What to get my son's first b'day?
October 13, 2011 9:41 AM Subscribe
What to get my son's first b'day? Not looking at toys, clothes or anything like that.
Something that will last a long time and he can keep with him even when he's an adult.
One idea I have is an engraved dog tag necklace (not to wear, but I can he can always keep it with him as his 1'st birthday present)
example
1) Anyone know of a reputable place to get them (tag+engraving)?
Silver might be out of our budget, so stainless steel might be good.
2) Any other gift ideas welcome
One idea I have is an engraved dog tag necklace (not to wear, but I can he can always keep it with him as his 1'st birthday present)
example
1) Anyone know of a reputable place to get them (tag+engraving)?
Silver might be out of our budget, so stainless steel might be good.
2) Any other gift ideas welcome
A very good rocking chair? You rock him in it now, he takes it with him as his first nice piece of furniture when he leaves home.
OR
A classic children's book like "The Giving Tree" or "The Little Prince" with an inscription from you that it is to start his library.
Congrats on getting through the first year!
posted by Snarl Furillo at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
OR
A classic children's book like "The Giving Tree" or "The Little Prince" with an inscription from you that it is to start his library.
Congrats on getting through the first year!
posted by Snarl Furillo at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
More ideas:
a custom framed photograph of you + other relevant relatives and him - it's always so fascinating to look back and see my own baby pictures and see how young my parents and relatives were back then!
This could become a book that is added to every year - a birthday picture with the same people/same location/same pose?
An engraved watch.
Plant a tree with him in a place you can both go back to.
posted by ghostbikes at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2011
a custom framed photograph of you + other relevant relatives and him - it's always so fascinating to look back and see my own baby pictures and see how young my parents and relatives were back then!
This could become a book that is added to every year - a birthday picture with the same people/same location/same pose?
An engraved watch.
Plant a tree with him in a place you can both go back to.
posted by ghostbikes at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for all the replies so far.
We are taking care of college funds and all those financial stuff.
So this specifically looking at material/physical objects.
posted by WizKid at 9:57 AM on October 13, 2011
We are taking care of college funds and all those financial stuff.
So this specifically looking at material/physical objects.
posted by WizKid at 9:57 AM on October 13, 2011
Port. Find a nice port that will age well and be awesome in 20 years. Store it nicely, share it on his 21st birthday.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:58 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by crush-onastick at 9:58 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's great how MeFi has two separate subject lines. That way you can accidentally swap them because it's not obvious which one goes where.
Anyway..
I think it's premature for gifts like this. Being that he won't remember receiving it, he probably wont attach much sentimentality to it, and so won't be that inclined to care about it the way you want him to when he's older. It'll be something *you* care about but he doesn't, and is just obligated to pretend to care about so that you aren't offended.
I would wait and get him something significant when he's old enough to remember it. My dad got me a pocketknife when I was about 12 that I had for years. Eventually I lost it, but that was important to me and it was useful in all sorts of situations.
I am 30 now, and you can bet that if my dad had given me dog tags as a kid they would be in storage somewhere, but that pocketknife would still be in my toolbox and getting used all the time if I hadn't lost it.
The port idea is kinda cool but it's really a 21st birthday present that you get to attach an interesting backstory to. I mean, is it really a first birthday present if he doesn't get it until he's 18 or something? That's how most of these things sound.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:04 AM on October 13, 2011 [5 favorites]
Anyway..
I think it's premature for gifts like this. Being that he won't remember receiving it, he probably wont attach much sentimentality to it, and so won't be that inclined to care about it the way you want him to when he's older. It'll be something *you* care about but he doesn't, and is just obligated to pretend to care about so that you aren't offended.
I would wait and get him something significant when he's old enough to remember it. My dad got me a pocketknife when I was about 12 that I had for years. Eventually I lost it, but that was important to me and it was useful in all sorts of situations.
I am 30 now, and you can bet that if my dad had given me dog tags as a kid they would be in storage somewhere, but that pocketknife would still be in my toolbox and getting used all the time if I hadn't lost it.
The port idea is kinda cool but it's really a 21st birthday present that you get to attach an interesting backstory to. I mean, is it really a first birthday present if he doesn't get it until he's 18 or something? That's how most of these things sound.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:04 AM on October 13, 2011 [5 favorites]
An african grey parrot- they live 60+ years.
posted by TheBones at 10:05 AM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by TheBones at 10:05 AM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
A custom painting made from a favorite photo. I would love to have a painting of my parents, with or without me.
