<p>We had a hard time with S. We finally settled on getting his car windows tinted. For Chanukah the year he turned 21 we gave him cash to take to Vegas. His BF invited him to help celebrate his 21st in Vegas with him and his father. They went for the gambling not the drinking.
Older child wanted a trip to swim with the manatees with us. Odd but it was fun.</p>
<p>My sons are opposites when it comes to watches. S1 always wears one & even wore his broken watch untiul he replace it because he felt “naked” without it. S2 lost his watch his freshman year in college (fortunately a cheap Timex…I knew who I was buying for) & doesn’t want another one.<br>
But it will be his 21st birthday this summer; he’ll be away from home, but we’d also like to come up with something appropriate & special for him. S1 has said he’d like to visit his brother to celebrate his birthday, which I think would be great & much better than DH & I going which is what DH wants to do. I can’t imagine that a 21 year old male wants to spend his birthday going out to dinner with Mom & Dad.</p>
<p>We arranged for a case of wine to be sent to DD. We ordered from our favorite winery, and made sure there was a progression of whites/reds/ so that she could start to learn the varieties and nuances of the different grapes and/or blends.</p>
<p>Great idea, APOL!</p>
<p>I like the pearls or watch idea.</p>
<p>We gave our S 21 items. I forget where I got the idea and I forget all of the items. But they included (some small and silly… but - hey - I had to get to 21!):</p>
<p>A check in the amount of his birth year $19.8x.
21 cents in coins
A book titled something like “2001 things to do before you die” (kind of a bucket list, and he did have fun going through and checking some off… of course, he left the book behind at our house when he flew back to school, but at least he liked it at first)
I did up a one page sheet of “21 Great Things about you” - some were silly memories and some were serious. He didn’t say much about it, but he showed it to his bff who thought it was wonderful; so I know S liked it or he wouldn’t have shown it around.</p>
<p>A share of Google stock (I forget what it cost at the time, but it was only 1 share because of the cost; my original idea was to buy 21 shares of some stock; but that idea got morphed). This was the only “big” item in terms of $$ value.</p>
<p>A jar of his favorite homemeade hot fudge sauce.</p>
<p>You get the idea. It was fun to come up with.</p>
<p>We had purchased a case of different wines of his birth year vintage (way back when) and gave a tasting party that night opening these bottles. They were all still good and mostly great! That was a wonderful part of the gift (of course it’s a little late to replicate this idea if you didn’t plan ahead, lol - at least at a reasonable price)</p>
<p>jmmom - I like the 21 items idea. This child would be easy to come up with 21 different things to include. And no worries, DH is into wine & has had a special bottle of a 1990 wine for years.</p>
<p>That is a cool idea. I think we just sent our kiddos checks. D went with her friends to Las Vegas & our check helped defray the costs. I believe S also went to Vegas with friends, but he doesn’t share as many of his adventures with us. </p>
<p>I also like the 21 items idea. Maybe we’ll send him something similar as a housewarming gift when he moves into his first REAL place to go with his first REAL job in a month.</p>
<p>My son will be 21 in July. All he has asked for is a brandy snifter; he just likes the shape. He’s’ not a drinker and there’s alcoholism on H’s side of the family so wine and liquors are not gifts we give, even though I’m fairly certain none of my kids got the gene. We will probably spot him and a few friends money to go play paintball for the day, with lunch thrown in.</p>
<p>When D turns 21 next year, we will get her a used car. The difference is she’s in college and will be student teaching that year while son is working and uses our car for his job.</p>
<p>My DD turns 21 on September 11 and this year will be the tenth anniversary of that awful day. This thread is giving me some ideas, though.</p>
<p>I wish I had started a thread like this two weeks ago! We gave our S 21 dollar coins, plus $210 to put in his bank account. He used part of it to buy a watch. In January we gave him a three-year-old car, so we thought that counted, too. A bottle of wine from 1990 would have been nice.</p>
<p>Uh oh… we were too generous :eek: we put an extra zero on our gift :o
Oh wait-- you just gave him a CAR a few months ago?? YES that counts!!!</p>
<p>^^ My husband suggested the $210. I would have felt generous with the $21 in dollar coins. :)</p>
<p>I sent a bottle of champagne to each son on his 21st.</p>
<p>Sending wine or other alcohol can be a challenge. I wanted to get my d a “wine of the month club” membership, but someone over the age of 21 must be physically present when they deliver to sign for it. Too much of a hassle with college schedules.</p>
<p>That’s why I went the gift card route - let her choose her own beverage!</p>
<p>To weigh in on the watch idea, me and my watch are inseparable, when they scan it at the airport I feel naked.</p>
<p>But I’d recommend a trip to New Orleans, let him/her take in Bourbon Street and the like. Plus if he/she doesn’t like the party-like atmosphere of Bourbon Street with the constant drink, then they’ll surely find something else enjoyable to do. By the way, the Omni Royal Orleans is a very nice place to stay(:</p>