<p>DD will soon celebrate her 18th birthday. She was a bit upset that she will be far from home and friends for such a momentous occassion. I loved the post about bombing her mailbox and intent to follow up with that.</p>
<p>However, I'm at a loss for what to give her as a gift. I can't think of anything she didn't get either as a graduation present or in preparation for school (we're pretty practical people and so is she).</p>
<p>Any ideas?</p>
<p>What is bombing the mailbox? Yesterday was my D's18th, and I sent Mrs. Fields cookies so she could meet new people. I guess it went over well. We didn't really give her a present, as she has a brand new computer and TV in her dorm room, not to mention the bedding and everything else we just bought her.</p>
<p>Sorry, I just did a search. It's a cute idea. I wish I had done that.</p>
<p>Well, since she can't celebrate with family and old friends, perhaps you should enable her to celebrate with new ones.</p>
<p>You might want to consider buying movie passes for the multiplex in her college community for maybe four people (if there is a multiplex, it's probably part of a national chain, so you might be able to buy passes online or through your local cinema). Or maybe she would like a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in the college community so she and her friends could eat something other than dorm food one night at your expense.</p>
<p>I think a pretty piece of jewelry is good. Even if she isn't that much of a jewelry person. She'll always be able to look at the particular necklace, earrings, watch, whatever and remember "my parents gave me this for my 18th birthday."</p>
<p>Cookies, homemade or commercial--there are several companies in addition to Mrs. Fields taht do very pretty cookies--Eleni's and Black Hound; a birthday cake from college food service if available; balloons or flowers (also sometimes available through school). Gift certificates for clothes or entertainment are also a good idea--it's nice for first-years to have soomething they can share with new friends on their hall or elsewhere.</p>
<p>We sent a cake and balloons through a local florist that arranges such things for kids at the college, and I sent a birthday/Halloween care package that included some trinkets appropriate for an impromptu party, timed to arrive at about the same time.</p>
<p>Although still a HS senior, we just gave our now 18y/o D 4 seats behind home plate, a gift card for local deli box lunches(to tailgate) and cash for parking fee. My H was skeptical. It was a hit!!</p>
<p>love those Eleni's cookies. Also look at fat witch brownies. You can also look into sending something from Mrs. Prindables.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mrsprindables.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mrsprindables.com/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.fatwitch.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.fatwitch.com/</a></p>
<p>^ I agree with the nice jewelry idea. I don't usually wear jewelry as I'm always playing sports but when I do dress up it's nice to have jewelry to go with it</p>
<p>If you know her style, a nice purse is always cute too. My friend's parents give her a really nice purse every xmas and she loves it.</p>
<p>Or if there's a nice restaurant near her college you could pay for her to take some friends out</p>
<p>There are some great ideas posted here! It seemed that it was much easier to buy gifts for our kids when they were in their "toy stage."</p>
<p>One thing that is helpful when it comes to gift-giving (for both you as a parent and for other family memers) is to have your student maintain a wish list on amazon for books, music, or whatever - when birthdays or holidays come up, you (and others) can select things from the list. That way, you can be assured that the gifts will be a big hit.</p>
<p>It's also nice to get things that your student wouldn't think of getting for herself/himself - gourmet foods (coffees, teas, really good chocolate), as well as some funky things that generate fun and help relieve tension (small squirt guns, an Etch-a-Sketch, bubbles, Silly Putty, that party spray plastic, a funny jigsaw puzzle).</p>
<p>One of the biggest hits I sent our daughter was a set of plastic "soldier men" with attached parachutes. I think those guys parachuted out of every window and down every stairwell in the dorm.</p>
<p>I agree about the jewlery - D isn't into it much so for her 18th she got the Mac of her choice. At the last minute I also decided to give her a pearl bracelet that belonged to my mother. It was a big hit - she loved the idea of having something especially nice for special occasions - and loved the added bonus of it being a surprise, not expecting anything besides the computer. (We are also practical type of people.)</p>
<p>For her 19th - I'm using the ideas in this thread, complete with plastic parachuting men. Hope she doesn't get kicked out of her dorm.</p>
<p>I like the jewerly idea. I have (and still think about the occaisons!) diamond earrings from my 18th and a lovely watch from graduation. </p>
<p>If you feel that your D has gotten a lot of "stuff" recently and doesn't want for much, why not a "fruit of the month" club (or better yet, look for "baked goods of the month") that can be delivered to her dorm room?</p>
<p>We gave our son a year subscription to Rhapsody, on on line music service which has all kinds of neat features. At last years Thanksgiving dinner which they had after the last day of class on Wednesday they searched the site for Turkey songs. Unfortunately it came up with mostly ethnic Turkish songs.</p>
<p>My sister got a Vera Bradley bag for graduation. They're very popular here, all the girls have them. My mom thought it was kind of strange because it's not a "teen" brand really, but when we were at the store there was another girl there getting one for graduation. </p>
<p>If she has an iPod, an itunes gift certificate for a few songs might be good. </p>
<p>Jewelry is a good idea and if you have a family piece you have been thinking you might give her, her 18th birthday might be a good time to do that, although you probably wouldn't want to ship something like that. </p>
<p>But she would probably like a care package a lot too. If there is something like cookies or brownies you usually make for her you could send some of those, with some candy or something.</p>
<p>We try to do a nice piece of jewelry for 18th---something to keep. For D, we bought a necklace--think it is called past, present, future-- 3 small diamonds in a vertical row. It is simple enough to be a classic. She loved it.</p>
<p>My baby boy will turn 19 on Labor Day away at school. I ordered a tin of cookies, a fruit bowl, and a balloon from the dining services to be delivered to his dorm on his birthday. They'd do a cake but he is in <em>such serious training</em> that I don't think he would eat a cake. The fruit will be welcome and the cookies can be shared with neighbors ... and the balloon will just be embarassing!</p>
<p>We sent the cake and balloons from the dining service, too, for the 19th of our boy. Birthday was on a Saturday and the goodies had to be retrieved by 5pm on Friday. Child had an e-mail and paper mail from dining services as well as advanced warning and phone call Friday noonish from us. 'How was the cake?' we asked on the actual B'day phone call. 'Cr*p, I forgot to go get it!' we heard.
Since then, we mail the gift. They or their friends are in charge of the cake.</p>
<p>Car. Every kid wants a car.</p>