<p>Did you guys do anything special with your kids when they turned 21. Personally, I was away at college when i turned 21, and I did not do anything with my family. i am sure they gave me a nice gift, but darn if i can remember it.</p>
<p>Congratulations!
This may not apply to your kid, but I just read the thread about drinking deaths…
Since I was married when I turned 21, my parents didn’t do anything. My suggestion would be , if you can, do something on the birthday with your kid so he doesn’t get caught up it the 21 shots nonsense on some campuses. It can be hard for a kid to resist that pub-crawl now that they are “legal”…</p>
<p>Both of my kids were away from home when they turned 21, so we didn’t do anything special. The same was true when I turned 21. I can’t think of anyone who got to do anything special with their kid when they turned 21. Seems that in every case, the “kid” had grown up so much that even if they lived in the same town as their parents, they preferred to do things with friends. That was true even of young people whose idea of fun wasn’t drinking.</p>
<p>I know one couple that took their D and her boyfriend (also 21) to Atlantic City for an overnight (dinner, gambling, show) to celebrate her 21st.
Our first two were at school on their actual birthdays, one had an 8am exam 
The youngest has a summer birthday; we might get to go to dinner and buy the first legal glass of wine.</p>
<p>Back in the day the law was 18 for drinking and I still remember my big gift from financially pressed parents- a stereo record player with an 8 track player- does that ever date me! Do emphasize the alcohol problems before he makes his plans- there are 21 year olds who die from “21 shots” or other drinking done birthday celebrating with friends who also don’t know alcohol can literally kill (maybe an online search of news items will be effective).</p>
<p>I am from a family of four girls and it was a tradition in our home that we received a string of pearls for our 21st birthday gift. I remember how grown up I felt getting that gift. I wore them on my wedding day, four years later (and many many times).
We presented our daughter with pearls on her 21st birthday. She was so thrilled with the gift, both for the symbolism/tradition and utility. My second daughter will get the same. Not sure what to do for my son though! Oh, well…I have six years to get creative!</p>
<p>It’s a tradition in our family to get 21 gifts for the 21st birthday. This was much easier and more appreciated for our daughter then our son. Our daughter was in college at the time so I packed a big box filled with small gifts and numbered them and sent along a note suggesting when to open each one. Morning- bags of tea and a new toothbrush and toothpaste, a CD to listen to, etc. One of the groupings was food from home - tastycakes and hershey chocolate, etc. Generally stocking stuffer type things but ending with a regular nice birthday present. </p>
<p>I do like the pearls though…</p>
<p>S1 turned 21 last year. He went to the liquor store that afternoon to buy a 6-pack & was offended that the clerk didn’t ask for ID…he was looking forward to pulling his license out of his wallet to prove he was 21. We took him out to dinner that night & he ordered a beer…waitress didn’t ask for ID either (probably because he was with us).</p>
<p>He’s not big on presents, so we didn’t get him anything unusual.</p>
<p>D turned 21 last month, while she was still at school. We sent her a big goody basket to share with her friends, but waited until she came home to give her her present (a nice watch that she had asked for.)</p>
<p>S will be 21 this summer. He’s working on campus across the country, so I’m hoping for the best. I doubt he’ll even tell anyone when it’s his birthday. I guess I’ll send a gift, call (and if he doesn’t answer his phone, I’ll worry. . .)</p>
<p>I remember my 21st B-day senior year of college. I had mono and stayed in my dorm room. Suitemates didn’t know it was my B-day–they went out. No one called, not even Mom. My 18th Bday was possibly even more pathetic. I went to a surprise birthday party for another girl and didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday.</p>
<p>Didn’t really do anything for 21st birthday- 18 was the big one- but actually didn’t do a lot for that either.
( 16 was probably the last birthday they wanted to celebrate with us! I don’t have much jewelry, but I gave older D a silver bracelet I had, had since I was 18 and younger D a silver locket H gave me when we reconciled after a seperation)</p>
<p>I put $190 in my Ds account for her 19th birthday on Sunday- of course we won’t see for for another month . My older D will be 27 but since she is moving, she might not appreciate 27 presents- cute idea though.</p>
<p>For D’s 21st, we gave her a simple, but beautiful silver ring from Tiffany’s. She wears it every day.</p>
<p>S doesn’t do jewelry, so we gave him an engraved wine opener with a beautiful wood carved handle. On the silver part of the opener we engraved “At Last.” followed by the date of his 21st birthday. (He was a waiter at one point and we think appreciated a nice opener.) </p>
<p>We also gave them each some cash. We made a very big deal of the 21st birthday. Trust me when I say none of the other bd’s garner such generous presents!</p>
<p>D will be home for her 21st and has already asked to be taken out for a special dinner with a really nice bottle of wine.</p>
<p>D and I did a girls only weekend roadtrip to Vegas (on the cheap). We had an absolute blast. She and I are going to repeat the same trip this year on her December B-day.</p>
<p>I like the pearls idea too…so much I did it for their 18th birthdays.
Thank goodness, no 21 shots or any other such nonsense for my 21 yr old. She had a wine and cheese party with her friends , and no I couldn’t be there, but I did send her a couple of bottles.</p>
<p>PackSon was at college on his 21st birthday so nothing special was done on our part.
His friends at school took him out to celebrate in the usual way that college guys do.</p>
<p>I love the pearls idea as well, but my sister had already given D that for a previous birthday. And D really wanted a nice ring, so that’s what we did.</p>
<p>If I had more girls and they didn’t have pearls, that’s definitely what I’d do.</p>
<p>We took DS1 on our family’s first cruise. It was also DS2’s 18th birthday.</p>
<p>I took D2 to Sasquatch last year for her 18th birthday.
That was amazing, cause it was her first concert- BEAUTIFUL area- although in retrospect I cannot believe how nervous I was when I stayed inside the venue while she waited for the bus back to the campground.
( I stayed for REM)
considering this year she is taking buses and trains around India without her momma.</p>