We didn't know this was her birthday when we booked and paid as obviously we hadn't even interviewed her then. However, it turns out that 4 weeks after she gets here (Australian) it's her 21st birthday.
I've looked into booking an extra space on holiday; but spoken to the company over the phone yesterday and the only single occupancy space (would NEVER expect her to share with us!) is 40km away. So not an option, then.
We fly out on the day of her birthday. We've spoken to her about this as soon as we realised obviously, in case she felt it was too much and wanted to pull out or something. But she didn't really bat and eyelid and neither did her mum (on Skype at the time so she could meet us), and just went "oh that'll be a nice break for you DD" (she's coming via Canada to see family) and moved on.
Well we just feel terrible about it. It's only a week, and a much longed for holiday. Is there anything we can do to make it nice for her? Obviously she's going to be on full pay for the full 12 days we are off work. DH has suggested a cash gift so she can go out and treat herself, and I thought we could go to Waitrose and choose her some lovely food to fill the fridge while we are away, and a spa day. She won't know anyone here, although all the girls we've had have been very quick off the mark to get good social lives (live in London).
So does anyone have any other ideas of how we can make this a positive experience for her? Admittedly, the other girls who have been here on their birthdays haven't really spent them with us (although obviously we've had a meal and given some gifts), they've gone out on the town with their friends and had a nice time. I'm just worried it's so early on and I don't want to mar her experience.
Many thanks in advance 