Graduation Gift Money

checks, made out to the graduate. if they don't have an account yet this is the perfect time to get one as they embark on grown up life

Another vote for a check made out to the graduate. Most kids have a savings or checking account when by the time they graduate. If they don't, the checks they will receive make the perfect excuse to go get an account opened. Parents can always deposit too.

My daughter is graduating this year and she got a card with a $50 bill in it. Personally, I would not send cash.

I sent checks made out to the graduate on the cards I mailed and if I hand one to a graduate in person, I will give cash.

The Visa gift cards are good too but there are fees to activate it and some have fees if they are not used fast enough. Just read the fine print on those.

What age graduation is this?
College?
High School?
Middle School?
Elementary school?

Put cash in.
That is the "norm" here in my State.
Or, a Visa or Amex gift card.
I wouldn't use checks.

Never mail cash. If you send money through the mail then send it as a check. Personally when we give money gifts to anyone we write it out in a check. Especially kids. We give the cards to the parents in the event that the money will be deposited into a college savings account.

This past year my daughters all realized that people sometimes give them cards on special occasions and nothing else because there's money in those cards. All of these years we've been putting that money into savings accounts that belong to the girls to use for college. It's their money so when they're 18 they can do what they like with it. But since they figured this out, they want to spend the cash they receive. And they want to spend it right away instead of saving it (well, my eldest does). So we've had to come to a compromise: if they receive cash they can spend half of it and the other half goes into their account. If they receive a check then all of it goes into their account.

Are we talking high school graduation? I ask because we now have pre school and kindergarten graduations. I once gave $100 gift card to someone. Never got a thank you, so I asked about it. I gave iiiithe card to a friend to give to kid. Teenagers being as irresponsible as they are lost it. So that was $100 down the drain. Had she lost the check it could have been replaced.

A check made out to the graduate is great. Almost all of the kids these days have accounts and if they don't, they need them for college.
LBC

I'd do cash personally, even mailing it, unless it's more than $50. But do what you feel comfortable with. If they don't have a checking account or savings yet, they surely will very soon.

They should be able to cash it.

Let the grad fill in his/her name on the check, if you don't know it. I would think you would know whose party you've been invited to tho.
If they don't have an account,they can still cash it through their parents' accts. Or open one of their own.

I would do checks for all. We opened savings accounts for our kids, so we could cash their gift checks from family. It's a good way to encourage saving money too.

Write their name on the checks. Their parents will deposit them and give them the cash.

They should still be able to cash the checks even if they don't have accounts. I would make it out to the graduate. Maybe cash for the ones you're not mailing.

I would write them to the recipient. If they do not have checking accounts, they should get one soon (before going to college or getting a job). If not, they can cash the check at the bank of origin. Assuming you use one of the larger banks, this shouldn't be a problem for any of them.