This weekend kicks off graduation season - UW graduation is followed in a month or so by the area high school graduations. This year I happen to have an invitation to a college graduation party and am expecting one for a high school graduation party, so I'm especially spending time thinking back on those moments in my own life. Also, in the case of the high school graduation, feeling slightly panicky about the quick passage of time (that high school grad remains 4 years-old in my mind... which means that the current 4 year-old Lily will be graduating from high school any minute now. Well, more than a decade from now, but I bet it will go fast).
I installed the window on Sunday evening - a little less lead-up time than usual, but there was Mother's Day to contend with. The overall theme centers around the "Midwest is Best" t-shirt, with an assortment of vintage travel images from around the Midwest, our t-shirts and other prints, mixed in with graduation and going-away cards and sentiments.
I was also at another store recently and overheard a conversation of a customer looking for a graduation present. It just made me fall back on my usual product brainstorming, and in case anyone else needs suggestions, here's our list:
1. a card (perhaps with some cash? I imagine in the high school and college student world, cash is still king).
2. Journals and books. Specifically, ones to carry with them, or carry them into, the next phase of life. We like Taschen's 36 hours with its great sampling of places to go and things to do on this continent. We also have a great collection of blank, or nearly blank, journals, including many repurposed book journals. We always like to hear people find titles they remember from their childhood. Today a new batch of journals arrived with really lovely decorated interior pages. I personally am always stumped by a totally blank white page, so I feel like these would be more fun to start writing in.
on a related note, in the line of things to carry with them: passport cases & business card holders (repurposed from old maps) and cases for iPads (cleverly repurposed from flannel shirts).
3. Words of wisdom. We have several, mostly in print form. The Holstee Manifesto, I think, is really awesome. I came into those wisdoms on my own (perhaps that's the way everyone has to do it), but it seems to be that it would be nice if I had those words to think upon. We also have prints with other inspiring words; the "keep calm" series continues to be popular but we also like the letterpress and linocuts made by indie artists. We also have great earrings with inspiring words. The Curly Girl cards also have great messages: "She packed up her potential and all she had learned, grabbed a cute pair of shoes and headed out to change a few things," and the popular, "I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world."
4. Mementos. Just a little something to remind the people who are leaving that home (and you) are always here, or a token reminder of good times spent in Madison. We have an assortment of Madison and Wisconsin prints, necklaces of bamboo or silver in the shape of the state with a cut-out heart by Madison, coasters with Madison maps, the popular Midwest is Best t-shirt (as well as the "WIse, WItty, WIld" Wisconsin and "Easy, Breezy, Beerzy, Cheesy.") Sachi made a batch of Madison photo snippets and I just discovered a stash of my own snippets in the cupboard (so I knocked that chore off my list this week).
I've been working on a Blurb book for the high school graduation present, reviewing quotations and wisdoms that I found useful in the years between then and now. I managed to find a letter that I wrote to the grad about ten years ago, with memories of times we'd spent together, so I'm using that for a springboard, as well as looking on Pinterest for words of inspiration.
I think my current favorite is: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman
