The Ultimate Graduation Gift

It's never to early to think of a graduation gift.  Yes, my boys are 3- and 5-years old, but, still, it's never too early.  A fairly traditional graduation gift is a copy of Dr. Seuss' book Oh, the Places You'll Go!  I came across a fantastic idea online to make this gift much more personal.

Secretly, have all of your child's teachers write a message in the book and give it to your child on their graduation day.  Fantastic, right?!  This gift is easy to get going, inexpensive overall, but absolutely priceless for your child.

I tried finding the original source for this idea and came across many news articles about a girl, Brenna Martin, who received this gift for gradation.  Read the Daily Mail article HERE and watch the Today Show interview HERE.

Here's what you do...

1. Buy a hardcover copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss.
2. Type out your own directions OR use the template on the blog Lisa's Workshop.
• My Process:  I downloaded the blank tag template from the blog Lisa's Workshop.  Copied the image into a Word document.  Resized the image.  Before adding the instructions, I printed three (3) blank templates, to help make the sleeve.  Then, I pasted the instructions into the Word document on top of the template.  I found a cute Dr. Seuss font called Green Eggs and Spam at 1001fonts.com.  When finished editing, I printed the instructions, cut the pages down to size, and taped all four pages together to form a sleeve.
• My New Process (updated 06/08/20):  Click HERE to make a copy of a Google Template.  Edit the text and print.
3. Attach the instructions to the book.
4. Place book in a manilla folder.
5. At the end of each school year, give the book to your child's teacher(s).  Set an annual reminder in your phone (or on your calendar), if you are afraid you'll forget.  Make sure you give the teacher(s) at least a couple weeks (the end of the school year is a busy time for teachers).
6. Hide the book until the next year.
7. Repeat until your child graduates from high school.

Isn't this a fun idea?  My son had two years of preschool, so I got to start his book very early in his education.  But you can start this gift at any time (even if your kids have already been in school a few years) or just have your child's high school teachers and coaches sign.  The options are endless.

Before adding the instructions, I printed three (3) blank
templates to make a book sleeve. 

My son's graduation gift in the making.

This is the template and text from the blog Lisa's Workshop.

My son is young enough to mule his book to school,
but I'm not sure how much longer I can get away with that.

I started this project last year, with my son's preschool teacher.

So, what do you think?  Are you going to give this one a go?  Today is your day, you know.   I'd love to hear about what you come up with.