Custom dogtags
Another idea is to take your little one to a photo booth and snap some family photos. I love my photobooth pictures from when I was little.
posted by biscuits at 10:13 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Custom dogtags
Another idea is to take your little one to a photo booth and snap some family photos. I love my photobooth pictures from when I was little.
posted by biscuits at 10:13 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
I would consider something that can be added to over the years. Example: a handmade bookshelf, with a nice edition of a classic book. Start with whatever book was a favorite of yours as a small child, then each year add a new book that has some special meaning to you and/or his other parent. Inscribe each book so that in later years, your son can go back and understand who he was when the books were given, and why each was chosen.
posted by padraigin at 10:16 AM on October 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by padraigin at 10:16 AM on October 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
Its not a physical object, but I always liked the idea of buying your child's name as a web domain name, e.g. "www.yourkidsname.com" if its available. For now it can serve as a blog to share photos and stories with family, and as the kid matures, having his name as a URL will be super useful. Imagine him being able to apply for jobs out of college with his resume at that URL.
One other thing: My aunt bought be a Printer's type case from an antique store when I was very young. These are pretty common finds at an Antique mall. Originally, it was a drawer that held movable type for printing presses, commonly people hang them on the wall like a picture frame and fill all the tiny cubbies with various tchotchkeys. Occasionaly, she would supply me with new mementos to put in the case, things like matchbooks, toy cars, old lighters, tiny magnifying glasses, game tokens, toy soldiers, souvenirs from her travels (like a tiny eiffel tower statue).
The examples here, here, and here are pretty similar to the stuff I have in mine.
Anyway, I'm now 31, and she still gives me little things for it every year on my birthday.
posted by teriyaki_tornado at 10:29 AM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
One other thing: My aunt bought be a Printer's type case from an antique store when I was very young. These are pretty common finds at an Antique mall. Originally, it was a drawer that held movable type for printing presses, commonly people hang them on the wall like a picture frame and fill all the tiny cubbies with various tchotchkeys. Occasionaly, she would supply me with new mementos to put in the case, things like matchbooks, toy cars, old lighters, tiny magnifying glasses, game tokens, toy soldiers, souvenirs from her travels (like a tiny eiffel tower statue).
The examples here, here, and here are pretty similar to the stuff I have in mine.
Anyway, I'm now 31, and she still gives me little things for it every year on my birthday.
posted by teriyaki_tornado at 10:29 AM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you have a garden, plant a little tree and take a photo of him next to him each year as they grow up together.
posted by Elsie at 10:31 AM on October 13, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by Elsie at 10:31 AM on October 13, 2011 [6 favorites]
Spend a few hours writing down everything you can remember from his first year.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
I agree with tylerkaraszewski that it might be wise to wait if you're looking for something that will really be special to him. I was a bit of a tomboy growing up amongst a neighborhood full of boys, four younger brothers, and a dad who loved to fix stuff and who I loved to follow around and hang out with. My dad got me a nice Swiss Army pocketknife that he gave me around that same time.. maybe 11 or 12, and it has always been very special to me because it was something that represented all the kinds of stuff my dad and I did together. My guess is that if my parents had given me something random that they thought I might appreciate when I was 1 year old, just for the sake of giving something as a keepsake, I'm not sure it would have been as special.
However, apparently, when I was around 2, my grandmother thought she was going to die from some illness she had at the time (that she later recovered from), and she put her beautiful star sapphire ring in a white gold setting into a brown paper bag that she stapled shut. She wrote on the bag, "For Takoukla's 13th birthday," and I grew up being told that I had a special present from my grandmother to open on that birthday. She was very special to me, so when I finally reached my 13th birthday and she had started into the early stages of Alzheimer's and was living with us, I opened it up in tears and it remains one of my most precious possessions. So it's really all in context. If you are going to give something that you want to be special, maybe something that's already heirloom in the family, or something that represents your heritage or where you were in life at the time he turned one, like a well-kept baby book or stories you've put together of his life so far. I think these days, even a hard copy photo album or book is a rarity - I have about a bajillion photos and videos of my kids but they're all on my computer, and there's always something to be said about being able to look through a book of pictures of your parents loving on you and happy with Baby You that isn't quite the same as clicking through all of them on a computer.
