Themed present every year - ideas?

[RedPandaFluff]

Hi everyone - I read recently about a father who bought his son a bottle of whisky every year, from when his DS was born until he was 18. This meant the son had an absolutely amazing whisky collection and sold it for an absolute fortune because, by good luck, that particular kind of whisky massively increased in value.

I love the idea of buying one-year-old DD something every year, in addition to her normal age-appropriate present, but I'm not sure what. I'm not necessarily looking for an item that would increase in value - although that would be an added bonus! - just something thoughtful and that she might like a collection of when she's older.

Any ideas . . . ? Thanks in advance!

Books? You could find a newly published book each year.

Oh I love that, @Waitingfirgodot! That's a great idea!

It won't make money like the whisky, but I get my dds a charm for their charm bracelet every year to represent their interests.

Not so sure about books, several I bought around 20 years ago have aged not well and some don’t reflect the changed world we live in now. I think the only ones I re-read on a regular basis are historic fiction.

I think it is also a storage issue, books have to be stored very carefully to keep well.

Friends stated a collection of Christmas ornaments but not each year, more for milestone years like nursery, school, secondary school, GCSE, some birthdays, so they had a certain meaning as well.

A friend buys a proper real Pearl every Christmas and birthday, and eventually they’ll be strung together on a necklace.

We bought dd a pandora bracelet- we have been terrible about buying her charms for it so need to up our game as she is 11 now. She has started asking for one so I hope she still wants one in a few years.

My DD gets a snow globe every year.

Charms for a bracelet are definitely a possibility, and we do buy a Christmas bauble every year. The pearls are a lovely idea! Where do you get them from, @Grooticle?

Hadn't considered the storing-books-carefully issue but I'm less worried about them not ageing well - a snapshot of the past could be interesting.

Do you buy a particular make of snow-globe, @InvisibleToEveryone?

Swarovski make a tree ornament every year - it is a snowflake and has the year on it. My friend got me into it snd I have nine now- I looked at backdating some special years on eBay but they go for a fortune!

If you collected now she’d have a beautiful collection for her first ever tree.

No, just any I think she will like, it's not for monetary benefits, just something that happened

A photo book of pictures and captions for the year.

Sorry, I don’t know where my friend buys the pearls from

Snow globe collection xx

It can be any particular one. It can be a big posh one from harrods or a 99p one my tradition started when my son broke his snow globe on Xmas day and I couldn't find one anywhere except a religious one that cost a fortune so I picked up a random one whenever I see one and they are in most gift shops x

Another idea - set her up an email address. Write her an email on the same day every year, attach some photos, and tell her all about what you’ve been up to, her favourite thins, news headlines, that sort of thing. Then let her open them all on her 18th birthday.

I buy a Disney traditions ornament every year.

My grandfather was a stamp collector and he always used to buy me first day covers of that years Christmas stamps. They’re a nice look at changing design over the years and don’t take up much space.

Xmas tree decoration, 18 decs for when they move out and have their own tree 😁

We have bought our daughter (2) a penguin clothbound classic novel for each Christmas, so she’ll be getting her 3rd this year. Hopefully a lovely collection to enjoy when she’s old enough ☺️

Lovely ideas - thank you all so much! A couple we're doing already - emails, photobooks . . . I'm still hung up on the possibility of books. The Penguin cloth-bound ones could be nice . . . I also like the Swarovski tree ornaments . . . and first day covers . . . hmm. Would it be overkill to do them all?

Like a couple of people for the last 21 years I've bought the boys a snowglobe each for Christmas. We loved getting them out every Christmas until 2 years ago when I got the Christmas decorations out of the loft and all except two had been smashed. I cried.

Just be careful that you aren't giving your child a burden that they feel as if they have to look after and appreciate in twenty years.

One of my friends collected a dinner service for her son. Now he's got a huge box of wedgewood soup tureens and custard jugs but no pasta bowls when he would probably just like to go to Wilko and spend £20 on the things he actually needs.

Having said that I've bought my dd a Jellycat every birthday so...

Oh @2gorgeousboys - I'd have been gutted too!

Right, nothing breakable then . . .

@User61936296 - absolutely; it needs to be something that isn't taste-dependent and easy to keep/store. Stamps would be ideal, really.