You could go for the easy choice - a book about moms, like the ones I reviewed for The Plain Dealer a few Mother's Days ago (now available on Kindle). Or wrap up the resume-building book of the month for your grad and cross 'get a gift' off your to-do list.
Or you could take a different tack and not point out mom's mommy-ness (trust me, by the 6,000th time you've heard yourself referred by your parental moniker instead of your name, you get it) instead, celebrating what mom is in addition to all that maternal goodness.
Similarly, while the grads you know will surely appreciate money, awesome business card holders, money, briefcases, money, how-to-get-a-job books, or money, perhaps they too would welcome a chance to shake off the label ("student" or "graduate") they've worn so long, and would revel in a little token honoring their personhood.
To stir your imagination, then -
Is mom a shutterbug? Beyond Snapshots and several other nice titles for moms who are ready to take their fancy cameras off the Auto setting and take awesome photos of children (theirs or someone else's) can be found at my favorite photo-tip site, Digital Photography School.
Speak to her romantic side...
Book clubs are snapping up and tittering about 50 Shades of Grey and it's the first of a trilogy, so there's more where that came from if she likes it. ("It" being erotica, aka soft porn, but quite well written - at least, so I've heard.)
Or maybe mom's into yoga, beekeeping or blackjack. I think you get my point. Before she was a mom, that woman had her own personality, her own interests, her own je ne sais quoi - and she still does. (It's just really, really hard to see behind the mommy mask.)
Take the same approach to shopping for a graduate, and your gift is sure to stand out. You can go for the obvious - pick one of those well-timed 'how to get a job' books - or you could think, what does he like to do? Where does she wish she could go? and go from there.
If you can't come up with a title that's a perfect fit, you can always fall back the cliched but pleasingly psychedelic Dr. Seuss title, Oh! the Places You'll Go! It appears on everyone's annual what-book-to-get-for-a-grad lists, but frankly, I think giving that as a graduation gift screams "amateur," don't you?
On the other hand, there are those grads you have to buy a gift for whom you'll never really get to know (boss's son, for one) and such standard fare is appropriate in those cases. Maybe The Naked Roommate isn't appropriate for the boss's son, but I couldn't leave it out of this piece - it's my all-time favorite title for a high school graduate. OK, now off to shop, ya'll. You have some gifts to buy!
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What to get the teacher?
I'd be silly not to mention this great title for a teacher gift: 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of .... OK, Cleveland comes to mind (I know the author, wink, wink) but several dozen other cities also occur to me. That's because the 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of .... books are available for Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and oodles of other major metro areas. After a long school year, I'm pretty sure most teachers would love to spend a few hours on a nice, quite, peaceful trail that doesn't have to be graded, copied, or discussed at a meeting. Just sayin'.
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