Updated: June 1, 2025
With college move in day fast approaching, the emotional reality of this milestone really starts to creep in.
The day your child leaves for college is a whirlwind at the end of a long countdown after weeks if not months of planning, shopping, organizing and packing. It ends up feeling like time standing still and whizzing by all at once.
So don’t forget to plan for when the move and setup is complete. Consider quietly bringing a few meaningful things to stash in the room for your new college student to find in the hours, days or even weeks after you leave. Some parents like to a little something for the new roommate too…
We’ve pulled together some sentimental college going away gift ideas for you below. Some you can do without much prep time, but some you’ll want to get started on sooner than later. Sentimental personal touches can take a little time to put together!
The list is below is focused on ideas from parent to student. We also have a guide with over 40 move-in gift ideas for roommates.
A soft throw blanket perfect for a nap is like a hug from mom. ❤️
Weighted blankets are marketed as calming and stress-relievers and are a great way to feel safe and secure during moments of college anxiety. This one has a removable washable cover and is OEKO-TEX® certified. Try to choose one that is around 10% of their body weight.
It is so hard to leave the family pet(s). Our fur babies don’t understand the change, and they don’t really Facetime very well.
A sweet reminder of their furry friend at home. Our link includes a 25% discount automatically applied in the cart. If you see a different offer pop up when you visit their website, just click out of that and continue.
A great idea to keep your student feeling connected to home and family and small enough to fit on their nightstand.
Pictures can be uploaded into the free Frameo app and automatically displayed on the frame via WiFi. You can share funny pics, a pet pic of the day, memes, etc. If you keep another frame at home, the student can send pics back to the family’s frame.
Be sure to choose a digital photo frame with WiFi and one that uses an app like Frameo and not a model that can only be updated hands on with a flash drive or SD card.
Have you heard of the Open When envelopes? These are typically small envelopes or gifts labeled with various Open When occasions. Open When Tired. Open When You Need A Study Break. Open When Starving. Open When Overwhelmed. Open When You’re Not Feeling Well. You get the idea.
You can get some small envelopes and create your own. Or, new in 2024, our very talented college student designers put together 2 sets of 54 labels each that you can affix to envelopes, boxes or gift bags.
Floral Design Open When Labels – Pretty designs available in 6 colors.
Modern Design Open When Labels – A neutral design available in 4 colors.
You can print these at home on regular paper, or load up the printer with these Avery Shipping Labels, and print directly onto the labels for ease of peel and stick onto envelopes and gifts. Our labels are sized to print on these Avery labels.
Yes, there are 54 labels in each set (the occasions are the same, only the design is different), but just pick the most relevant occasions for your student – you don’t need to do anywhere near 54!
The most frequent question we get about Open When envelopes is “what the heck do I put inside each of these”?
We talked to several college students to get ideas for each of the 54 occasions we designed into labels and also collected their ideas for what they would like to receive. And of course, we added some mom touches too.
Here is our full list of what to put inside Open When envelopes!
Don’t forget a container to hold the envelopes/gifts. Your local Michael’s or craft store probably has some good containers, or this is a simple fabric storage box (or 2!) that would work well.
If your student has a paper planner for school that you can access when they aren’t looking, consider putting a few post-it notes or handwritten notes on future dates.
Some ideas include the first day of classes, first day of finals, family birthdays, holidays when they won’t be home (think Halloween, Valentine’s Day, etc), other meaningful days.
If they don’t have a paper planner, maybe that would be something nice to leave behind on move-in day. This is a more masculine paper planner.
If your student is taking pads of post-it notes, put some handwritten think of you notes part of the way down the pad(s) so that they’ll find them at some point in the future.
Give them the opportunity to document their college journey or just doodle through stressful times and study breaks. This is a simple lined journal perfect for college students.
This is a more unisex journal with daily prompts, habit tracking, sleep tracking and more.
Initial Jewelry Dishes are a simple and thoughtful idea for a quick place to pop down rings, earrings or bracelets.
