17 Gifts For the Recent Graduate
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17 Gifts For the Recent Graduate

Otherwise known as 17 things they're sure to be grateful for.

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17 Gifts For the Recent Graduate
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1. A laundry bag.

Aka where the first week of school is literally spent with kids staring at the laundry machine, their bottles of detergent and fabric softener in hand. Some of them have quarters. Others have read the signs and know using your school ID is a whole ten cents cheaper. Either way, there’s still the most monumental problem: where does this green goop go? How much am I supposed to pour into the container? Where do I pour the goop? Do I put my darks and lights together? What about my sheets? Wait, am I supposed to get dryer sheets? How many do I throw into the dryer? The questions are endless. This bag tells you how to do it all, and should hold about a week’s worth of laundry. (Tip: get Tide pods. And for the love of everything good, please clean the lint trap after you’re done with the dryer.)

2. A stepstool.

There’s going to be that thirty minutes or so when you think that lofting your bed is the greatest idea in the world. After all, who wouldn’t want to be high up in the air with tons of storage space underneath? But then you think about all of those late nights where you’ll slouch back from the library, when all you’ll want to do is climb into bed and fall asleep with your clothes still on. You won’t be able to climb straight into bed - no siree, it’s going to be climbing Mt. Everest and remembering not to hit your head. (The bed posts are great for hanging stuff on, though.) If you still want your storage space, though, and captain your bed, chances are, if you’re short, there’s still a good amount of jumping to do. Save yourself the physical exertion of jumping into bed every night and get one of these.

3. A water kettle.

It’s not just for the tea fanatics and the Brits - a water kettle can make you ramen on the nights when you’re too lazy to walk to the dining hall, it means a drink is only steps away, and best of all, it makes a hot drink for you so your hands don’t freeze on that long trek across campus. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy - don’t get one that dispenses hot water because you’ll have to lug that entire thing to fill in a sink and chances are it won’t fit under a faucet - just a kettle that pops open, has an on/off switch, and holds enough water that you don’t have to walk to the bathroom fifteen times to make a cup of tea. You can get one in glass or metal - just don’t try boiling milk in it.

4. A first-aid kit.

You may not think you’re going to injure yourself during your time away in college (after all, who does that? Getting injured was something you did in high school.), but injuries do happen more often than you might think. Paper cuts. Shaving cuts. Sprained fingers. Random, spontaneous bleeding that occurs because you’ve been scratching your skin too often in nervousness. Bleeding will occur. What better way to deal with it than with an overabundance of band-aids and Neosporin? The best first-aid kits t first-aid kits include more than just that, though. They can include sterile wipes, gauze, medical tape, ibuprofen, and even an ice pack and gloves if you’re lucky. You never know if you’re going to need them. The best way to top off your kit, though, is a trip to the health services. They’ll get you some good supplements - vitamin C packs, cough drops, and even a portable thermometer, a must-have for any first aid kit. (But do make sure you visit for a legitimate reason.)

5. A whiteboard calendar (with Expo markers!)

Congratulations, you’ve made it to a school that has food that doesn’t manage to make you puke three hours after you eat it! (And if you haven’t...transfer immediately.) Everything’s fine for the first few months of the semester - the weather’s warm, your academic load is manageable, and there’s absolutely no reason to stress-eat. But then, like some sort of magical switch, you need three coats and thick boots just to even step outside of your dorm, your head is swimming with deadlines, and all you want to do is eat spaghetti and meatballs at three in the morning. Alas, not even the best schools have dining halls that are open during the wee hours when you’re craving that stress relief. And that’s where Tupperware comes in. Sure, you can buy cheap Tupperware nearly anywhere, but the grease after your first slice of lasagna may never wash out. Or it may be too small, and you’re garnering looks of suspicion by how often you’re reaching into your bag. Good Tupperware not only quells the suspicions of the strict dining hall staff, but is probably made of glass, therefore making it easy to wash. Just try not to bang it around, yeah?

