As the student debt crisis has soared beyond the $1.5 trillion mark, many people are analyzing why people pay so much and work so hard for degrees. One of the biggest reasons is to have a benchmark for the achievements that we make and a paper proving our merit. When that’s the case, it’s hard not to wonder whether or not novelty degrees might also do the trick.
Here are seven uses for a novelty degree that you might have never considered before.
1. Gag Gift
If you have a friend or relative who is a total know-it-all, why not let them at least show their pedigree. Getting them a fake diploma, or several of them, will let them tell anyone who visits their home that they are truly a know-it-all.
Many families have long-running jokes or stories that go unresolved for decades. Each generation gets told the story and how one sibling or family member outsmarted another. Cement it into history with the help of a novelty diploma celebrating their achievement.
2. Celebrate an Achievement
If your friends or family have recently celebrated a real achievement, getting a fake diploma can feel just as good as a real one. There are lots of challenges in life that don’t get celebrated the way that they should be. A novelty degree will make that achievement seem more legitimate.
Whether they got through a hard time, got a promotion at work, or just adopted a new pet, there are lots of reasons to celebrate. It takes knowledge and hard work to do all of these things. Celebrate them with a degree for their work.
3. Congratulate New Parents
No matter how many billions of people have done it before or how many books you read, every parent’s first child is a crash course. Whether it was through birth and the classes that come along with that or adoption and the training that that entails, there’s a lot to learn. A diploma hanging above the baby’s crib will let the parents and their child know that a mountain was climbed and an achievement made.
New parents get told advice all the time but very few people tell them that they made the right decisions. Most parents feel like they could make the wrong decision at any moment. Let them know they’re doing great with a novelty degree.
4. Are You Making a Movie?
If you’re making a movie with a character that is supposed to be smart, give your audience a stronger feeling about them with novelty degrees. A few novelty diplomas on the wall will share a sense of knowledge about the character they’re looking at.
Are you taking photos for a dust jacket of a book or for your academic career? Perhaps you can’t find your degrees or want to share a sense of your vast knowledge. Put a few novelty degrees in the background and you can share that sense with anyone who comes across your photo.
5. Reward Your Students
If you’re a teacher, you know that students are constantly going through new challenges. Each one of these accomplishments feels Sisyphean. Why not give students a reward to keep them motivated with a novelty degree.
Every class is different and each child develops at a different pace, however, there are some accomplishments that all kids should celebrate. Getting through the first year of school is hard. Kindergarten diplomas make for great photographed memories.
If your students have a big theatrical performance coming up, the pressure of an audience can feel massive. You’ll have to run through rehearsals, training, and clinics on various elements. Reward the entire cast with diplomas afterward for getting through such a rigorous and challenging show.
6. Replace a Lost Diploma
Given that the average person moves 11 times in their life, a lot of things get lost or misplaced in the process. One of the things that commonly gets misplaced, torn, or damaged is a diploma. They’re often either framed in fragile glass or subject to spills and rips.
If you lost or damaged your diploma, replacing it is much easier with a novelty degree. While some schools will send you a new one, often they charge an arm and a leg to print it. Save yourself the time and the money by ordering a novelty degree created to replace the old one until you get around to getting it replaced.
7. Boost Your Own Morale
It’s hard to stay motivated on a day to day basis. Work gets stressful and it’s easy to get buried. If you get hit with one hurdle, it’s hard to keep yourself from getting over the next one that might be just a few steps down your path.
When you’ve got a massive goal ahead of you, putting up some novelty diplomas around your office can help. In fact, you can come up with a few benchmarks if you’ve got a long path ahead of you. Each time you hit one, add a new degree and you’ll have a visual path marking your success.
Novelty Degrees Create Real Rewards
If you’re considering novelty degrees, don’t assume that the feelings people have in response won’t be legitimate. When it comes to the concept that “it’s the thought that counts”, novelty degrees are the best example of that. Giving someone a novelty degree is a celebratory gesture that can touch their heart like nothing else.
If you’re wondering why you should replace your diploma after losing one, check out our guide for some suggestions.
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