Gift ideas for graduation?
 

Hi

My brother recently graduated from an MBA degree in economics and I was wondering what I should get him.
What are typical gifts for such an event?

I was thinking engraving his name on a Mont Blanc pen, but maybe that's a waste of money?

It would depend on your brother's taste.
But a pen is a good idea as he would most probably carry it around with him all over. And it seems classy enough.

But I would add a small little personal note:)

He's very tech savvy and a big audio/tv nerd.

How about an iTouch or iPod? You can engrave something on it if you order online, what I did with my iPod nano (RED) edition. Anyway the prices of a mont blanc is nearly similar to an iTouch 1st gen now.

P.S:I would prefer iTouch because it's a lot more cooler, with the ability to surf the net.

He hates Apple and Mac :P

What's your budget like for this gift?

Question for OP: have you ever made a decision bigger than "what socks should I wear today?" without consulting an internet message board before?

And clearly graduation is a perfect time to give him a customized name plate for his desk, you know, for when he gets a job and has an office. That is something that he would keep forever, unlike something like an ipod.

Maybe a good frame to mount his MBA degree on.

Regarding the budget:
I don't want to buy an ultra expensive gift. Maybe under $300.

An expensive tie that he's going to wear for the rest of his career

He can hang himself with it when his risky investments go south.

I'm with Dull on this one, a frame for his degree. Depending on the quality they can be kinda pricey, but you can get a very decent one for under $300.

I'm with Temari and Dull here. An MBA certainly deserves a really nice frame that goes on his wall.

ADD:
For $300 you can get a decent suit (or men's sports jacket) at Macy's or Nordstrom's. Those usually come in handy for any business occasion.

If you're getting the frame, be sure to have his input on it, since it'll be something he'd be likely to display on his wall either in his office or at home, and you want to be sure it's a style you like.

With that said, my girlfriend managed to make herself a really nice home-made frame for about $30 with some nice matting and frame from the local Aaron Brothers (art supply store). All it's missing is the name of the school on the matting, but it's already prominently printed on her diploma, so we're not really sure of the need for that.

gold-plated calculator
decorative abacus
5.5 blu-ray copies of "Wall Street"
charts and graphs about charts and graphs

i daresay some liquor is in effect as well!

shorty stole my thunder. I too suggest some type of business attire. For $300 you should be able to get a suit, shirt, tie, belt and shoes. Or a really nice suit.

something personal. self made yourself, prefably, something cool.

maybe a wooden sculpture or model that he can put on his desk

I got like a hundred ties from people and a nice suitcase when I graduated with my business degree.

I would of liked that as a gift. ^^

"Job Hunting for Dummies" would be a nice funny gift to give him as well. I almost got that for one of my friends before.

Mont Blanc pens are nice if he is into collecting things like that, I just couldn't see myself spending $200-3000+ on a gift for one of my brothers. If you have that much spare cash lying around you might as well give that to him as a gift so he can start paying back his, what are by now most likely outrageous, student loans.

One thing I would suggest though would be to try and steer away from a suit or anything really personal like that as everyone's fashion sense may be a little different.

When I finished my GCSEs I was given a bottle of Jameson's. For a degree I think something more along the lines of this would have to be in order.

Maybe a very expensive watch would be a good grad gift? That was what my mother and sister wanted to get me (It was like $400), but instead I got a free trip to Toronto (Worth about $300), and then paid the rest for a trip to Europe.

A watch is good. Boys always can't resist a beautiful watch. Besides, Economist always depend on time. So, I think a watch is something that can be useful and he likes.

Perhaps you could get him a personalized ring with his initials engraved on it