I second the suggestion for a digital camera; that’s one of my few trinkets that I use all the time. I also suggest you don’t get any appliances until you know what the college’s policy will be on those - at mine, pretty much nothing was allowed.
A couple other suggestions… maybe one of those mini-digital audio recorders. I got one as an HS graduation present and it was an amusing novelty for a while. If you get a nice one, maybe it could even be used for recording classes. Also possibly useful: one of those e-book readers. I got one as a present back then, but I don’t know how common they are anymore or how many “real” books are published for them. I liked it though, and loaded it up with lots of free Project Gutenberg texts. If she doesn’t have a nice printer for her computer, getting her one might be good as a gift… saves the trouble of walking across campus at night to print out the paper due the next morning.
Oh, and if she likes to burn CDs with her computer, how about a big stack of CD-Rs? Those always come in handy.
Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now… happy gift-hunting!
Before you buy appliances, check with the residence life office. Many universities have limits as to size, wattage, which kinds of appliances you can have (my own will allow microwave/fridge combinations, but no external heat source like a crockpot, coffeepot or hotplate. Heat=fire, and I’m guessing they don’t want someone leaving a coffeepot on while they’re in class all day.)
What Airman and I did when his sister graduated HS was get her a gift card to Wal-Mart. That way, she could get stuff she needed once she got to school.
I’m very much in favor of Really Useful gifts - the tool kit would be one, as would a PDA. There’s a couple of really good, simple cookbooks appropriate for dorm living, too - one that comes to mind is called “Where’s Mom When I Need Her?” and it covers not only basic cooking, but also throws in little housekeeping and repair hints and tips. (Based on the number of “I can’t cook” threads I’ve seen hereabouts recently, I think EVERYONE should get a copy of that book.)
I would like to comment on the spoiled brat thing, though - this young lady sounds, from her parent’s posts, as though she’s not really a brat. She sounds like a kid who has been very fortunate in having parents who are willing and able to provide for her needs, and whose parents recognize that they may have made things easy for her. This does not necessarily make a child a brat (PMS notwithstanding). I suspect the term “spoiled brat” in the thread title is a self-deprecating joke.
It sounds as though your daughter doesn’t really need anything.
If you can spare it, how about opening up an IRA for her?
Stick in, oh, 2 thousand (or whatever you can) and for every year she completes in college, put in a certain amount. Never let her touch it and voila, you’ve given her a very nice start to her retirement. Sure, she won’t get anything out of it NOW, but she’ll sure be blessing your name when she’s 55 and takes early retirement.
I’m a veteran of more than a few nice long car trips (400 miles in a stint, and more’n a few of them) and that sort of thing would drive me absolutely batty. Get someone who won’t do that to teach her to drive:)
