Personalized Graduation Gifts: 40 Creative Ideas

Graduation is a major accomplishment and an important milestone, and you’ll want to make sure your graduate feels special. College and high school graduation gifts can often feel generic. A custom graduation gift can be more meaningful and may also become a keepsake for your young adult.

Here is a list of the best, personalized graduation gifts that work for both high school and college graduates.

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Custom graduation gifts

1. The Company Store Towels

The Company Store towel set has six pieces including two of each: bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths. Choose from 30 colors of towels, and dozens of thread colors, and pick either names or initials to add a personalized touch. Monogrammed towels in a pretty color make a wonderful graduation gift as they are less likely to get lost in the laundry room.

2. Leatherology Jewelry Case

This petite zippered jewelry box is perfect for travel or to use for a few valuables that your young adult would like to store in a drawer, out of sight.

3. Pottery Barn Teen Bath Robe

This plush sherpa robe is super absorbent, comes in five pretty colors, and is available in a variety of sizes. Machine-washable.

4. Uncommon Goods Map Coasters

These cool map coasters are customizable so you can add your student’s university town or home town. This set of four is perfect for anyone moving into a new apartment or house.

5. Little Words Project Bracelets

When you have something special to say, wear it on your wrist. These custom designs feature a word (or name or number) that’s unique to you (or the lucky recipient). Just choose a crystal or stone bead style and craft a message of up to 13 characters.

6. Leatherology Wallet

This high-quality, leather wallet lets you add a monogram on the outside. It has 8 credit card slots, a single bill compartment, and is very slim. A new wallet is one of our favorite college graduation gifts.

7. Kendra Scott Necklace

Kendra Scott offers tons of engravable necklaces that you can add your student’s grad year or college/high school letters to. Jewelry from Kendra Scott is simple, classy, and stylish. Many pieces offer a choice between sterling silver, vermeil gold, or rose gold vermeil.

8. Pottery Barn Teen Plush Blanket

A cozy blanket to wrap up in will be something your grad would love to have in their dorm room. This is available in five colors with nine thread options.

9. LL Bean Blanket

LL Bean also has luxurious, soft fleece blankets available in six colors.

10. Minted Photo Puzzle

A photo puzzle is a meaningful gift that would be a fun activity for your graduate to complete. Some ideas are a pic of your family, your graduate, their friends, or a pet.

11. Shortbread Cookies with Message

Put a custom message on these delicious, vanilla shortbread cookies. This is something that your graduate will enjoy eating. It comes with 24 cookies so your teen can share them with friends and family.

12. Leatherology Passport Holder and Luggage Tag Set

If your grad is eager to travel the world, this customized passport holder and luggage tag set is an awesome gift for them. Choose from ten colors and consider picking a bright color since unique luggage tags can help identify a bag coming down a conveyor belt at baggage claim.

13. YETI Tumbler or Water Bottle

YETI is a wildly popular brand for tumblers, travel mugs, and water bottles. Get your graduate one, personalized with their grad year, college, or name on it. YETI offers many different sizes, colors, and styles.

14. Pura Vida Engravable Jewelry

Looking for a new way to make your favorite Pura Vida piece even more special? Customize a ring, bracelet, charm, or necklace with initials, an important date, constellations, or cute symbols. Your message, your way.

15. Tervis Tumbler

Tervis also makes unbreakable tumblers and water bottles that can be customized with photos or names/initials and college logos.

16. Project Repat T-Shirt Quilt

Does your graduate have WAY too many T-shirts? Project Repat will turn your teen’s old T-shirts into a beautiful quilt. Some ideas are to use sports, school, volunteer, or work shirts. The process is very easy and will make a very thoughtful gift. Your teen can use the quilt as a throw blanket or hang it on the wall for unique dorm room decor.

17. Leatherology Keychain and Card Case Set

You can have your grad’s initials embossed on this leather keychain and matching card case set. Available in five popular colors.

18. Journal

This personalized leather journal lets you add an engraving to the outside of it and it also comes with a pen that can be engraved with your grad’s name.