posted by takoukla at 10:44 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
However, apparently, when I was around 2, my grandmother thought she was going to die from some illness she had at the time (that she later recovered from), and she put her beautiful star sapphire ring in a white gold setting into a brown paper bag that she stapled shut. She wrote on the bag, "For Takoukla's 13th birthday," and I grew up being told that I had a special present from my grandmother to open on that birthday. She was very special to me, so when I finally reached my 13th birthday and she had started into the early stages of Alzheimer's and was living with us, I opened it up in tears and it remains one of my most precious possessions. So it's really all in context. If you are going to give something that you want to be special, maybe something that's already heirloom in the family, or something that represents your heritage or where you were in life at the time he turned one, like a well-kept baby book or stories you've put together of his life so far. I think these days, even a hard copy photo album or book is a rarity - I have about a bajillion photos and videos of my kids but they're all on my computer, and there's always something to be said about being able to look through a book of pictures of your parents loving on you and happy with Baby You that isn't quite the same as clicking through all of them on a computer.
posted by takoukla at 10:44 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Along the lines of the photo/tree idea above: Take a picture of your son holding a photograph of himself on the day of his birth.
On his second birthday, take a picture of him holding the picture of himself on his first birthday.
Continue, infinitely.
posted by padraigin at 11:26 AM on October 13, 2011 [10 favorites]
On his second birthday, take a picture of him holding the picture of himself on his first birthday.
Continue, infinitely.
posted by padraigin at 11:26 AM on October 13, 2011 [10 favorites]
Things I have done for my children:
* items for a hope chest including certain clothes that are prominent in some very sentimental photos
* planted fruit trees for each child and plan to provide a bench with all their names
* when I have any concrete work done around the house I plan to have their names and footprints embedded
* certain books and toys unique to each child
posted by jadepearl at 11:28 AM on October 13, 2011
* items for a hope chest including certain clothes that are prominent in some very sentimental photos
* planted fruit trees for each child and plan to provide a bench with all their names
* when I have any concrete work done around the house I plan to have their names and footprints embedded
* certain books and toys unique to each child
posted by jadepearl at 11:28 AM on October 13, 2011
It's kind of a tough call, because nothing will be emotionally important to him without a lot of exposure, and even then kids are unpredictable: you never know which book, which baby blanket, which stuffed animal, etc. will become the one and only Favorite Thing, but it's going to be something he sees or handles every day, or it'll just be another object. Anything a kid has as his very own and can handle every day is highly likely to get either broken or lost. Anything you have to regularly warn the kid not to break or lose because it's super important becomes more of an albatross than an actual well-loved object - if you have to check up constantly where your 5-year old has left his engraved tag necklace, he's going to throw it under the bed and never touch it again.
So, there's definitely something to be said for an object that will get a lot of use or display but not be something he can take around with him. Like a piece of jewelry that you always wear and tell him will be his when he's 13. Or a piece or art or high-quality houseware that is always in the home but not portable.
My mom just finished making a twin size "big girl bed" quilt for my niece (age 5), and while Mom dearly hopes she'll love it forever and take it to her college dorm room and treasure with all the love she put into it while simultaneously not wearing holes in the top or covering it with grape juice stains... but I'm not one to say whether at age 17 she'll want to sleep under purple butterflies with frayed edges, no matter how much love her grammy put into it. Maybe she will.
My vote: A cast iron skillet, engrave his name in the bottom (big deep carving to show through the eventual gunk buildup), and he can bang on it now and learn to cook in it later and take it with him to college. It'll be well seasoned by then. Or not, if he doesn't end up liking to cook.
posted by aimedwander at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
So, there's definitely something to be said for an object that will get a lot of use or display but not be something he can take around with him. Like a piece of jewelry that you always wear and tell him will be his when he's 13. Or a piece or art or high-quality houseware that is always in the home but not portable.
My mom just finished making a twin size "big girl bed" quilt for my niece (age 5), and while Mom dearly hopes she'll love it forever and take it to her college dorm room and treasure with all the love she put into it while simultaneously not wearing holes in the top or covering it with grape juice stains... but I'm not one to say whether at age 17 she'll want to sleep under purple butterflies with frayed edges, no matter how much love her grammy put into it. Maybe she will.
