fancy watch.

So, two part question here:

1. Does anyone actually own a fancy watch that they wear only a few times a year?

2. Do you have a good idea for a graduation gift? (Stay away from computers/electronics because I'd rather buy that stuff for myself)

[/ QUOTE ]

You have a car.

You have a watch you're comfortable wearing in any situation you're going to need a watch for over the next 5 years.

You don't want them to buy you electronic gadgets.

You're moving to a new city and are going to have your own apartment for the first time.

I'd want them to spring for a really nice bed.

Barring that, I'd want an index fund. (http://flagship5.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsSnapshot?FundId=0085&FundIntExt=INT)

scrub

[LittleOldLady]

As some people have noted, a traditional graduation gift is a trip. I once had a blind date with a guy who told me that he owned his own travel agency--which sounded good until I found out that he specialized in sex tours to Thailand which were commonly purchased by parents as gifts for their graduating sons. This sort of trip I wouldn't recommend on the basis of health risks, if for no other reason....However, a normal trip to some place interesting on another continent is an excellent gift.

Another possibility is a piece of art or artifact which you find appealing and which you could keep for a lifetime and pass on as an heirloom (and which would--one hopes--increase in value). This would serve as an enduring commemoration of a milestone in your life. Depending on your interests, you might choose all kinds of neat stuff that is available at not too outrageous prices--antique swords and other weapons, fossils, a contemporary print or small sculpture, medieval manuscripts, sports memorabilia, items of historical significance, rare coins or stamps, and so forth. When I was in grad school I bought myself a page from a an early printed book. It is a German medical text with a four-color woodcut of a doctor attending a patient--and the text gives the procedure for treating a stroke victim (and I doubt very much whether the treatment prescribed would have been at all effective). I enjoy having it on my wall, and it has appreciated in value nicely. I also have a collection of pages from illuminated medieval manuscripts (which fit my interests as a professor of medieval studies), and I have given similar pages as wedding presents. I have also been buying over the years medieval coins representing the reigns of all the kings who have my son's name (or, I guess, he has their name). It's a nice little collection by now--of course, he has had an interest in coins (all right, he is interested in money....).

[stinkypete]

$1500 happens to be the buy-in amount for several WSOP tournaments.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Since then my father-in-law gave me a Rolex. I never wear either, except the Rolex when I play poker live.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you keep it wound? Or isn't it one of the self-winding ones? A buddy of mine has to wear his Rolex all the time for that reason.

~D

[poker-penguin]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=98629&item=4998978 055&rd=1