Present to represent every year alive

[Bluesprinkles12]

Hi all!

Hoping for your help. It’s my best friends 30th this year and hoping to do 30 presents each representing every year of her life. So either something personal, something that represents that age or an event that year.

So far this is what I’ve got (very early planing days) and looking for some more ideas!

1994- the year you were born card
1-95 milk bottle with a drink in it
2-96
3-97
4-98
5-99 Younger sibiling was born- picture of her brother

6-00
7-01
8-02
9-03
10-04
11-05
12-06
13-07
14- 08 First Marvel movie come out- get the DVD
15-09
16-10 paracetamol that you’re going to need tomorrow
17-11 Year you’ve learned to drive
18-12 drinking age/lottery
19-13 First time
20-14 Ice bucket challenge
21-15
22-16
23-17 The year you’ve met me- art of the both of us
24-18
25-19 year we went Italy- Italian desert, pizza making kit?
26-20 COVID- something covid themed
27-21
28-22 Year she met her other half
29-23
30-24

Just buy one really nice present.
Nobody needs or wants 30 bits of "sentimental" tat

It's too much! It'll take ages to unwrap each one and how excited will she be to unwrap a milk bottle? "Oh, a milk bottle. What does it mean?" "It's to represent you being a baby!" "Oh yeah, er, thanks."

It's a thoughtless "thoughtful" gift.

Definitely go with a photo book or scrap book, maybe something she can add to in the future? I hate being centre of attention and 31 presents would be really overwhelming and also make me feel really pressured to do similar in return

Why don't you do 3 presents to represent the end of each decade?

So ten, twenty and then the biggie thirty?

Sounds like a load of absolute tat. She won’t thank you for it and if she does, she’s just being polite.

You could buy something edible/drinkable (probably drinkable!) that's been aged for 10/20/30 years perhaps?

It's just a pile of tat for no reason.

You're seriously going to 'gift her' a photo of her own brother and some Paracetamol? I mean come on 🙈

I think this sounds quite fun.
What about Sparklers for 2000, and a nice face mask for covid? Or there's some really nice hand sanitiser here. It smells gloriously lemony.
Botanical Hand Sanitiser 50ml – Made For Life Organics

What about a Union Jack flag for the coronation in 2023, and you've got her start school date or maybe go to secondary.
Ask her younger sibling for ideas - maybe even a photo from each year (if mum wasn't like my mil and did several years before realising there was no film).

Massively curious what you planned to get for the "first time" gift.

This would be very intense. Even for a romantic partner it would be Joe Goldberg territory.
And you want to get her a present signifying the first time she had sex?

And you want to get her a present signifying the first time she had sex?
And she was apparently 13 when she lost her virginity. Which she can't have been ready for so can't be a happy memory.

Oops, ignore me. Mixed up the calendar year and age. She was 19. As you were.

Still weird, but at least less overall disturbing.

This is a super creepy idea. Yuck.

It's a sweet idea but will just end up with loads of tat if you're insisting on theming to each year.

I agree with this. Kind gesture but honestly I think there are better ways to mark the day.

Why don't you make a photo album full of all your favourite moments together. That is equally thoughtful and more likely to be appreciated.

sounds like my worst nightmare. last thing I need is a big unwanted pile of junk that i’m obliged to keep because you were apparently being thoughtful

One of my friends did this for a mutual friend's 30th. The whole lot went into a shoe box. It was really well done and received. It had things like a silver Jubilee mug (we is old and it was some years ago), stamps, newspaper clippings, 21st birthday photos etc.

More a memory box than "a load of tat".

A DVD!

I think it's quite weird and even intrusive for someone you only met when you were twenty three to get you a gift for every year of your life.

A nice face mask to remember COVID?? Wtaf!

It's not weird at all. The question is in AIBU and it's mnet
Where posters are honest thank god.

You have good intentions but are you sure your friend will appreciate this?

You're putting loads of pressure on her to return the over the top gifting for your 30th. Or even I'm worse the shame If she didn't put in this much effort.

Also opening 30 very random presents is time consuming and awkward.

I was thinking the same, maybe a condom? I wouldn't want anything off a friend on my 30th birthday to remember "my first time," tbh. I'd rather block it out.

On my Dad's 60th or 70th (can't remember offhand) I did whiskeys and brandies and stuff that added up to the year

Or you could find a meaningful eg fact or quote from each year and write that out on a little card and put it in a chest or jar for her

Sorry but I also think this is too weird.

Get one nice present.

30 lollipops labelled 30 sucks.

This reminds me of when my friends and I all turned 16. It became a bit of joke that we all bought each other a box of condoms and a lottery ticket for a birthday present