Graduation season can be a time of uncertainty for gift-givers. Find tips on what, or how much, to give graduates in today’s Business section,
It’s a rite of passage — each year millions of kids and young adults (and some older ones) will graduate.
With high-school or college diplomas in sight, parents, other relatives and friends must decide on gifts. What to buy and how much to spend? Here are some tips and suggestions.
Are gifts expected?
Providing a graduation gift is a personal decision, with no pat answers. Your gift partly reflects how well you know the student, his or her academic achievements and your own financial situation. In some cases, a gift might not be expected. If you’re going to attend the ceremony or a graduation party, plan on bringing a gift, suggests the Emily Post Institute. But if you receive a graduation announcement only, there’s no such obligation.
Which presents are best?
Gift suggestions are all over the place, including bedding and small coffee/food appliances for dorm rooms, battery chargers for smartphones/tablets and shaving/makeup kits. In a National Retail Federation survey, 12 percent of givers intended to buy clothing/ apparel and 9 percent specified electronic items. But a lot more people planned to give cash (57 percent), gift cards (31 percent) or regular cards (38 percent). Some people give multiple gifts and/or cards.
How much is enough?
You also must decide how much to spend. Again, there’s no set recommendation. In a survey of more than 1,000 people by retailmenot,respondents on average said gifts worth about $111 were appropriate for high-school graduates, $243 for someone earning a bachelor's degree and $256 for the recipient of a graduate degree. Spending expectations were lower in the National Retail Federation survey, which included many more responses, about 6,500.
About $52 per recipient
According to the National Retail Federation survey, the average giver planned to spend $52 per recipient (or $98 total, because givers buy presents for 1.9 graduates on average). Those figures are roughly where they were when the retail group started its annual survey in 2007, though the average ebbed as low as $45 per recipient in 2009, when the economy was in a recession. Men spend a bit more than women — about $55 per recipient vs. $50.
Grandparents lead the way
Teens and young adults often give graduation gifts to their siblings and friends. But to no great surprise, people in the 18-24 age group spend the least amount of any age category surveyed by the National Retail Federation, though it’s still nearly $38 per recipient. Senior citizens spend the most at about $72 per recipient.
Gift protocol
If you’re making the effort to give a graduation gift, here is the general gift protocol. As for timing, plan to present the gift either on the date of graduation or very close to that day, suggests the Emily Post Institute. You either should mail the present or drop it off in person, the group adds.
Reach the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8616.