Gift for son's 18th birthday

Parent Cafe
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<p>DS turns 18 this January, his sister turns 21. I’m a big proponent of long lasting and sentimental gifts for big events like certain birthdays, graduations, accomplishments etc. By that I mean something that they can have/use for a long long time. Something which when they look at, wear, or somehow enjoy, will remind them of that time in their lives.</p>

<p>For D, this has always been easy. She has a nice collection of jewelry, not über expensive, but of good quality, timeless style and wearable. She treasures these items and can tell you the story/event behind each of these gifts.</p>

<p>I’m finding it difficult to come up with something similar for DS. I suggested to H we look at a nice, classic watch. I’m thinking along the lines of a reasonable sized (not the big huge things things that look like wrist weights in disguise), classic faced mans watch. My father has one he purchased when he came to the US…55 years ago…has worn it every day and it is still in style. H thinks watches are a thing of the past…kids don’t wear them. DS did get a nice day-to-day watch as a gift last year which he wears somewhat regularly but H thinks this is just a phase. So, I’m finding myself very uncreative in coming up with alternatives to the watch. Thoughts?</p>

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<p>We do a very nice watch for a boy at 18. We take him to choose it to make sure he loves it. He may or may not wear it so much in his just post 18 years but he will cherish it as he ages. Other thoughts would be monogrammed suitcoat buttons or monogrammed cufflinks.</p>

3

<p>When I was looking for a HS graduation gift for my son, someone here recommended a Tiffany belt buckle. My son does love it and in fact would now like a brown belt to use with it as well, I ordered the black belt. I did have it monogrammed.
Tiffany sells 2 different belt buckles I believe. You can find them on their website. They are not cheap but it is something special that my son can use for years. My son is now 19, will be 20 in March.</p>

4

<p>We gave S a watch when he graduated college. Unfortunately, he found the face too large for his wrist and we ended up returning it instead. He & D say that people their age don’t use watches often, but S said he’d have liked it IF it had been smaller & fit him properly.</p>

<p>I love the Tiffany belt buckle idea–maybe we’ll get one for S one day.</p>