7. String lights.

First of all, there’s no way anyone can deny the aesthetic string lights can bring. Whether they’re colored or a plain old soft white, string lights can make a night much cozier; not to mention they’re perfect for when you’re still trying to move around your room when your roommate’s out cold. If you’re best friends with your roommate, even better - they’re the classier version of flashlights while your dorm beds are glorified sleeping bags - they’re great to keep on while you two hash out every issue under the moon. Much better than the lights in the room, because for some reason, telling things in the dark is a lot easier than telling them to a room bathed in harsh fluorescent light. Picking the perfect set of string lights is tricky - straight Christmas lights won’t do, they’re too bright - the bulbs have to be small enough that they leave pinpricks of darkness between each bulb. Or, really, whatever screams aesthetic to you.

8. An HDMI cable.

Whether there’s a large flat screen in your lounge or one of your friends has a monitor in their room, an HDMI cable can be the answer to all of your problems when it comes to viewings. The HDMI cable allows you to connect your laptop to whichever screen you’d like to present on without having to either find a projector or fiddle with piles of wires. Even better, it keeps all of your friends from crowding around a single laptop when you just want to watch the newest season of Stranger Things. Even if you’re not the social type, having an HDMI cable is sure to keep you within several people’s good graces. And, as with all wires, the longer the better - a longer cable means a better ability to change the program when you’ve watched too many episodes of The Great British Bake-Off.

9. A 10-foot phone charger.

Not everyone’s going to be blessed with a well-placed outlet. For some, a dorm room outlet can be placed in the most difficult of places: for instance, behind a giant wooden wardrobe that is a pain to move. Even if your outlet’s in a reasonably well-placed place (read: under your bed), it’s still a long way to plug your phone charger in and get your phone resting comfortably on your bed. And if you’re a night owl with your phone, extra slack to toss and turn is vital - no one wants to turn over and suddenly lose their phone charger. Outlet-challenged or not, an extra-long phone charger does wonders not only for the dorm room, but for when you reasonably well placed place (read: under your bed), it’s still a long way to plug your phone charger in and get your phone resting comfortably on your bed. And if you’re a night owl with your phone, extra slack to toss and turn is vital - no one wants to turn over and suddenly lose their phone charger. Outlet-challenged or not, an extra-long phone charger does wonders not only for the dorm room, but for when you just can't get quite close enough to that outlet at the library.

10. An extra large mug.

For the first couple weeks of college, all of your meals are going to be in the dining hall. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Swipe in, eat up, swipe out. But what happens when you start a paper during the wee hours of the morning and you feel like you’re going to pass out? Or when the world takes a downturn, and the only solution is to drown it in ice cream? It wouldn’t make any sense to keep getting up to make yourself a new cup of coffee, would it? Or to keep having to get up and scoop more ice cream into your bowl? In the dorm, an extra large mug is your friend for whatever you want to put in it: ice cream, tea, coffee; if you buy your own food but are too lazy to buy a bowl, an extra large mug is also great for having a bowl of cereal in the morning. Plus, then there’s no need to wash a bowl and a mug after you've eaten your food.

11. Coffeeshop gift cards.

You could go to the school with the best dorm food in the country and still get sick of it a few months in. There’s only so long you can have the same rotation of macaroni and cheese, sushi, or various pieces of pizza. The same can be said for coffee - after the novelty of having campus coffee wears off, the cravings for Starbucks can get very real. After all, what kind of school coffeeshop does frappes and shaken iced teas like Starbucks? (Exceptions being if you’ve got a Starbucks on campus. Then there’s nothing left to say.) Going to Starbucks is not only a chance to get some caffeine variety in your life, but it’s also a great chance for a change of scenery when doing your homework - maybe it’ll be easier to concentrate when you’re surrounded by quiet chatter and coffee beans, rather than the dead silence of wherever else you’re studying.

12. A waffle maker.

Everyone needs that one thing that’s a fire hazard. It keeps you on your toes a little, really - keeps you in the practice of hiding everything that might get you kicked out of your dorm. And because something like a waffle maker is least likely to blow up or burn your dorm down (as opposed to, say, candles), it’s the ideal forbidden appliance to keep in your room. It not only makes the aforementioned waffles, but makes great cinnamon rolls, cookies, toast, eggs, and grilled cheese. They’re especially good at making grilled cheese. But do make sure you get yourself some nonstick spray - using butter or oil sounds like a great idea in hindsight, but when you’re staring down crusty, burnt bits of bread during a cleaning session, you’re going to wish you’d picked up something a little less messy. Food hack: Most ingredients can be snuck from your dining hall, such as bread and cheese. Take advantage of the days there’s chicken parmesan, a chicken parm sandwich is great during the late hours.

