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

[dandycandyjellybean]

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

I'm thinking I a gap in the market for these period parties. We could do a carrie themed one or one where everyone has to have acne and feel fat and unattractive. Or perhaps a roller skate one in which all the guests must wear White and the party girl gets to be thrown out of a plane at midnight.

I think it's a nice idea :) maybe not the whole welcome to womanhood thing but a little present would be nice. I was over the moon when I started my period, it was like a massive deal to me cos it seemed like such an adult thing.

She's obviously not shy about it with you, send her some chocolate and a hot water bottle and I bet she'd love it!

I dont understand all of the "you must never tell anyone about your period or feel like a shitty piece of crap whilst you are menstruating" bollocks. Periods are horrible and if my aunt sent me some choc through the post for it then i'd be buzzing :o

But she's not a "woman", is she? She'll be stuck with the "child" label until she's at least 16. She's just got the responsibility of fertility for now on.

OMG - I nearly died of embarrasment when my DAD gave me a hug and said something congratulatory about my periods having started. I could have KILLED my Mum for telling him. He was trying to be lovely and all, but I wish he hadn't. It's a very private thing. Leave your niece alone, and leave her her privacy. Unless she told you about it herslef of course, in which case it would be quite nice.

Pag ''I am also a bit about gifts which suggest 'it is your period. Lie down, eat crap, expect to feel awful and be incapacitated.' if that happens we will deal with it. But that is not the image of the process I want to create.''

My approach exactly. I like to travel hopefully towards these landmarks with a quietly positive spin and to foster the approach that you just cope as usual.

No way would I make anything more of it than that. Def not welcoming anyone to womanhood. Yikes no! Too touchy feely for me and anyway dd would be mortified. Nor is it an event to be dreaded. Just...normal. Keep calm and carry on.

And beyond that absolutely nothing changes in terms of feeling more or less grown up until dd feels ready at her own pace.

Vom. Gross. Fuck no.

My very down-to-earth sister was so freaked out about the idea of my mother getting sentimental about her "entry into womanhood" that she didn't tell her she'd started her periods for two whole years.

I can't think of a worse idea.

Hilarious cake idea, smalltown. Hilarious thread in many ways. Much funnier than the episode of The Cosby Show I saw years ago, in which Rudi celebrated 'becoming a woman'. Couldn't believe my eyes, but guess it's different in US. Still, yuck!

I think it's a nice idea actually, though depends a lot on the girl. I'd avoid anything sentimental or anything that stresses the negative (so personally I'd steer clear of the chocolate/hot water bottle combination, though I realise she might see the funny side). I'd go for music or a book or a magazine subscription or something.

I do think age/stage makes a huge difference. I started at 11 and was just tremendously excited and couldn't wait to tell my parents. I remember waiting very impatiently for my father to get home from work. I can see I might have felt differently 3 or 4 years later and one of my sisters was horribly embarrassed. But if she's fairly young and generally open about that sort of thing I think it's a kind idea to mark it. It is quite a big deal after all (I mean for her - it's something that you anticipate/think about a lot beforehand).

OMG the thought alone makes me cringe.

So for that, I'm out.

my mum said that to me when i got my period and i was mortified if she bought me a welcome to womanhood present i would have been dying.

God, some of you are hilarious, have just done sniggering/snorting water through nose over keyboard.

I think dd1 would have told the world if she could, a party and a big gift would have been welcomed, she tried to have chats with dh about it which he gamely tried to join in with.

Dd2 has said about three words about the whole thing and would be mortified by any mention.

Each to their own.

Would have done the slightly grown up girly day out with her but we don't live close enough.

I wasn't suggesting that she's no longer a little girl, or anything weird, just thought as she had told me and she wasn't embarrassed then maybe a little sort of 'welcome to the club' acknowledgement was in order, hence the choc and hot water bottle. Which isn't to say 'lie around for 7 days eating junk and feeling ill every month, it's just that occasionally there might be the need for a hot water bottle and a little bit of cheer me up choc.

However, let this one slip of judgement not forever taint me

And let me just repeat, please, she told me herself, she is a very straightforward, forthright girl, quite tomboyish and not embarassed about it at all....

I'll just get me coat....

Maybe having a sex bomb biker chick role model aunt is enough? Leather trousers?

It's a nice idea, when DD started her periods me and my sisters and mum took her shopping and for lunch like a 'big girl' but didn't overtly say why.

Yuk!
smalltown :o

Didn't Richard Madeley proudly announce his DD's first period live on TV? Wonder what gift he got her...

I think it's a shame it isn't seen as a rite of passage and marked as such.

Why are periods still such a secret and a big deal?

Oh yeah

I don't think a gift is necessary and especially not one that makes you seem like you will be incapacitated and lying around stuffing your face with choc for a week while clutching a fluffy hot water bottle

Nice idea OP and well meant but IMO cringeworthy!

ROFL though at the comment above about Richard Madely :o

my DD is 13 1/2 so any day now... I've got on standby one of those very pretty pink and black tins of towels by Moxie - they are very chic looking and waitrose sell them - kind of a special looking thing but one that has a function. ]Then of course it will be filled with own-brand towels later on.] Maybe you could just hand one over next time you see her rather than posting...

I got a Mars bar and went shopping for new shoes, no one said, congratulations on your period, but I knew what it was for. I love the idea/sentiment but she might be horrified at such an explicit congratulations. I'd say treat her a bit more like a grown up, ask her opinion on something. It doesn't have to be girly central but I do think its a lovely time, just for women

This thread is hysterical.
Personally I wouldn't get her a gift, because I don't really think having periods is a cause for celebrating. Lets face it, our lives would be simpler and nicer without them.
However it might be nice to take her out for a little treat or something.

Funnily enough was talking to some Indian colleagues about this yesterday - in the part of South India they come from, it's common to hold menarche parties. One said how massively relieved she was that her mother decided not to hold one for her as she would have been consumed with embarrassment.

If your instinct is to give her a present, then go with it and get her something. It's lovely that she has told you and you want to reinforce the idea that you are a good person to talk to. That way, when she starts falling out with her parents with any luck she will confide in you instead.

Poor OP.

Can anyone find the link to the dancing hippo jumper that someposter's Mum knitted them she started?