I refuse to participate!

LakeR2014

Ok this is getting ridiculous....

http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/30/pf/college/college-gift-registries/index.html

bethsmiles

The only people who gave me presents for graduating (from high school, college, & grad school) were my parents and grandparents. I did not need to make a registry for that.

WinstonsGirl

Party pooper.  

VulgarGirl

I'd be happy to buy something off a registry for a college bound kid, especially if I already wanted to buy them a gift. 

I mean, going to college is a big deal. A lot of people want to buy you something when you go to college (I got asked by many people what I'd like when I went to college) so...this doesn't bug me.

Cookie Pusher

Registries for college? I didn't even get a graduation party, let alone gifts! I was on my own to get stuff to furnish my dorm room.

theartistformerlyknownas

IDK, in my area everyone has a giant party to celebrate graduating HS and going on to college. They are always seen as gift-giving events. While I did get mostly money at mine and very few gifts, I don't superhate the idea of making it easier for family/close friends to easily contribute a physical item that they know will be the "right" one (i.e. most colleges have extra long mattresses... mine didn't). And I do like the idea of celebrating/supporting the pursuit of higher education as much as we celebrate/support getting married and having babies.

bethsmiles

Maybe it's (I can't believe I'm saying this) a regional thing? My family doesn't do big graduation parties for graduating high school or going to college, it's just expected that we (me, my sibiling, all my cousins) are going to go to college. So if one of us threw a big party and registered for gifts people would definetly side-eye it.

But it sounds like big celebrations are normal for some groups so it wouldn't seem as out of place.

hellosweetie1015

Dude, no. Graduation is a big deal here. I got presents from a few of my mom's coworkers. One of them gave me towels, which makes perfect sense, but one gave me a first aid kit. I made a face sitting in my mom's bedroom, but if that stupid first aid kit didn't come in handy every day of my freshman year, I'll eat my shoe. After that, every graduation I've had the opportunity to be involved in (mostly my siblings), there have been two towels and a first aid kit.

lyndausvi

I'm not a fan. I barely tolerate wedding and baby showers. College registries rub me wrong. I give graduation gifts (well, cash) to all graduated regardless if they are going to college or not. My family is big on grad parties and cash or gifts are often given, but they are not just for those going to college. Sure college costs a lot, but going out on your own in general costs a lot.

KatieinBkln

Eh. Lots of things are awesome achievements and life milestones, but there's something weird about a college registry, in my opinion. I kind of feel like wedding/baby registries are only appropriate because they were "grandfathered in," as it were--they aren't so great, if you think about them too hard, but we accept them in society because it's nice to start off a young couple with household things or new parents with baby things. Sure, a college-bound grad might need "dorm-y things" and a non-college-bound grad might need household things, but if you're going to give them something anyway, what's wrong with cash? Everyone loves it, everyone knows how to use it. I don't like the idea of creating registries for any big life moment just because. 

mysticl

lyndausvi said:

I'm not a fan. I barely tolerate wedding and baby showers. College registries rub me wrong. I give graduation gifts (well, cash) to all graduated regardless if they are going to college or not. My family is big on grad parties and cash or gifts are often given, but they are not just for those going to college. Sure college costs a lot, but going out on your own in general costs a lot.

I've never considered graduation gifts to have anything to do with if the person is going to college or not.  The gift is to celebrate the accomplishment of graduating. However, if the kid i going to college that might color what the specific gift is.  

jenna8984

We don't have graduation parties in my family/ circle. It's just a normal expectation- brush your teeth, clean your room, graduate high school and go to college.

The part I'm having trouble with is why do you need all these new things? Myself and all my friends packed up our bedroom (bedding included) and brought it with us. There was no need to buy anything new. My father bought me my first computer as a gift because back then families only had one desktop to share, and he knew I'd need one for homework/ paper/ research. But everything else I aready owned.

theartistformerlyknownas

jenna8984 said:

We don't have graduation parties in my family/ circle. It's just a normal expectation- brush your teeth, clean your room, graduate high school and go to college.