13. An inflatable tube.

Go to a school where it snows a lot? Get one of these, because there’s going to be a day where the snow’s going to be too deep for you to trudge to the dining hall. Yup. TIme to sit, dig in and row yourself across the quad. Go to a hilly school? Definitely get one of these, because what better way to spend a snow day than sledding down the hill with your friends? If you can convince your friends to get a tube, you can even race down the hill to your heart’s content. Just don’t be the first person to have to report to the university health services because you were going down the hill too fast and accidentally ran into a tree. Not only are you going to be the stuff of campus legend, but there’s going to be a lot of explaining to do the next time you have to go home. Even if you don’t end up using it that season, the inflatable tube makes for a pretty great chair in a pinch, although it might end up being a little low for your tastes.

14. A printer.

Some schools let you print for free. Some schools let you print for what seems like nothing, but when you’re writing that inevitable last-minute paper and you’ve got an unavoidable early class in the morning in seemingly sub-zero temperatures, and walking to the library is a journey you just don’t want to make? Having a printer in your room will be like having your own personal savior. If you’re someone who has to print multiple papers or has an endless number of things to read and annotate (shoutout to all of the English, communications and history majors out there!), the cost of printing things can quickly become more expensive than buying Starbucks once a day. Cheap printers do exist, and buying one can even offset the price of printing via the library! A bonus? You might make yourself plenty of new friends if you happen to let it slip that you can save them a trip to the library late at night.

15. Envelopes and stamps.

This might seem odd and old, especially in the age of social media, but having letters on your wall can create a nice, symmetrical aesthetic that’s nice to look at. They can be physical reminders of friends that you might not see all the time anymore. They can be long letters updating you on their lives (perhaps with details you didn’t catch on social media!), or just notes telling you good luck on your finals and they’ll see you when they’ll get back home! Find a pen pal - write to your friends in college. It’s almost like you have a piece of familiarity with you if they write back, a small reminder of where you came from. You’ll get to look over them when you’re old and gray, long past when the text messages have been lost to the digital world. They’ll seem trivial now, but one day, they’ll be stories you can tell to the people surrounding you. And, in a bonus lesson, sending letters teaches you about the postal system! One of the many lessons about adulting that are crucial to the adult life.

16. A Bluetooth speaker.

Noise complaint? What’s a noise complaint? The music’s too loud...? Oh. Right. Regardless, it’s just about common practice to blast music in the room whenever there’s a menial chore to be done, whether it’s writing up a lab report, doing laundry, or having a dance party to get out all of your aggressions. (It’s much better than screaming. And you have less of a chance of having the Residential Life called on you.) Having a speaker with an actual AUX cord is way past its heyday - who wants to tether their phone to a speaker while they’re trying to get things done? What if there’s a text? A Snapchat? No, it’s probably better to have a speaker that’ll keep itself detached from your phone. They’re lighter, louder, and much more portable, meaning you can play your music anywhere - even your rap playlist in the boys’ bathroom at 10 in the morning so loudly people can hear it from both ends of the hallway.

17. A book on how to adult.

College is a mishmash of experiences, all of which range from situations you’re so comfortable in they’re almost ingrained into your muscle memory (trudging to class, anyone?) to situations that are so new every move you make feels like you’re trying to defuse an atomic bomb. It’s a time filled with trial and error, where if your trial goes right, you sigh in relief; if there’s error, throw your shoulders back and try again. Still, there are certain situations that you really don’t want to mess up, like filing your taxes for the first time or sending a package somewhere. Can’t find the answer on Google and don’t want to ask someone for the answer? Consult a book on adulting. (Yes, society has come so far that adulting is a verb.) Much easier than trial and error, but nothing bad ever came from just a little bit of it - don’t rely on the book all the time!

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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