to want to buy my neice a 'welcome to womanhood' present...

[dandycandyjellybean]

...as she started her periods yesterday? Any suggestions, if nbu?

Yes to the bar of chocolate!! Anything else, a bit weird.

ew, ew, EW

Oh Icklboo, I am for you.

I would have rather died than anyone acknowledge my first period. Very strange thing for an aunt to do as well.

This thread is giving me palpatations. Going for lie down...

How do you even know (please don't say 'Facebook')?

Even if you are extremely close, or in loco parentis, perhaps particularly then, please do nothing. I can think of no teenage girl who would welcome this - the only reason I have told/been told is to ensure support in case of 'accidents' in the early days when the girls were getting used to it themselves and were, for example, on a sleepover.

Chocolate? To go with a period? So you want her to have raging spots as well.....

Meh, stuff the present.

Bake her a cake.

Welcome to womanhood?

Well, has she suddenly stopped being a child then? Most girls starting their periods are most definitely still children and don't deserve to suddenly be viewed differently over something of which they have no control.

A Christian parenting book which I read suggested the father of the girl takes her on a special date/dinner/celebration to mark becoming a woman. How embarrassing.

Oh no no no no nooooooooooo my DD would be absolutely mortified if i told anyone even her Dad!

I think your heart is in the right place, i just dont think you have thought it through properly x

Okay, okay, get the message...

she told me herself, she is a very straightforward, forthright girl, quite tomboyish and not embarassed about it at all....hey ho, got it really, really wrong, obviously.

Sorry - the African culture I know doesn't usually celebrate any female rites .... usually the ceremonies surrounding them is to display them to the chiefs as potential wives fodder

Only send her a present if she has actually told you the news herself. If her mum told you do not say anything! I think I would have been mortified if my mum had spread this news to all my relations!!!

I think if she told you herself then getting her something is absolutely fine.

My first reaction was no, no no. No.

Then I wondered why I was so embarrassed by the idea? Maybe we make it something embarrassing by never mentioning it - as though it's something that should be hidden and never referred to.

Maybe there's middle ground between the cake and the ignoring it.

what?! Has no one suggested a mooncup yet?

Sounds very American Not sure.

That cake is classic :)
I would have been absolutely horrified if my mum had told all my aunties. Obviously as she told you herself that is not the same though. But perhaps a nice day out just for the sake of spending time together without making a massive deal out of the period thing? Something a little bit grown up (spa treatment? manicure?) might be good.

If she was happy to tell you herself I don't think she would be mortified to get a present. Chocolate and hot water bottle sound ideal.

bottle of WKD and a box of condoms?

I think even if she told you herself it is a bit much to send her a gift (and again i think of a 1970's feminist right-on maiden aunt type). Imagine if a teenage boy told his uncle he had had a wet dream, and the next day a gift turned up to celebrate his manliness.

If she told you herself then definitely get her something. I've seen someone say on here that the best advice their mother gave them about periods was to make a note of the dates from the start. Maybe a diary? Or the bag mentioned above?

well if you are close, she has told you herself and you think she would appreciate it and not be embarrassed, then why not? I think its a nice idea :)

Marginally - I just don't think it is anything to be happy about - it is almost like giving a husband a card for making a really smelly poo ...