Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To give dd a passport as one of her christmas gifts?

60 replies

NapQueen · 07/11/2017 20:17

She will have just turned six. Dh and I havent been abroad since before she was born which is why she doesnt have one yet.

However she is desperate to go on an airplane. My sister travels a lot and I think dd is in awe of the places she goes so I figured I could get away with giving her the passport, and maybe one of those scratch maps for christmas.

Itll probably take up half the budget, but as she is so young shes content with cheaper presents so I will be able to bulk it out with "tat" she likes.

Aibu to "gift" somethig which probably most other passport owning kids just get as a standard necessity?

OP posts:
willstarttomorrow · 07/11/2017 20:47

At 6 it is difficult because you are restricted by term dates and flight prices shoot up in price in the holidays. However I love a cheap flight and using skyscanner we can usually get away 2-3 times a year. Maybe have a look using the anywhere facility for dates you can do and see if you can find some cheap flights first. You can search whole months at a time. If you can afford it then maybe you could include some hints to where you are going. Be mindful of costs when away though.

LemonysSnicket · 07/11/2017 20:49

Yes YABU ... she's 6, a passport is not a present. You don't need one for internal flights and frankly you should be pay g for that separately to gifts I think.

ChocolateWombat · 07/11/2017 20:52

Agree that you could think again about if you really need to buy it. It's not necessary for an internal flight and you could buy a ticket for that and gift it instead.

If however you do decide to buy a passport I can't see any particular reason not to wrap it and give it - as long as there will be some other stuff to unwrap too. A 6 year old often doesn't understand the price of stuff and you can make a decent gift pile without spending loads.

I'm not of the view that you have to spend X amount on gifts,especially for younger kids. They often enjoy the cheaper things as much if not more.

So what if most people don't wrap a passport - you can wrap anything you like and the key is if the child will like it - and it sounds like your DD will too. Even if you haven't booked a flight you can make a voucher to say 'flight will definitely happen in 2018' or similar.

Original poster
NapQueen · 07/11/2017 20:52

Im happy to wait and pay for a passport as and when one is needed, which is increasingly likely given the feedback on here. I wasnt doing it as a cop out, I can think of plenty of things to buy her which are more traditional gifts.

I just know she wants to go on an airplane and thought this would be sonething she would enjoy receiving.

I agree with those who are saying the gift should be the flight. I will definetly look at uk flights hadnt realised she wouldnt need photo id.

OP posts:
PipLongStockings · 07/11/2017 20:54

I did this last year with both my DS aged 8 and 4, they were thrilled.... Haven't used them yet though due to recent divorce

ChocolateWombat · 07/11/2017 20:58

And as a similar, I remember receiving a duvet and covers as my present for my 8th birthday.
Back then, people were still using sheets and blankets and I really wanted a duvet. They cost quite a lot and my parents didn't want to just buy it as it wasn't necessary, so I had it as a gift. Everyone else was just given one. I was keen to have it so I had it as a gift - no problem.

I think it's fine to give things kids need and you might buy anyway as gifts too. I include toothbrushes and bubble bath in a stocking and also packs of socks or knickers. I would give pyjamas as a present too and might give something like a voucher saying they would be going on a school residential or a Brownie camp. There will be other stuff too, so why not?

And if it's a case of having the passport as a gift or not at all, well then absolutely do it if you feel it is needed and will be used. Waste of time if it won't be used though.

Tippz · 07/11/2017 21:01

A passport is a crap gift for a 6 year old. Confused

Whose idea was THAT?

It's something you buy anyway! Everyone I know would buy their offspring their passport at 15/16 y.o. Not make it a gift.

May as well say her school shoes are a Christmas gift!

ginswinger · 07/11/2017 21:02

We were desperate to go abroad as kids but my parents were poor as church mice. So they concocted some quite reasonably forged passports and a trip on the IOW ferry and a friendly man in a jacket at the other end to check the 'passports'.
Best
holiday
ever.

NB, since then I've got a real passport and my parents weren't arrested for passport forgery although they probably should have been.

DillyDilly · 07/11/2017 21:05

Crap present!

Cockmagic · 07/11/2017 21:07

Sorry but no, a passport is not a gift.

FindoGask · 07/11/2017 21:10

I don't think either of mine would have been blown away by a passport at that age.