The part I'm having trouble with is why do you need all these new things? Myself and all my friends packed up our bedroom (bedding included) and brought it with us. There was no need to buy anything new. My father bought me my first computer as a gift because back then families only had one desktop to share, and he knew I'd need one for homework/ paper/ research. But everything else I aready owned.

My crazy ass mother wouldn't let me take anything from home with me. Because it was hers, not mine. And "you need things to come home to!" Um you have 563865 more towels woman, I don't think you'll miss these two. But whatever. I did have my own computer already.

I would give a gift if I was invited to a graduation party for someone who wasn't going to college... but that hasn't happened yet. 

mysticl

jenna8984 said:

We don't have graduation parties in my family/ circle. It's just a normal expectation- brush your teeth, clean your room, graduate high school and go to college.

The part I'm having trouble with is why do you need all these new things? Myself and all my friends packed up our bedroom (bedding included) and brought it with us. There was no need to buy anything new. My father bought me my first computer as a gift because back then families only had one desktop to share, and he knew I'd need one for homework/ paper/ research. But everything else I aready owned.

In some dorms you need extra long sheets, your ones from home simply will not fit the bed in the dorm. Plus if you take those with you what do you sleep on when you go home to visit?  Or maybe the kid didn't have a twin bed so the family doesn't own any twin sheets for the child to take to school. Some parents don't want to break up sets of towels so the kid needs their own.  I didn't own my own iron until my mom bought me one. I needed a lamp for my dorm room, I didn't have one at home I could take.  

lyndausvi

I feel like this type of registry is a way to guilt people into giving a gift when they would not do so otherwise. I sometimes feel like an ATM. There will be a time were I will have 3 nieces graduating HS and going off to college within a few month of each other. That stuff starts to add up (I feel like I give a decent grad gift already). Not that I don't want to help, but at some point people get tapped out. Since college kids are broke who do you think these registries are really targeted to? Certainly not their peers who are the same situation.

mysticl

lyndausvi said:

I feel like this type of registry is a way to guilt people into giving a gift when they would not do so otherwise. I sometimes feel like an ATM. There will be a time were I will have 3 nieces graduating HS and going off to college within a few month of each other. That stuff starts to add up (I feel like I give a decent grad gift already). Not that I don't want to help, but at some point people get tapped out. Since college kids are broke who do you think these registries are really targeted to? Certainly not their peers who are the same situation.

Of course not. In my world you do not give a gift to a fellow graduate.  In high school the gifts came from family and my parent's friends.  In college it was family and close friends but no one who graduated with me.

But like any other registry it's just a suggestion.  No one has to buy off of it.  

manateehugger

I think my mother would have rather gouged her eyes out than let her daughters create a registry for college. 

loveislouder

I guess I kind of understand the college registry... but my co-worker kicked her kid out when she turned 18 because she was a "bad seed' and then started a facebook group asking her friends to buy the things on the list her kid to move out.  She asked me if I wanted to participate and I was like... uhh... Nope.

jenna8984

mysticl said:

jenna8984 said:

We don't have graduation parties in my family/ circle. It's just a normal expectation- brush your teeth, clean your room, graduate high school and go to college.

The part I'm having trouble with is why do you need all these new things? Myself and all my friends packed up our bedroom (bedding included) and brought it with us. There was no need to buy anything new. My father bought me my first computer as a gift because back then families only had one desktop to share, and he knew I'd need one for homework/ paper/ research. But everything else I aready owned.

In some dorms you need extra long sheets, your ones from home simply will not fit the bed in the dorm. Plus if you take those with you what do you sleep on when you go home to visit?  Or maybe the kid didn't have a twin bed so the family doesn't own any twin sheets for the child to take to school. Some parents don't want to break up sets of towels so the kid needs their own.  I didn't own my own iron until my mom bought me one. I needed a lamp for my dorm room, I didn't have one at home I could take.  