19. Graduation Teddy Bear

These adorable teddy bears can be personalized with your student’s school. This is so cute for anyone who loves stuffed animals.

20. Kendra Scott Bracelet

Customized jewelry is always so trendy. Kendra Scott has several different styles of bracelets to choose from and many are available in either sterling silver, rose gold vermeil, or rose gold vermeil.

21. Mixbook Photo Book

Create a photo book of all of your graduate’s favorite memories from either high school or college. You can add photos of their friends, activities, and more. They will be so happy to have all of their awesome memories saved in a book to look back on.

Mixbook is the #1 rated photo book service.

22. Mug

Your grad can start their morning cup of coffee or tea with this initial coffee mug which is safe to put in the dishwasher and use in a microwave.

23. Plaque

This custom plaque lets you add a photo and text to it. It makes great decor for your graduate’s bedroom or living room and is more meaningful than a simple picture frame.

24. Minted Photo Pillow

Create a custom photo pillow with your graduate’s friends, pets, or family. This will make a fun throw pillow for their bed.

25. TilePix Photo Tiles

Photo tiles will make awesome decor for their dorm room, apartment, or house. These stick to the wall with no nails and are easily removed without causing damage to the wall.

26. Ornament

A graduation ornament is a perfect way to honor your graduate. This one includes their name, year, and school.

27. Keepsake Box

A custom graduation keepsake box gives your graduate a single place where they can keep everything important to them from college or high school such as printed photos, essays, their tassel, movie tickets, concert tickets, sports game tickets, or anything else they want to remember from this time in their life.

This is something they can use to look back on when they are much older with their future partner or kids, and remember all of their happy times from either high school or college.

28. Uncommon Goods Map Glasses

Remind your recent graduate of home or of their college town with this cool map glass set — something that they can use regularly in their kitchen but is also personalized and fun.

29. Uncommon Goods Word Search Throw Blanket

This is a very unique gift idea. You can include up to 15 meaningful words like your student’s university, their name, favorite sport, favorite restaurant, favorite activity, and more. Cotton, machine washable.

30. Dormify Pillows

Dormify makes a range of customizable pillows with room for either names or initials.

31. Pottery Barn Teen Pillows

Pottery Barn Teen also makes a cute pillow in blue or green stripes.

32. Carry-On Luggage

If your graduate loves traveling this is the perfect gift for them. Monogrammed luggage makes it so that your teen will never get their bag confused with someone else’s in a busy airport where many suitcases look the same.

This monogrammed suitcase is lightweight and features a TSA-approved personal lock, oversized wheels that can spin 360 degrees, and optional expandable zippers.

33. Kendra Scott Signet Ring

Kendra Scott offers beautiful engraved rings available in turquoise, gold, or rose gold.

34. Leatherology Accessories Pouch

A zippered pouch is ideal for keeping electronics stored in one place. With a water-resistant lining in select colors, it can also be used as a toiletries bag when traveling. Available in 12 colors.

35. Shutterfly Desk Caddy

Help your new grad keep their desk organized with this practical gift, a custom desk caddy, which lets you add three pictures to it.

36. Shutterfly Notepad

A notepad is always useful for list making such as to-do lists, packing lists, or just writing down their thoughts. This one allows you to add five special photos and a name or year in the bottom right corner.

37. Cutting Board

Add your graduate’s name, school, or grad year to a cutting board. This is the perfect gift if they are moving into a new house or apartment after graduation.

38. Cuyana Tote Bag

A tote bag is ideal for the gym, work, groceries, pool days, and beach days. You can add a monogram to it so your graduate will never get their tote bag confused with anyone else’s. You could either do your graduate’s initials or their college letters. Available in six colors.

39. Personalized M&Ms

M&Ms can be personalized by color, words, image and/or clip art to make a celebratory gift and/or to use at a candy bar at a graduation party.

40. Zodiac Ring

These slender zodiac rings have been very popular within the Grown and Flown community and would be a lovely personalized grad gift for your daughter. This Etsy seller has more than 2 million sales.

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