My vote: A cast iron skillet, engrave his name in the bottom (big deep carving to show through the eventual gunk buildup), and he can bang on it now and learn to cook in it later and take it with him to college. It'll be well seasoned by then. Or not, if he doesn't end up liking to cook.
posted by aimedwander at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Make a time capsule of a few things he loves now (can be pictures) and write a letter. Have him open it when he turns 18 or 21.
posted by chickenmagazine at 11:48 AM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by chickenmagazine at 11:48 AM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
It hasn't been birthday specific, but we've been writing letters to our little guy periodically in a journal, and I'm sure that when the big 0-1 rolls around we'll both write particularly long letters.
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:30 PM on October 13, 2011
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:30 PM on October 13, 2011
My daughter got a stuffed bear for her 1st birthday. A fairly pricey (but not Steiff) bear. She looked at it, then loved it, then named it, and loved Percy with a deep devotion until she went to college. Toys can be more meaningful than knickknacks or jewelry or works of art, etc. If he already has something like this, feel free to ignore. But I think a gift that he will enjoy as a child trumps anything he might like as an adult.
posted by Ideefixe at 12:33 PM on October 13, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 12:33 PM on October 13, 2011
I agree with aimedwander. For the most part, it's not your choice as to what your child will treasure. I loved my blanket (oh, how I miss you. you smelled sooooo gooooooooood); my daughter has pretty much no attachments to anything.
My mom had silver Christening cups engraved for us. She put them away after use. We received them a few decades later. You could do something like that.
posted by plinth at 1:20 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
My mom had silver Christening cups engraved for us. She put them away after use. We received them a few decades later. You could do something like that.
posted by plinth at 1:20 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
My father bought me a very small, permanent life insurance policy on my life when I was born. At age 18 he signed ownership of it over to me. I am now 26 and it is one of the largest assets I own. I have borrowed against it in times of emergency and always repaid it back. Plus, when I get married my wife may be taken care of when I die. This was the best gift anyone has ever given me.
posted by yoyoceramic at 2:25 PM on October 13, 2011
posted by yoyoceramic at 2:25 PM on October 13, 2011
My aunt did the port thing for my brother and I. My brother was going to open it on his wedding, but sadly, the bottle started leaking a couple of years before he got round to getting married. He was away at the time, so my mother and I, with the deepest regret, decanted and drank this sensational 26 year old bottle of port between the two us.
The port thing is pretty awesome.
(My bottle turns 30 this year - I think I'll keep it a while longer yet).
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:46 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
The port thing is pretty awesome.
(My bottle turns 30 this year - I think I'll keep it a while longer yet).
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:46 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Two bottles of vintage port for the the year your kid was born is traditional (for the 18th and 21st) but if it's a good year buy a case.
posted by goo at 7:09 PM on October 13, 2011
posted by goo at 7:09 PM on October 13, 2011
Something handmade or otherwise irreplaceable - as others have said, the problem with material goods is you don't know what your son will grow up to be or like. I was given a Bible for my Christening and I've never even opened it, because it was put in storage and now nobody knows where it is - and I'm agnostic anyway.
Dogtags are a matter of taste and he may be someone who prefers not to wear jewellery, or to wear something different, or to make his own. Wine can go corked (and I find with 'special' drinks the occasion never seems special enough to open them up).
posted by mippy at 8:51 AM on October 14, 2011
Dogtags are a matter of taste and he may be someone who prefers not to wear jewellery, or to wear something different, or to make his own. Wine can go corked (and I find with 'special' drinks the occasion never seems special enough to open them up).
posted by mippy at 8:51 AM on October 14, 2011
A kid's size hockey jersey (or whatever sport you're into) of your favorite team with his/your family name on the back. Get pictures of him wearing it, and when he's older he can marvel at ever being able to fit into it. Some bonuses are that he can pass it onto his son/daughter, and you've also ensured a new generation fan of whatever team you like.
posted by Simon Barclay at 6:07 PM on October 14, 2011
posted by Simon Barclay at 6:07 PM on October 14, 2011
I've got some monogrammed pewter julep cups that were given to me as a baby - although by "I've got" I mean they're in storage somewhere in my mom's house and I haven't actually ever used them. They're nice, though - clearly I need to reclaim them and throw a Derby party. Not sure about dog tags - my (half) brother wears a set that were his dad's, so they have extra significance to him, but I'm not sure he'd be into dog tags otherwise. I like the tree idea a lot.
posted by naoko at 11:03 PM on October 16, 2011
posted by naoko at 11:03 PM on October 16, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ghostbikes at 9:51 AM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]