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

[NapQueen]

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?

My 3 got passports for Xmas last year. A different situation as they have dual nationality but we never got the UK passports for financial reasons. They loved them even though they've had their other passports for years and have travelled on them a bit. They were 3, 6 , and 9.

absolutely get the passport. but not as present.
imo a passport is essential and everyone should have one.

I think its a lovely idea and my 6 year old DD would be totally thrilled with that as a preset if that is what she had asked for. Perhaps make up a gift voucher saying flight due Easter/summer holidays or something like that. Or if you opt for the internal flights make up your own passport and tickets (as its all done online now you wont get actual tickets) like olden day tickets. She will be thrilled as that's what she wants. The year I gave my DD three small gifts (a few mr men books, an activity book and a small lego friends set) she was the happiest and most grateful. As those were the three things she loved the most at the time. No one needs to spend 100s of pounds and give loads of presents. Children don't expect it and don't have time for it all.

Dear OP,
From the Flybe website: Children under the age of 16 do not need to show ID on domestic routes. The adult they are travelling with can vouch for the infant's/child's identification, providing the relevant photo ID is shown (by the adult). On International routes a passport will be required. You could buy the tickets for her present without the additional cost of the passport.

Yep, spend the money on cheap flights to Ireland, leave the passport until it's needed!

There's no point having a passport before you actually travel abroad. You'll just have to pay again to renew it sooner than necessary.

ifly re parent taking child without permission if a parent wanted to take a child without permission nothing would stop them doing it by car, bus or train. Hence passports are not required for internal flights.
I'm also fairly sure photo driving licences are also sufficient for internal flights too.

Purple I honestly don't see why passports are essential - why spend money on something that you have no plans to use?

Op back to the drawing board. I'd try and get a cheap weekend away from your local airport to a UK city. All city's have a low cost hotel somewhere and some interesting kids activities, zoo, museum, historic buildings, science centre.

Please should have been plus

Going against the majority, I actually think it's a rather cool idea. My DD would love that kind of thing. She could play with it and plan some pretend travels until the real trip materialises.

Children's passports, and adults' passports, are expensive, so no point getting one unless you're planning on an actual trip abroad. They're not essential and are a waste of money if you're not going to use them. My own passport expired a few years back and I've not renewed it as I haven't needed to go abroad - and it's too expensive to do so unnecessarily. And a child passport only lasts five years, so it'll expire relatively quickly and then you'll need to buy another one.

You would be able to give her the passport... but as it is a real legal document you would probably have to take it back to look after it for her.

This doesn't sound like a good present for a 6 year old.

Tickets for a plane flight would be much more fun.