# 12 year old and her "Golden Birthday"



## traixa2 (Dec 6, 2002)

Okay, so my DDs birthday is on Friday, her "golden birthday",and I know she is expexting some huge deal made out of it....but we have so little $ right now. (DH unemployed, just had babe #4 a few weeks ago, I'm on my leave and only collecting about a third of my regular pay, you get the picture).
Heres my idea, I want toget her a pair of sapphire earrings and maybe a matching necklace. Kohls usually has deep discounts on jewelry, plus I have a charge card for Kohls. (kohls is a department store for those of you not from the midwest, a little more "upscale" than Target, but not in the Daytons league either).
Dh doesn't think thats a good idea, he wants to get her MORE rather than SUBSTANCE. E.g. loading up on jeans and other clothes (which she does need, she has had a Huge growth spurt this past summer. Last weekend we went through her clothes and pretty much handed down all but a pair a red plaid pants and 4 shirts to her sister.)
What do you experienced Mammas have to say about this? Will DD be more likely pleased with the joowls, or clothes? I am unsure what to do.


----------



## seraph (Sep 11, 2002)

If it were me, I'd want the jewelry. It'll be something that will always remind her of her golden birthday. Clothes are so quickly outgrown and passed on, but that will be something she can keep forever.


----------



## kama'aina mama (Nov 19, 2001)

I'm with you. This might be one of those things that male people are unlikely to get... but a keepsake, her first real, grown up type jewelry will mean something to her for a very long time. The clothes are kind of a cop out. I mean, I hear you that money is short, but lets be honest. No matter when her birthday was, if she has outgrown all her clothes you'd be doing the clothes thing. To call it a birthday present is lame.


----------



## momto l&a (Jul 31, 2002)

If it where me I'd prefer the jewelry.

I have had jewelry given to me on special occasions during my youth and its so much fun wearing the piece and remebering the day/reason it was given to me.


----------



## bloodrayne (Mar 5, 2003)

ITA with kama'aina mama!

I much would have preferred jewelry over clothes at her age.

When I was 4 I had my golden birthday, and my grandma gave me an opal ring. (my birthstone)
I wasn't allowed to wear it until it fit my finger.

WOWEE did I think that was the coolest gift ever. I was only 4, granted, but like someone else said, it was my first piece of real grown up jewelry. I cherished that ring until the opal cracked a few years ago.

I always kind of felt like clothes were a copout gift for birthdays and christmas.. with a few exceptions.. if it was something I had asked for or really really really wanted. Or if it was handmade, like one year my mom made me a pair of Sylvester pajamas. But when I would get turtlenecks and jeans and other school basics I was always a tad disappointed. Shallow perhaps, but true.


----------



## traixa2 (Dec 6, 2002)

Thank for the validation ladies!
my gut instinct is, yeah the real grown up jewelry is the "right" thing to give to DD.
I'll post back after the gift is given to share all the oohs and ahhs.
Have a great day mamas!


----------



## NiteNicole (May 19, 2003)

If you think that's what she'll want, then go for it. Just don't do it because it's what YOU would want.

My mother and grandmother always got me jewelery for gifts and I. Never. Wore. It. I still don't. It was what they WANTED me to like. It actually became a rather large point of contention among us as they would spend a lot of money on something I didn't want in the first place, then get all huffy and snitty when I didn't want to wear it.

So if you think she's into that and it's just perfect, then go for it. But if she's not yet into that kind of thing, don't charge something for the "ooh ahh" factor is there's something else she'd like just as well.

Anyway, just wanted to put that out there because not ALL girls just love the sparkly bits.


----------



## NiteNicole (May 19, 2003)

Also, what is a "golden birthday?"


----------



## kama'aina mama (Nov 19, 2001)

Golden Birthday is the start of your Golden Year! :LOL Not helpful... it is the year you are the same age as your birthday. So her daughter is turning 12 on the 12th, or 14 on the 14th, etc....


----------



## NiteNicole (May 19, 2003)

Wow, I've never even heard of that - is it a tradition spicific to a certain culture or region?


----------



## traixa2 (Dec 6, 2002)

In Minnesota, where my family is from, and here in Wisconsin, all the girls I know, know about golden birthdays. My exhusband from Chicago didn't know anything about them. I don't know if it is a regional thing or what.
Thanks for your input NiteNicole. My soon to be 12 y.o. is very much into girly girly stuff. She loves sparkles and baubles and dressing up. She has 2 jewelry boxes, one for her jewelry and one for all her hair trinkets. She is very responsible and organized, part of my thinking with the "real jewlry" gift is to acknowledge that she IS growing up and IS responsible enough to have something so special.

Kate


----------



## Teensy (Feb 22, 2002)

Perhaps something else you could do is give her the gift of allowing her to do something she is not currently allowed to do (wear lipgloss or stay up an hour later on weekends or something like that), if there is something appropriate that she would like.

Sigh. My birthday is on the 26th and my golden year has long passed.

Hope your daughter has a great birthday!


----------



## momsmilk4babies (Sep 14, 2003)

On Golden Birthdays I definitely think it is a Midwestern sorta thing sinc I had never heard of it before this past weekend. I've lived out here six years(Illinois)and just found out, but lived on the west coast the rest of my life and never heard about it, soooo...............

:bf


----------



## journeymom (Apr 2, 2002)

Well, darn, dd didn't even have a chance. She was born on the 1st.







:


----------



## traixa2 (Dec 6, 2002)

Well, I found a really beautiful pair of earrings and necklace, both were 75% off. Great deal! And she LOVES them! I also found dream interpretation dictionary at 1/2 Price Books and a journal with fairies on the cover. She really liked the books too. I think she had a great birthday. Her close friends at school gave gifts too, one of the girls bought a charm bracelet, and the other girls each bought her a charm for the bracelet. I think that was a really neat idea. We then had an impromptu sleepover with 2 of her friends. I really wasn't planning on it, I'm still pretty wiped out with the baby and toddler, but was feeling energetic the night of her birthday.
She really did have a great birthday. Thanks to all who responded









Kate


----------



## Kirsten (Mar 19, 2002)

Glad it worked out well. I was going to vote jewelry too. On my 12th birthday (not my "golden" - we call it "magic" birthday) my dad gave me a birthstone ring. I thought it was very cool to have such a grown up thing. 11 months later he died. I have that ring on my finger right now - it has been there for 22 years....
The only jewelry I wear 24/7 - my wedding/engagement rings and the ring my dad gave me.
Kirsten


----------

