Friday Finds on Mackinaw Road: Graduation Gifts and More!

Spring is in full swing with all of the fun activities and last minute school events! That includes graduation gifts! I can’t believe how many kids are graduating this year. It seems like they were just in second grade! Don’t blink.

We’ve also had Mother’s Day, so many birthdays, teacher gifts, and Father’s Day right around the corner. You can check out the Father’s Day gift guide by clicking here.

Below are some more (random) gift suggestions for all your gift giving needs. (This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click and purchase, I may receive some compensation- thank you!)

Children’s Gifts

I think I mentioned that we love What Should Danny Do?. It teaches kids about the power to choose and contains 9 stories in one book, so it’s perfect to take with you on your trips and vacations this summer. We also just started reading What Should Danny Do at School?. This book continues with the power-to-choose theme but presents common issues that kids run into during their school days. Again, it is a great book to bring with you as it contains 8 different stories. 

One more book recommendation. My daughter and I loved reading Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. There are short pages in fairytale format about the lives of 100 remarkable women. Also included are illustrations from female artists. It was a great way to be inspired and catch up/ stay up to date on all of the amazing accomplishments of women.

Urban Kangaroo has really fun boxed DIY gifts for all of your birthday and gift-giving events. Our 9-year daughter recently received the Bath Bomb kit. It was wonderful for so many reasons. We didn’t have to provide any additional materials aside from a bowl and spoon. Everything was pre-measured, so she just combined the ingredients, concocted her favorite scents, molded the materials, and we were good to go! Yay!!! I just ordered a DIY hot sauce kit as a Father’s Day gift- I’ll keep you posted. They could make a good graduation gifts too! You can check out all of the options here.

Gifts for Her

Shoes. I received a pair of Rothy’s for my birthday back in February but have just started wearing them regularly now that the weather is cooperating. I love my pair of shoes! They are breathable and really comfortable. You can easily wash them and they are sustainable. They are made from 100% post consumer water bottles. Now that’s something to feel good about and worth the higher price tag! There are so many fun choices. This is the pair that I have in Captoe Black.

Rain jacket. Why is it so hard to find a rain jacket? Or is it just me? I finally found one that I LOVE. (I may have purchased it for my Mother’s Day gift.) Once again, Lole came through with a jacket I adore. It comes in all kinds of colors from subtle and calming to bright and fun. There is even a yellow that reminds me of the How I Met Your Mother umbrella. I went with the red jacket. Of course, it is the Target red. And then I went to Target without thinking in my Target red. And coordinated with every.single.thing. Anyway, you can check out all of the options here.

Graduation Gifts

Graduation gifts are a new category for us! Here are a couple of our top choices. 

The Amazon Echo seems like a good fit for a high school graduate. We figured it might be helpful with the transition to semi-independent living for this tech savvy generation:-)

Mark and Graham is our go-to for gifts of all categories. And we’ve found this to hold true for graduation gifts as well. I just ordered these– perfect for neighbor and babysitter gifts and good for both genders. Plus, you know how I love it when things come already wrapped!

Teacher Gifts

I cannot tell you how incredibly blessed we feel with our children’s teachers! They helped our kids grow so much this year and took such good care of them! It’s hard to quantify the kind of gratitude we feel toward them.

As a room parent, I get to help coordinate the end of year gift for the kindergarten teacher. This time, we’re going the sentimental route with a few gift cards thrown in there too. We are doing a photo book with a sentence or two from each child by their photo as well as group photos that were taken on field trips, at class parties, and throughout the year. Of course, there are always great deals on photo books, etc. here. 

We’ve done gift baskets with personal cards from each student from the class for previous birthday, teacher appreciation, and holiday gifts. The kids definitely have fun watching their teacher open her gifts. For the end of year gift, we thought it would be nice for the kids to be able to individually hand their teacher a gift. As such, we bought a charm bracelet that she will open first. Then, each child will individually hand her the charm that they chose and feel represents them. I think she’s going to love it!

Coming Soon…

I plan to update some of my travel posts with new suggestions. I figured that may be easier than having 10001 posts on the same city 🙂 Stay tuned for that as well as a new guide to Vancouver!

If you’re planting this holiday weekend, I have this guide. You can also check out the sourcing for our recent porch update here. And our Inexpensive Backyard Patio refresh here. I moved our azaleas from our planters to the garden and think they’re going to look a-okay there once they’ve settled in. I’ll be heading out again this weekend to fill 4 planters and 3 window boxes, so there will be more on that soon!

And my favorite news… I get to help my sister-in-law decorate her nursery for twins!!! I cannot wait to meet the little bundles! Here is the original design board, incorporating the cribs she had chosen and the adorable art she picked up! We’ve already changed our minds on a few things and obviously this board is missing some necessities (i.e., a changing table- oops!), so follow along over on Instagram (I’m going to try to use a nail gun for the first time- yikes!) and stay tuned for the finished photos! [Curtains | Cribs | Rug | Faux Fiddle Leaf |Elephant Art | Giraffe Art]. We are going with Benjamin Moore Alaskan Husky and Chantilly Lace for the wall colors. It is my first time using both colors, and they are top notch!

Whew- that was a lot!! Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!