Off to university - gift ideas

[Stardust5]

My nephew is off to uni next week so I made him a basket of goodies - crisps, hot chocolates, packets of nice biscuits, chocolate bars, packets of chocolates, chocolate spreads, cider, things that are a bit of a luxury but also a treat.

[bluedave]

Thanks for the replies - some great ideas to ponder on. I've got silly things like a geordie/English dictionary ( she's off to Newcastle), I've got her a lucky 6 pence, some nice stationary, student cook book (don't think she'll use).

[bluedave]

Originally Posted by FSnug

His emergency cash came home with him and I now have old £5 notes to change at bank!

See more...

Earlier this summer I found a stash of old £5 notes - your local post office will accept them as payment. I.e. You can't exchange them but can buy stamps etc with them.

Might be easier than returning to bank of England

[CazP]

Any bank will let you pay in old notes

[CazP]

Originally Posted by bluedave

Thanks for the replies - some great ideas to ponder on. I've got silly things like a geordie/English dictionary ( she's off to Newcastle), I've got her a lucky 6 pence, some nice stationary, student cook book (don't think she'll use).

See more...

They sound great

[dot]

my dd found the most useful thing I put in her gift pack was a door stop and shots glasses and a bottle of booze, the door stop meant she could jam her door open in a long corridor of other newbys and feel part of it all and people popped in to chat. the shots and booze speak for them self.

[Welly]

Originally Posted by CazP

When dd started two years ago, I felt like I'd set up a second home with all the stuff I bought - so didn't feel the need for a gift as such.
I bought a tin box on eBay called a Broken Human box and filled it with first aid stuff.
A friend made her up a basket of food bits and essentials - tea bags, chocolate, biscuits and the like
Soon as we got to campus, I bought her a uni hoodie from the shop and then after unpacking everything, I bought her first asda shop

See more...

I gave my DD the broken human tin with medicine in too! Also an emergency £20 note. It was supposed to be jokey but she got really run down by week 3 so was a useful gift too. Think it's quite common for them to start picking up colds etc as they party/study/hardly sleep.

I didn't do a gift box as such, did a huge shop when dropped her off which saw her through until end of October. My tip regarding the food shop is to get one of those under bed storage boxes (got one from The range near her halls) and put non perishables in there to stop them going walk about.

Second the door stop, very useful. After drop off we left the floor she was on £50 to get pizza take out, that seemed to break the ice too as they all ate together on the first night. Good luck parents, it is very emotional. We left our DD 150 miles from home, and this Thursday I'm flying her across the Atlantic to leave her in the USA for her sandwich year, think that will be hard too.

[bluedave]

Originally Posted by dot

my dd found the most useful thing I put in her gift pack was a door stop and shots glasses and a bottle of booze, the door stop meant she could jam her door open in a long corridor of other newbys and feel part of it all and people popped in to chat. the shots and booze speak for them self.

See more...

We've got a panda bear door stop (!), shot glasses along with bottles of sourz. Got a tub of celebrations and swizzles to share. I've just got a box of 'extras' that she doesn't know about that I'm looking to fill - but that box is looking a bit bare.

Weve probably got far too much as it is and the extra box was probably overkill. But now I've started it...

[Shopperholic]

No ideas in what to include but my daughter enjoyed getting small boxes of bits and pieces posted to her, her first semester, and her friends loved the idea too.

[Voldemort]

My eldest is at Newcastle Uni too & is on the freshers welcome squad this year. Newcastle is a fantastic city - she'll have a great time. I was a student there myself. There are also some fab places for parents to stay & eat too 😄. We love visiting her there. Good luck to her.