Here’s a simple leather braided bracelet for the guys. Different inspirational messages available.
These stainless steel cuff bracelets have many inspirational words or funny sayings to choose from as inscriptions on the inside of the cuff. Crazy affordble and 4.8* rated.
Sweet Message Beaded Bracelets are the perfect gift to leave behind. Other colors available.
Customizable Pura Vida bracelets allow you to engrave or personalize some of their top sellers.
Tory Burch “Embrace Ambition” bracelet in 15 gorgeous colors.
Tory Burch “Embrace Ambition” bracelet with pave crystals in gold or silver.
Kendra Scott Rose Gold Bracelet in 4 different color combinations.
Beautiful Custom Latitude Longitude Bracelet – Use the coordinates of home. How do you find those coordinates? Put your address into Google or Apple Maps, and you’ll see the coordinates there.
Kendra Scott Pendant Necklace – In 18 colors, maybe you can find a school color or favorite color?
Kendra Scott 2-Layer Necklace – 2 layers could represent the 2 of you, or her 2 states or her 2 locations (if in state) or mom & dad.
Home State Necklace – In gold or silver, with or without an added heart charm.
Two State Long Distance Necklace – love this concept, and so many customization options too.
Mother-Daughter Necklace – affordable enough to buy one for each of you.
These are not exactly sentimental ideas, but giving them some tools to meet others will help them find their people and acclimate in their new environment.
Include dice, Uno, Yahtzee, Cards Against Humanity or COH Expansion Set (not PG), What Do You Meme Bigger Better Edition (not PG) or other fun games. My kids love poker night, so you could include decks of Cards and a poker set.
A mini projector is popular in college these days and allows students to gather and binge a show or watch a movie together.
Also include microwave popcorn, Twizzlers, chocolate covered pretzels, hot chocolate packets, etc.
For outdoor fun, send Spikeball. Just bring a Spikeball set outside, and people will show up and want to play. It folds up into a smaller carrying bag, so it won’t take up much room in a dorm. Unlike corn hole boards which are fun, but not recommended for dorm room storage! 🙂
Give them an easy way to meet their hall mates on move in day. Food!
Quietly bake up a batch of your student’s favorite treat, or pre-order from somewhere like Insomnia Cookies or Crumble Cookies near campus and share with others on move in day.
Get your student started with a family recipe and favorite recipe book. I recommend a 3-ring binder so that printed recipes can be easily added. You can get a plain 3-ring binder at your local big box store and design a cover to print and slide into the front.
Or there are several available on Amazon. Look for one at least 8.5″x11″ that will hold printed recipes. Took a bit to find one that doesn’t scream Grandma, this is a more modern recipe binder.
Why start this in a dorm situation that probably doesn’t have a kitchen? You can get them started with some easy microwave recipes. How about the Velveeta and Rotel melted cheese dip? Overnight oats. No bake energy bites. Chocolate brownie mug cakes.
And if you have other appliances such as an air fryer or a blender, that gives you even more recipe options. Trust me, they will tire of the dining halls and need some other options.
Give the gift of subscription retail, free delivery and extra benefits. If you’re down to the last minute and looking for an idea, this is one you can do right now from your computer!
Amazon Prime Student which comes with many perks including textbook savings, 6 months of LinkedIn Premium, and the recently added 2 hour grocery delivery (in select US cities) AND 1 year of GrubHub+ (where available). The first 6 months of Amazon Prime Student are free, and then it is half the cost of a regular Prime membership. My son likes having his own account because “then I won’t see what gifts he is buying for me”. Ummm…ok…..
Target Circle 360 launched in early 2024 and added a College Student subscription benefit in July with the launch of the annual College Student 20% off coupon. that cuts the monthly half of the typical monthly fee.
Thanks for checking out our list of sentimental gift ideas for new college students. Hope you’ve found it helpful and inspiring! You can share this with friends or family using this URL: www.positivelysquaredaway.com/leaving-for-college-going-away-gift-ideas
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