Graduation gifts...
I always struggle getting gifts for the graduating seniors who have been active in the teen ministry at church. In the past, I've given Hope College CD's (some people listened to them), Bibles (but most of them have them already!), books (but the chance of them reading the book was always slim), and gas cards (this was the most practical thing I've given them).
This year, I am again struggling with what to give the graduating seniors. I think I will give them a gas card, but I also want to give them something meaningful and something that will help them grow spiritually. But, I don't know what that one gift is yet. Anyone have any ideas. (I think Matt S and Jason Kehrer could help me out here. Matt Yount could help me out if he was still in youth ministry.)
7 comments:
I give my graduating seniors Moleskine Cahir journals. I cut their name out from magazine letters- then I write a few quotes that fit their life on the inside. I call it their "quote book".
that is a sweet idea! i love it. i've been need a few ideas also.
Love that idea! Also, a subscription to Relevant...fairly cheap yet really cool!!
Ok, since my opinion was "requested."
I actually had to email our stumin assistant cause I was having trouble remembering what we did in the past. We would have a big graduation service with all the parents, family, friends, etc in place of a Wednesday or Sunday night gig. Usually tried to tie in with that, and to dedicate the kids. That's more memorable than any gift in my book.
But, for gifts, here's a few things that we did in the past:
- Message Bibles (we found some that linked in with tsunami relief as that was a big deal that year); figured while lots of kids (most?) have Bibles, lots don't have the Message and it's a good college companion
- towels with the stumin logo: the graduation theme involved washing feet (parents washed their kids, I think)
- relay batons with a verse printed: something along the lines of "keep running the race"
- different books (Yancy, Piper, etc.)
- the other thing that we did a few times was to have each of the graduating seniors sit and share a few thoughts on video, and then edit it together, show it on their graduation night and then gave them a DVD. that was pretty cool, and memorable, but required a decent amount of work
Yeah, I agree on your sentiments, Dave. Books are nice, but really not the most practical and will most likely get forgotten. Bibles are nice, but in West Michigan, a lot (not all, I know) of kids already have quite a few on their shelves. CDs are nice, especially Hope stuff, but yeah, it's not universal. Gas cards are practical, but not necessarily spiritual. iPod Shuffles are cool, but they'll probably sell it on eBay.
Matt's idea of a Relevant subscription is some good thinking - good content, not a one-off gift, something to sustain them through the next year.
I really like Melissa's idea of Moleskine journals...first off, they're flipping sweet, and second, you can have it filled with thoughts, verses, etc. Maybe even make an event out of it, sort of like in middle school when we all signed each other's yearbooks. Have students pray, fast and prepare thoughts and verses for each other. This would seem to be a good idea especially if the group is pretty close together (maybe a "class" picture in there as well).
Also depends on how many students and what the budget is.
That's my thought for now. I'll keep mulling it around my empty brain.
- J
Yeah! Good stuff Jason! Another one I thought of...blow up a nice photo of each graduate and have it mounted with a wide white matting and have the rest of the youth group/parents/friends/ect. write verses or notes on it...like they do at a wedding?
You guys rock. I'm keeping these ideas for next year.
so the big question is: what did you end up doing for the grads?
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