Graduation Gift Ideas for a Grandchild

You were there for the first steps, the first day of school and a hundred school plays. Now your grandchild is graduating, and you want to give something that carries a bit of you into their next chapter. The best graduation gift from a grandparent is one only you could give: your stories, your history, a piece of the family. Our top pick is a song made from your memories of them, because it holds the things you have seen that nobody else has.

Hear a song made for a graduate

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your grandchild's name and your stories.

12 graduation gift ideas for a grandchild

1. A song from grandma or grandpa ($39.90). Share the summers at your house, the name they called you when they were small and what you saw in them early, and Songbond turns it into an original song. Nothing to wrap or ship, so it works even if you live far away.
2. A letter about your own graduation. Where you stood, what you wore, what the world looked like, and what you wish someone had told you that day.
3. A family heirloom, passed down now. Your father's watch, a ring, cufflinks or a pocketknife. Giving it while you can tell its story makes it worth far more than waiting.
4. Cash with the story of your first paycheck. Tuck the money into a card with a few lines about your first job and what you did with that first pay.
5. Your graduation photo next to theirs. Two photos in one frame, decades apart. They will see their own face in yours. Usually $30 to $70.
6. A handwritten family tree. Names, dates and a line about each person. It tells them where they come from as they decide where to go.
7. Their first good suitcase. For college, first jobs and every trip after. Usually $100 to $250.
8. A trip to the town you grew up in. Show them your old school, the street you lived on and the diner that is somehow still open.
9. A journal with the first page written by you. A leather-bound one, with your advice and your hope for them on page one. Usually $30 to $60.
10. Stamped envelopes addressed to you. A small stack, so writing to you is always easy. It is a gentle way of saying you want to stay close. Usually $15 to $30.
11. An engraved key ring. For their first car or first apartment key, with a short line from you. Usually $20 to $50.
12. Lunch at the place you always took them. The pancake house or the ice cream stand from when they were seven. Just the two of you, and your treat.

How to choose as a grandparent

Start with what you can give that their parents cannot: your memories from before they were born, and the family's history. Then think about how close you live and how often you see them.

• If you live far away: the song, the stamped envelopes or the letter.
• If they are the first in the family to graduate: the heirloom, the family tree or the side-by-side photos.
• If you would rather give money: cash with your first-paycheck story, or the suitcase.

What grandparents put in a graduation song

From the stories grandparents send us, the details that make a song land are small and specific. Words like loving and kind describe almost every grandchild and make a weak song. What makes a song theirs is the nickname only you use, the way they always stole the last cookie at your house, or the fact that they still call you on Sundays. Write down three of those before you order, and your grandchild will hear you in every line.

Make a graduation song for your grandchild

Create a graduation song for your grandchild. Tell us about them, and the song is ready within 24 hours. If the ceremony is tomorrow, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs for a first-generation graduate and graduation songs for the big day.