I agree with some others that for me it's in the category of thing that you just kind of provide if it's needed - so if you were definitely going abroad, then a passport would be got, but the going abroad would be the big deal, not the passport. But then it's one of those things that is personal to each family isn't it - like, I don't tend to give necessary items as presents (like clothes unless it was something particularly fancy like a party dress) whereas I know other people do. I don't think they're wrong, I just wouldn't do it.

So I don't think you're being unreasonable - you know your daughter better than I do! But equally it's not something I personally would have done.

PineConesAplenty · 07/11/2017 21:10

You could easily fly to Dublin, then at least you get out of the UK. Skyscanner is your friend. It would allow you to try a multitude of destinations from your local airport.

I think it is a lovely idea. I am still miffed I never had a Mr Frosty Grin so the fact she wants one and could make use of a passport is a lovely.

MrsOverTheRoad · 07/11/2017 21:10

A plane ticket...not a passport!

lionsleepstonight · 07/11/2017 21:10

Flight tickets = gift
Passport = Hmm

NeurodiverseNancy · 07/11/2017 21:13

I had a passport as a gift for my 18th Birthday having never been abroad before, as did my sisters. We were super pleased and have all since taken ourselves abroad.

Kardashianlove · 07/11/2017 21:15

I think at 6 she would want/think she was going straight away - like that day the next day! Not sure if she would get super excited seeing the passport and then really disappointed that she was going on a plane 'maybe sometime next year'.

HaudYerWheeshtBawbag · 07/11/2017 21:20

She does not need a passport to to have an experience aboard an aeroplane!

I personally think yabu, OK, you and your dh haven't needed a passport since she was born, however that's not her fault/problem.

The main issue for me is whats the point of getting her a passport to not give her the experience of being a passenger of a plane?

Its pointless and a waste of money.

louise5754 · 07/11/2017 21:21

If you can't afford a passport I'd wait until after Christmas.

I think it would be cruel.

Please once you've given it to her you would have to take it back off her to keep safe.

londonlookout · 07/11/2017 21:21

Hmm, not really a present unless it is a necessity and you really can't afford it otherwise.
A classmate got her cat vaccinated as a Xmas present once, I felt that was a crap present!

Iflyaway · 07/11/2017 21:31

I fly in uk with kids and they don't need id.

I don't live in UK but I find this incredible. What about one parent taking their child without permission?

I've been questioned checking into a flight with my son because we have different surnames.

In my country kids need a passport or I.D. from 6 months. You also need to show it for any registration anywhere like a hospital.

As for buying your 6-year-old a passport, what's the point if you're not planning on using it?

You could make it a project to make one yourselves, stamps and all! Be creative, get an atlas and get her interested in the world around her! Smile

WrittenandGrown · 07/11/2017 21:40

What about some flight luggage and some minor toiletries like her auntie probably has for traveling?

WrittenandGrown · 07/11/2017 21:41

Minor should be mini *

whoareyou123 · 07/11/2017 21:49

ifly children don't need id for domestic flights ie places that you don't need a passport to get to.

ChocolateWombat · 07/11/2017 21:52

To the person who said 'might as well make her school shoes a gift' - do you realise that there are people who have to do that? That actually quite a lot of people give necessities at Christmas so there's something to open and if they didn't do that, there wouldn't be anything. Or that they give necessities to bulk up a present pile becaue otherwise it would be very very small.

I agree that unless going abroad a passport can be avoided.

However, the general idea that things like passports must always be provided by parents as a matter of course and never be considered as gifts, just fails to recognise the position lots of people find themselves in. Remember there are people whose kids won't get any presents unless they are those that a charity will give them, and a number of people who will be giving school uniform or bedding or a winter coat or schools supplies - and not only do parents give those, but if relatives ask what they can get the kids, the parents ask the relatives to get these necessitates because if they don't, the parents won't be able to buy them as a gift or otherwise.

And not all kids are disappointed to get stuff that others might see as their entitlement.

Sorry, but I just think there's a bit of a lack of awareness on here.

HolyShmoly · 07/11/2017 22:04

Family have recently travelled within UK with just birth certs for kids.

I remember being obsessed with the idea of passports at one stage. At school we made our own and drew our own stamps of different countries we'd go to into it. I still don't know how I knew the names of some of those countries!
My own passport is much more boring now I have one. (I wonder if we'll start getting stamps again, post-brexit?)

So I don't think the idea of a passport is a cop-out. I think it's actually very thoughtful, but it may not work the way you want it. I agree with others that actual flights would be a brilliant idea and similar cost-wise. How about something to take on the plane as a token for the morning?