What's Your Go-To Graduation Gift?

"It's that tome of year, when the world falls in love. . ."" oh no, wrong song, not that holiday. But it is that time of year -- graduation season. Who knew graduates would get a whole season? Eons ago, when I graduated high school, we got a day and a night. Then it was off to our summer jobs the following day. Now, according to Yahoo!, MSN, Fox News, etc, graduation is a season. In some ways, that's a good thing. In theory, a season gives me more time to figure out my response to the announcements that come in the mail. 

I'm really honored when a friend from years past counts me among those that they want to share this news about their child's major milestone. I do enjoy seeing the photos, and I want to offer my congratulations for their hard work and achievements. Deciding on how best to respond takes me a while, though. And I'm not the only one who is thinking through how to respond -- whether or not to send a gift, and if so, what seems to be the going amount to spend? A friend emailed over the weekend with just such a quandary. So I told her that I'd put the question to you, friends.

When you receive a graduation announcement, how do you respond?

• if you haven't seen the graduate in many years, nor kept an active friendship with the parents vs if the graduate is the child of a close, current friend
• or if the graduate is an extended family member (niece, nephew, grandchild)
• if the graduation is high school vs. university

What do you prefer to give a graduate?

• what's your budget for the above different scenarios?
• do you like to give cash? (How much is too much, how little is too little?)
• or small package by mail?
• or hand delivered gift?
• just a card?
• do you give handmade gifts?
• is there a difference if you're invited to the graduation, or to a party, or just received an announcement?

Some ideas that I've used in the past or that have been given to my own kids:

• cash in the amount that corresponds to the current graduation year -- some friends of ours gave one daughter $20.19 in cash, because this daughter graduated in 2019.
• if the graduate will be going on to university in the fall, I've given gift cards to restaurants or stores in their future university town, along with a small map showing the proximity of the restaurant or store to their campus.
• I've also given merchandise purchased from the future university book store, such as socks and ball caps, with the uni's logo.
• One university had electronic dollars that could be purchased by parents or friends for the students to use on campus and at some local eateries. This made a handy high school graduation gift for my nephew. Once on campus, he had some spending money to do things with roomies and new friends.
• For an inexpensive gift, I've given M & M's in school colors.
• For a graduate who won't be going on to further education but instead will be entering the work world, I've given practical gifts. 

Now, over to you, friends -- do you have a go-to graduation gift idea?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Memorial Week

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, chopped vegetable and fruit salad (carrots, radish greens, apple, raisins, peanuts in a sweet and creamy dressing, brownies from the freezer

Around Wednesday of every week, I start looking forward to pizza Friday. It's my favorite meal of the week. And I think homemade pizza is the best pizza. 

Saturday
refried beans, cheese, and homemade salsa, homemade tortillas, carrot sticks

The beans were cooked from dried. I cook a large pot full of pinto beans every few weeks, then store them in quart containers in the freezer until needed. Homemade refried beans are super easy to make once the beans are cooked. At their simplest -- cooked beans in a pot, some water, chili powder, salt, and garlic powder, then mashed with a potato masher until smooth.

Sorry no photo of Sunday's dinner. It was rehydrated TVP in a tomato paste marinara over cooked spaghetti noodles, plus steamed carrots.

Sunday
TVP spaghetti, steamed carrots

Monday (Memorial Day)
grilled burgers on homemade buns with garden lettuce, lentil-barley salad with (food save) past-its-prime celery that I rejuvenated in chilled water overnight, chive blossoms, herbs, and radish greens, and vanilla-rhubarb sauce (I add a bit of vanilla flavoring to rhubarb sauce at the very end of cooking. It seems to offset the acidity of the rhubarb.)

I baked a large batch of hamburger buns the day before, dividing into packages of 6 (when son and daughter-in-law are here) or 4 buns (just daughters, husband and I) each. Hamburger and hotdog buns are easy to make and oh-so-good. I wrapped them while still warm and they stayed super moist until the next day's dinner.  I make lentil-barley salad a few times in summer. It's a nice, cool way to serve beans and grains on a hot day. The dressing is some variation of a vinaigrette, sometimes with mustard added, or sometimes even a creamy vinaigrette (with mayo). Any fresh herbs from the garden add some zip. In this salad, I added chive blossoms, garden parsley, and thyme.

Tuesday
open-faced hot chicken sandwiches (chicken in gravy from freezer over freshly baked bread), frozen corn that had previously been canned, green bean casserole 

Comfort food for a week of weariness. It's a tough time for my family right now.

Wednesday
cranberry-chicken salad (using 99 cent/lb chicken thighs) on a bed of nasturtium leaves, lettuce, chive blossoms, parsley, lentil sprouts, with crackers and carrot sticks

The chicken thighs were roasted, then meat picked off the bones. We saved the chicken fat for cooking later and tossed the bones and skin into the crockpot to make stock. The next day, I was able to pick about 2 tablespoons of additional meat from the bones, with which I made myself a nice little chicken salad for my lunch.

Thursday
refried bean, TVP and cheese burritos (food save --I had to rehydrate the tortillas with damp paper towels in between each tortilla in a stack in a bag, then microwave for about 15 seconds), apple wedges, honey-mustard carrots

We had these 4 flour tortillas lingering in the fridge for weeks. Fortunately, none of them got moldy. As said, I rejuvenated them with moisture and heat. They turned out great and made terrific burritos. And bonus -- one less thing in the fridge that could spoil or mold in future days/weeks. The hone-mustard sauce for carrots, is just that, a bit of honey and a bit of mustard. one mustard bottle was about empty, so I rinsed it with water and used that in the sauce. I also add a knob of butter and sprinkle of salt. Yum! My favorite way to eat cooked carrots.

I am making the most of what I can get from the garden right now. This week, I was able to use radish greens, lettuce, chive blossoms, parsley, thyme, rhubarb, and nasturtium leaves.

I made my last batch of waffles over the weekend. While the waffle iron was cooking, it began sparking in the back, then blew the fuse. I unplugged it from the outlet, then noticed the cord was barely hanging onto the waffle iron. The sparking left a scorched pot on the counter. (I was able to clean that off.) I've had that waffle iron for 30 years. It provided a lot of good service. My husband said it could possibly be repaired. So I won't throw it out just yet. This isn't the kind of repair my husband could do. But if I find someone who does this sort of thing, I'll see about getting it repaired. In the meantime, it's pancakes for us.

I hope you all had a great week and area looking forward to a lovely weekend. What was on your menu this past week? Any food saves recently?