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Your own 18th birthday present

(54 Posts)
Baggs Sat 03-Jun-17 06:57:42

There is a thread already on what presents to give to young people reaching their eighteenth birthday nowadays. What did your parents give you as an eighteenth birthday present?

Mine gave me a silver bangle and a lovely India paper edition of Shakespeare's works. My dad asked me for ideas about something I would like to have and I said I'd like to have a silver bangle. It was a really lovely one. I've since given it to DD1. I still have the Shakespeare.

Alima Sat 03-Jun-17 07:18:50

I don't remember 18th birthdays as being significant when I was that age, 1971. If they were I was seen off! 21 was always the biggy then.

kittylester Sat 03-Jun-17 07:26:05

I think the 'age of majority' changed to 18 at the beginning of 1970. I was 21 on January 5th of that year.

I had a gold, rotary watch. I still have it but it is really tiny and needs winding daily so sits in my jewellery box. My nan bought me a gold bangle in a style that was very trendy way back then - but isn't now!

I do still wear the antique gold and garnet ring given to me by my uncle.

Chewbacca Sat 03-Jun-17 07:27:36

Don't remember anything significant for my 18th birthday but I was given a silver bracelet for my 21st. I spent years collecting little charms to go on it but I rarely ever wore it because it was so heavy and cumbersome. Still got it somewhere.

Gymstagran Sat 03-Jun-17 07:35:02

I was given a gold signet ring with my initials engraved and entwined. I still wear it today.

Grannyknot Sat 03-Jun-17 07:43:02

I was given a "kist" for my "trousseau". How quaint that seems now! (for 21st not 18th).

cornergran Sat 03-Jun-17 07:47:00

18 wasn't seen as significant for me. For my 21st my parents gave me crystal jewellery. I treasure it but don't wear it. I might when I get older grin. We had married a few months before , we had a small,party at home but Mr C was in no financial position for a gift. I didn't mind smile.

J52 Sat 03-Jun-17 07:56:07

Snap Kitty same birthday, same present!

travelsafar Sat 03-Jun-17 08:07:50

It was the 21st for me that was significant way back when. I had a beautiful necklace with a purple stone of somekind from my inlaws, but sadly i lost that abut 20 years ago and still to this day i am gutted as i loved it very much. My parents bought me a beautiful jewellery box with a dancing ballerina, that too has disappeared over the years i really cant remember what happened to it. When i think about those two items it makes me sad. I still have birthday cards though.

Greyduster Sat 03-Jun-17 08:08:31

No eighteenth for me either, in 1964, but for my 21st I was given a gold Swiss watch by my parents and my brother, and a pretty gold bangle by DH. Both the watch and the bangle were stolen in a burglary in the 1980s.

jusnoneed Sat 03-Jun-17 08:16:17

1974 for me, my parents gave me a gold watch. Still in working order although rarely worn these days.
Meal out with my parents,grandparents, brother, and my then hubby to be (no longer) and his parents and sister.

ninathenana Sat 03-Jun-17 08:27:03

I don't remember a present for my 18th. I do remember mum and dad taking me out for a meal though.
I can't think of anything significant for my 21st either apart from H and I went wedding ring shopping smile My birthday is January and we married April. I think as mum and dad paid for most of the wedding it would have only been a small gift.

shysal Sat 03-Jun-17 08:57:31

I was already married on my 21st and received a food mixer from my parents, money and 21 silver threepenny bits from my in-laws. It is my eldest GS's 18th today, not sure whether to pass on 18 of the coins or not. It would mean buying 5 more sets for the other 5 GCs as they come of age.

rosesarered Sat 03-Jun-17 08:59:02

18 wasn't anything special for me (1969) so I had to wait until I was 21 by which time it was then 18! grin So I was given a silver bangle ( they must have been popular) which I was very pleased with.

annsixty Sat 03-Jun-17 09:00:11

Certainly nothing significant for my 18th. That was in 1955.
I married 3 weeks after my 21st and as the only child of a single (widowed) mother everything went on the very simple wedding.
My H bought me a lovely Antler suitcase to take on honeymoon and I think it is still in the loft. I really treasured it.

M0nica Sat 03-Jun-17 09:02:17

21 was the age that counted back in the 1960s. DP gave me an elderly scooter so I could be independent and a ring that had belonged to my grandmother. Other presents that come to mind are a magazine rack and a coffee set of coffee pot and 6 mugs and quite a lot of books, I think from people who asked me what I wanted. My birthday is in August and it was a lovely sunny day and I had a days leave.

I had had a shared birthday party at University in June. My friend and I both had August birthdays and we wanted a celebration with friends before we all graduated and went our separate ways.

Like others, I still have all my 21st birthday cards.

harrigran Sat 03-Jun-17 09:18:17

My parents gave me a pair of pyjamas and a pair of slippers for my 18th as I was moving into the nurses home on the eve of my birthday. My sister gave me a travel clock and DH gave me a silver cross on a chain.
I do not recall 21st birthday gifts other than a gold charm bracelet from DH.

annodomini Sat 03-Jun-17 09:31:12

18 wasn't a significant age in 1958. My parents came up to St Andrews and took me out to lunch. Three years later, at 21, I was given a longed-for record player and an amethyst pendant. The latter is still very precious to me, but what's a record player?

yggdrasil Sat 03-Jun-17 11:39:04

I don't remember what my mother gave me at 21, but my younger sister gave am a Jacques Loussier jazz LP. Which was quite a cost for a teenager. And I still had it until a few years ago, when I couldn't play LPs any more.

NonnaW Sat 03-Jun-17 15:44:15

My parents bought me a silver charm bracelet which I'm sad to say I lost a few months later. The bought me another for my 19th with an anchor on it to anchor it to me! I still have that one. My sister bought me a large teddy which I'd always wanted. I called him Edison.

MargaretX Sat 03-Jun-17 15:57:45

I was given a gold watch from my mother but no engagement ring which was what all my friends got. In fact during the party BF got off with my best friend and spent the evening somehwere upstairs with her.

Never mind! LIFE got better after that!

MargaretX Sat 03-Jun-17 15:59:09

It was of course my 21st birthday a suitable time to get engaged.

kittylester Sat 03-Jun-17 16:02:28

I've just remembered that my great aunt bought me a gold watch pendant in the shape of a chianti bottle. The face of the watch was in the base of the bottle. I thought I was the bees knees when I wore that with my really short shift dress and my low heeled, almond toed, sling back shoes or my black patent knee high boots. blush

Norah Sat 03-Jun-17 16:25:48

Gold Jewelry and cash.

Elrel Sun 04-Jun-17 14:22:53

21st, a lovely little gold wrist watch. I wore daily it for at least 30 years but the dial was tiny and numbers tiny gold chips so eventually I needed something easier to see. It's in a bedroom drawer.
Subsequently I had a couple of jazzy Swatches but as my eyesight deteriorated I found their busy dials difficult to read too. For the last 20 years I've had a child's basic Swatch with a small dial which has nice clear numbers!