SITB

Oh yea...normal people go home, huh? I didn't go home...my parents immediately threw out everything in my room (posters, knick knacks, clothing). I spent school breaks flying to different states to visit friends and family. My parents are anti-holiday so instead of "oh my baby is coming home for Christmas!" they were like "we're going to Jamaica for Christmas- fend for yourself". 

ElcaB

College registries are absurd. Any graduates I know are getting a card and cold, hard cash. 

SoontobeMrsNytes

When I graduated from HS I got some cash gifts. The college I went to was 1000 miles away. My dad didn't think it made sense to pack and move my stuff up there. So he flew up with me and took me shopping for everything from sheets and towels to an alarm clock. I used the cash I got and he paid the difference.
When my brother graduated from HS 2 years later I bought him a laundry basket and filled it with things I knew he'd need; sheets, towels, shower caddy, rolls of quarters for the laundry room.

StitelME

I feel like, while I understand the logic behind it, a college registry almost guilts people into gift-giving. When I graduated high school and prepared for college, yeah I received gifts (both cash and physical items) but I didn't expect any from anyone. I feel like creating this registry says "Hey, WHEN you buy me a gift, make it something from here" which doesn't feel right to me personally. Besides, nowadays, the idea of what an individual needs for college, etc. tends to be pretty standard and most everyone could figure out something. If not, that's what cash is for. Also, most colleges that I've seen make their own recommended packing list of items to bring to your freshman dorm - which guests looking for ideas could also use.

 

sophhabobopha

Yeah, I'm not into it. 

falsara

When me and my sister both graduated HS we had open house style parties where family and friends just dropped by. I graduated on my 18th birthday though so mine was kind of a combo graduation/ birthday party. We never expected gifts, but I did get a homemade quilt from my nana, and another one from the godmother. Me and my sister went to the local community college and just live at home though, so we didn't need much of anything. A lot of the people in my town live at home even, if they went to the actual university vs the community college. Since we had both it wasn't really a big thing.

buttercup1958

I honestly think if this idea was started a long time ago it wouldn't be viewed any different than a wedding registry.

ohannabelle

I think it's ridiculous. Graduation gifts are nice, but really, only immediate family gives them.

 And immediate family can pick up a phone and say "what does young Moose need, or should I just give him cash," and I can say, "oh, how thoughtful. He really doesn't need anything, but honestly, cash is always useful when you're young and going to college," or whatever. 

theartistformerlyknownas

ohannabelle said:

I think it's ridiculous. Graduation gifts are nice, but really, only immediate family gives them.

 And immediate family can pick up a phone and say "what does young Moose need, or should I just give him cash," and I can say, "oh, how thoughtful. He really doesn't need anything, but honestly, cash is always useful when you're young and going to college," or whatever. 

Not in my area. I got a dictionary (the huge, hard-sided kind) from my dentist, a really nice backpack from the guy who built my house, and rolling luggage from my old baby sitter. Immediate family, extended family, coworkers (I worked in a grocery store), parents' friends, parents' coworkers, and neighbors gave me cash (total of $800).

I spent nearly all the cash on Taco Bell my freshman year. Maybe cash wasn't a great idea. :-p

mysticl

lolo883 said:

ohannabelle said:

I think it's ridiculous. Graduation gifts are nice, but really, only immediate family gives them.

 And immediate family can pick up a phone and say "what does young Moose need, or should I just give him cash," and I can say, "oh, how thoughtful. He really doesn't need anything, but honestly, cash is always useful when you're young and going to college," or whatever. 

Not in my area. I got a dictionary (the huge, hard-sided kind) from my dentist, a really nice backpack from the guy who built my house, and rolling luggage from my old baby sitter. Immediate family, extended family, coworkers (I worked in a grocery store), parents' friends, parents' coworkers, and neighbors gave me cash (total of $800).

I spent nearly all the cash on Taco Bell my freshman year. Maybe cash wasn't a great idea. :-p

My only immediate family was my mom.  I got gifts from extended family, neighbors, an old teacher, my mother's boyfriend, his daughter/daughters in law, etc. And most of the gifts were things. I think the only money came from out of town family.