Birthday present for 18th ... opinions!

[ShopTattsyrup]

My nephew is turning 18 in August and I'm struggling for present ideas. Any thoughts welcome!

My BIL & SIL (his parents) are buying him a new bicycle and some smaller bits and bobs.

He enjoys cycling; not competatively, but enjoys the countryside and getting off the beaten track etc. He's interested in history, enjoys reading and watching sci-fi, thriller, disaster movies. A fairly typical teenage boy in most senses!

A levels permitting he'll be off to read Law at university this Sept.

The only real thought I had was to get him a smart watch? The kind that will last for years and be a sort of coming of age present. Not insanely expensive but good quality. Also thought that that seemed like a "lawyery" kind of thing 😂

Any ideas greatly recieved!

Both my sons (30 and 21) love their watches - they also love fob watches. Another thing they both appreciated on their 18th's was a decent fountain pen. My younger son also had a smart antique ink/pen stand.

I think a watch is a great idea. My DS18 loves his Apple watch. He used birthday money to buy it. We bought him his kilt outfit for his 18th, but that only works if you're Scottish

A really good back pack for a laptop etc
A nice key ring, Ds1 got a pewter one with a bee :)
Swiss army knife
We got ours lovely watches from here, not horrifically expensive but classic and different:
www.paulinwatches.com/
If he likes camping etc you can get stoves by a company called biolite that run on twigs etc but also generate electricity to charge a phone etc. Ds1 has one and uses it a lot.

The other thing my younger son loved - also appropriate for your nephew in the future - was cufflinks. He had a few pairs for his 18th because he is very style conscious and people were able to get them with more or less any budget - one of his favourite pairs cost £ 5 from Amazon!

I think the smart watch idea is great, especially if he is into cycling as there are apps and things he could use to map his routes etc. Just make sure the watch fits whatever phone he is into, android/Apple. Fossil do some lovely ones.

My sister got DS1 an engraved swiss army knife, not for everyone but if he enjoys the outdoors?

Depends what you want the watch to be, if it's for the here and now, a smart watch is definitely something he'll get use of. However, they do become dated and therefore won't be something he will still be able to use in the longer term if you want it to be more of a useful keepsake.

But then I got a Walkman for my 21st and loved it, wish I'd kept it now :)

Some great suggestions - really the idea of cufflinks and the swiss army knife!

Sorry @WaxOnFeckOff - I was unclear, I meant smart in the sense of smart looking as opposed to being an actual Smart watch - showing my age!! 😂

No, I got you OP :) , other posters were suggesting actual smart watches which I'm not saying aren't a great idea, just that the technology dates if it's a keepsake you are after :)

Paulin watches doing 30% off at the moment and you can make up whatever combination of face and strap you like, they really are lovely.