OT-Gift ideas for HS grad?

How about a nice photo album for her wild and crazy summer?

Is she going to college? You can get nice Back to School things like towels, kitchen stuff, tote bags, home safety kits, etc.
I'm scraping for more ideas, Des. Sorry if they suck.

four years ago (my little bro is graduating college!!) me and my husband gave him a laundry basket full of all the dorm life crap you always need. (laundry soap, toothpaste, quarters...) we didn't even spend that much and he was happy to not have to buy it on his own...
i remember being really stoked when i got to have a matching set of sheets for college! (i am one of ten kids, having matching anything that is mine and mine alone is a blessing)
phone card? i know i needed one in school...
camera, gift card to a bed/bath/beyond type deal...
journal, or maybe you two go out on the town for a night and catch up!!!??
best of luck!
--bunnybabe

My younger cousin is just graduating HS too. Since I live too far away to go to his graduation, and would have to pay postage on anything I buy (and buying for a teengage boy is the pits), I decided to send him money. But I didn't buy a card; I wrote a letter. I told him I knew the routine: open card, remove money, toss card, so I was going to save him the trash and me the $6 for a card.

I then went on to give him advice for dealing with "the real world":

1. You're not as old as you think you are and what you're about to do won't look like such a good idea when you look back on it when you're 30.

2. Don't go to bed with a girl when you're drunk. She won't look so good nor be so pleasant in the morning.

3. Don't go to bed with a drunk girl; you may get accused of rape afterwards.

4. Never trust a girl when she says she's on birth control, because if she doesn't want to protect herself from an STD, she's up to something. Some women will let themselves get pregnant just to spite you. If you ever have a kid, you'll spend the next 18-21 years of your life living in a cheap apartment on the bad side of town with an alcoholic roommate eating beenie weenies because all of your check goes to child support payments.

5. Rules on how to break up properly with a woman. Basically, blame the failure of the relationship on yourself and tell her she deserves better. Never break up via phone or e-mail; only in person.

6. Never fry bacon naked.

7. Never build a fire when you're drunk. Never put gasoline on a fire. Never let anyone else put gasoline on a fire. Stop, drop and roll.

8. Never do anything so heinous that your parents won't bail you out of jail. Drunk driving is heinous.

9. Related story told to me by a coworker about riding on the outside of a car and getting flung off, but was unhurt in the end. Said he was "young and full of cartilige" back then. I told Adam that every year he ages, the less cartilige he has and the longer it takes to heal, so think before doing dumb stuff. Also, never ride on the outside of a car.

10. Don't get into debt. Credit gives you the illusion of having anything you want, but in reality it traps you. Because once you have credit card debt, once you have a new car payment, you're stuck. You can't quit your crappy job when you have debt; you have to stay at it until the debt is gone, because otherwise you can't support yourself while you job hunt. Also, only buy used cars.

If he fails to follow my advice in the years to come, I will certainly feel able to say "I told you so", lol.

LOL, more important for men than for women, but I learned that hamburgers shouldn't be fried without adequate clothing protection as well, lol.