To give gin as 18th birthday present

[Nishky]

My child’s friend is 18 soon. This friend drinks gin when they go to parties- those pre- mixed cans.

My child bought them a glass and I suggested some miniature bottles of special gin as well. I bought these, they are in unusual mini bottles and things like blood orange, spiced gin, I intended these to be part of the present from my child to their friend but I was happy to pay for them

I then found out that my child had told them I had bought them a present - I didn’t think anything of it until 4am this morning when insomnia struck

I was intending to buy a present myself, just a token.

So is it wrong for an adult to give an 18 year old alcohol. I don’t know this child’s family, I have never spoken to her parents

Should I suggest my daughter gives her the gin and I buy her something else?

I'd say it's a very common 18 year old birthday present! I wouldn't see the problem, it's legal.

@fromthefloorboardsup thank you, I do have a tendency to overthink things!

Give them to your daughter for her to package up together as one gift as was your original plan, and then just get your token gift.

And as for your question. No, it isn't wrong for an adult to give another adult alcohol.

@fromthefloorboardsup thank you, I might do that just for my own piece of mind!

no it sounds great, she is 18 after all and it is perfectly legal and acceptable.
it might not be appreciated as much as "necked" though

I would be thrilled to receive any booze as an 18th present and if I cast my mind back to my own 18th, more years ago than I like to think, I got A LOT of booze.

It’s legal in U.K., but why gin? That’s hard liquor.
The 18yr old may be happy....but her parents will think ? Are you trying to encourage drunkenness?

It may be legal, but not how I’d recognize that milestone in a friend’s almost adult child. If alcohol were a gift, I’d do a bottle of champagne. It’s celebratory it marks drinking legally, but without the hard drinking strip paint off a car connotations of gin.

why would her parent be so judgmental?

DoctorAllcome gin doesn’t have those associations any more. It’s gone trendy now. Why is a gin and tonic any worse than a glass of champagne?

Forgot. YANBU op.

Just looked it up. 125ml glass of champagne-1.5units. Single gin and tonic 0.9units. So even for a double, a gin and tonic is going to be similarly alcoholic to champagne. No one I know drinks straight gin.

YANBU. Alcohol is a standard 18th birthday gift and gin is the go-to drink these days. 10 years ago it was vodka.

Their parents won't be judgmental- what a ridiculous suggestion.

legal in U.K., but why gin?
Because OP said the person in question drinks gin when they go out

Nothing wrong with gin. There is a huge market in flavoured gin nowadays. Very very popular including gin festivals, gin tasting sessions. It is very much the in drink.

Their parents won't be judgmental- what a ridiculous suggestion

The op says she doesn't know the parents so she has no way to know what they will think, it's equally ridiculous for you to assume they won't be judgemental, there could be valid reasons for them not be comfortable with an adult they don't know going their daughter alcohol..

Absolutely fine, if she’s anything like me and my friends she’ll have been drinking on the sly for a couple of years already anyway!!* Plus she’s 18, legally an adult, she can decide if she drinks or not.

*Before the MN alcohol police come for me I know it was illegal and stupid, I’m not encouraging it at all, just telling my own personal experience.

I would be shocked if my child’s milestone was recognise in such way. To me it shows lack of creativity and lack of judgment. So many experiences you could give an 18yrs old for the same price. Even vouchers to topshop would be better.
Alcohol... this is so typical of a country that cant drink properly, they have to binge.

Mine all got alcohol in one form or another for birthdays from their eighteenth.That has included gin, which has always been very well received and returned with them to university for ‘Prinks’.

Overthinking. They're mini bottles. @Bubblesgun your stereotypes are out of date. Young people are drinking less these days compared to previous decades.

@coconuttelegraph ok with the exception of anyone's child who's experienced alcoholism in their teens...

You wouldn’t think twice about buying a nice bottle of champagne (that’s almost a rite of passage where we live for eighteenths and twenty firsts) so I think the glass and miniatures is nice. At that age, if they were pretty colours and unusual bottles I’d have kept them on a shelf in my bedroom- probably would still display them now!!

"Alcohol... this is so typical of a country that cant drink properly, they have to binge."
@Bubblesgun, do one with the condemnation of the whole of the UK.

OP, it's a standard and appropriate gift and most importantly, one she'll want.

That's a really interesting question OP. I think I'd give the gin to your DD to package as part of her present and from you buy a more wholesome present like a nice pen or wallet or gloves.

PPs are right, she's 18, all legal etc but I'd feel a bit uneasy that it appears to be encouraging hard liquor as soon as possible. (I have put minis of specialised gin or vodka in my 17 yr old DC's Christmas stocking before but felt uncomofrtable afterwards, though it was quite gratifying to see they were only half drunk several weeks later. They sip at them, not knock them back.) I guess there are more positive directions to be nudging them towards than hard booze asap.

No different to a bottle of champagne as pps have said. The only change is gin is fashionable these days. If you feel remotely uncomfortable though I'd just gift some posh chocs from yourself, and the gin/glass from your DC.

@DocusDiplo not so sure about that. Saturday night Clapham Junction in London or even in town, people vomitting in the street or starting to drink in the afternoon if there is a game on or buying cheap wine instead of quality wine to drink with a lovely meal or I quote “drinking on the sly” from a previous poster, etc. Not so much old fashion, but granted these are stereotypes but unfortunately i have seen it in my own eyes.
Not the way my friends and I drink and not the way i would recognise a milestone birthday. That it is really cliche and poor.