During the last few months, everything changed. A huge percentage of employees started working from their homes; kids were sent home and parents now held the burden for their education; and healthcare and essential workers felt the weight of being exposed to a virus because their jobs couldn’t be done from home.

In order to address these changes, our staff put their heads together and came up with a selection of kits filled with items to make adjusting to these, “new normals” a little bit easier. For employees working remote, items like wireless headphones and blue light glasses helped them stay productive in a new environment; for parents trying to educate their kids, DIY activity kits and custom Lego sets created fun memories; and for essential workers, essential oil diffusers and cozy socks helped them unwind after a stressful day. These are just a few of the many ideas our team came up with to help out different groups of people during these uncertain times. (To view more of these kits, click here!)

One major change became evident in May with the cancellation of countless graduation ceremonies around the country. College and universities couldn’t risk the safety and health of students, families, and employees, so the only option was to cancel their Spring ceremonies and invite students to join the ceremony that would take place in the fall. For this momentous and exciting occasion, it’s crushing to hear that a moment you’ve looked forward to for 4+ years is just canceled, and this weight wasn’t just felt by the students. The administrative staff that worked throughout the year to plan these events were saddened as well. Their students work so hard and they couldn’t even provide them with the celebration they deserved–or so they thought!

As events started to shut down, our staff began brainstorming to see what we could do to fill the gap and help students and faculty get as close as possible to recreating the excitement of an in-person graduation ceremony. This led us to an idea–a graduation in a box.

We met with individuals from a handful of college and universities, and though their challenges varied, their goal was the same–they wanted to make their students feel celebrated! Through our ideation and creative processes, we worked one-on-one and developed a unique set of items for each college. These ranged from pennants to license plate covers, and each was branded to perfectly match that college’s branding, while driving home the fun and celebration of this milestone accomplishment. Once all the pieces were selected and perfected, our logistics team handled every detail of getting them from our warehouse to the students’ doors, so our clients didn’t have to worry about a single thing.

The result? Students around the country received custom boxes full of confetti and memorabilia to celebrate their graduation without having to risk anyone’s health.