I would like to start an annual gift tradition this year with my son, but I’m having a hard time coming up with an idea. If I had a daughter, I might start a charm bracelet that I added to each [name_u]Christmas[/name_u]. My best friend growing up got 2 pearls added to a strand each year until she had a full necklace. Is there anything equivalent for a boy? The only thing I’ve come up with is to start building him a [name_u]Lionel[/name_u] train set, piece by piece. That doesn’t have the same sentiment or feel of a charm bracelet or pearl necklace. Plus, he may not care a thing for trains by the time he’s old enough to play with it.
Does anyone have any suggestions that one might do for a boy? I’d like to create a yearly tradition that becomes a gift he can have for the rest of his life.
The only other idea I had was a yearly savings bond (do they still make those?), but that is too boring.
My parents have done the same one for both my brother and myself every year. A [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] tree ornament. Her thoughts on this were when we move out we would already have at least 18 ornaments to put on our own tree since most people have to start completely from scratch. [name_f]Every[/name_f] year we put our ornaments on the tree and add the ornament from the previous year.
I feel like cars are a safe thing for boys. (My son loves them!!)
Start out with stuffed cars then move to something like the hot wheels cars.
Maybe one year, if you believe in doing so, you could get him an actual car.
Then there’s the option of model cars.
When he’s an adult and has his own car, you could get him something for his car.
[name_f]Edit[/name_f]: Totally forgot about the mini-cars for kids to drive!!!
I don’t know that there is a [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] necklace equivalent for boys. But your son would probably really appreciate the savings bonds when he comes of age. I like the toy car idea combined with this- maybe each year, give him an age appropriate toy car and a savings bond and then when he grows up, he can use the savings bonds towards a car of his own to drive.
My mom also bought us each a [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] ornament every year. She was very concerned that we would move out and not own any [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] ornaments.
I second the savings bond idea–he’ll definitely appreciate those when he grows up! My grandfather gave both me and my brother savings bonds every year for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] AND birthday. We have a huge stash just waiting to mature, and I’m really looking forward to the pay-out! When we were younger we were a little confused because it wasn’t “real” money but you just have to explain that one day they’ll be able to turn everything in for a hefty sum. I would always get really excited every time we got a birthday/[name_u]Christmas[/name_u] card in the mail from grandpa. We each also had our own “safe” box to put them in, so part of the fun every year was taking the box out of mom and dad’s closet and counting up our bonds and putting the new one in… maybe we were weird kids though!
I actually really like your train set idea. I don’t have any kids of my own, but I have looked after a lot of little boys and they ALL love trains.
Something I plan on doing with my children–boys or girls–is to write them a letter or a journal entry every year about their milestones or what they did that year (places they visited, activities they participated in). This would certainly have the sentimental value you’re looking for. For a little added value, you could stick a $20 in with every letter. It would be a great present when they turn 18!
The other idea is to start a collection: [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] tree ornaments like other posters have said, maybe coins (from each year of his life?), baseball caps, golf balls, jerseys? I got a piece from the Dickens Village every year for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] from my grandma, which I loved, and I think could be relevant to boys too. There are lots of different villages to choose from (City Lights Collectibles has them, if you want to google).
Ours is very personalized to [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] because of a nickname, but we’re giving him a dinosaur for every [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] or birthday, we haven’t decided which yet. We may also write a little note.
I love the idea of a train set, and SO would be all over that if we can’t find the right kind of dinosaurs. They play Train Simulator together when he needs him to be calm for just a few minutes longer than he’s willing to be. Well, SO plays, [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] stares at the trains.
I don’t know if this is helpful at all, just how we decided what to do.
Edit: He wants to do both, so we don’t need to choose between Christmas and birthday at all.
I’m doing charm bracelets for my girls (or starting this year!). My parents are doing the [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] tree ornament thingy, it’s tradition in my mum’s family that the grandparents give their grandchildren one ornament each year.
You could do jewellery for a boy as well, although it might be less exciting. I like the dinosaur idea, or maybe you could do something like a knight and dragon thing. Start with a stuffed dragon and work up to really cool knight figurines, books about [name_m]King[/name_m] [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] and so on. My brother is obsessed with penguins, so my parents always give him something penguin related, but his love for this animal didn’t start until he was 6-7.
We always got savings bonds from one of my uncles (and he is still nicknamed Uncle [name_m]Bond[/name_m] in our extended family). I definitely thought it was a bit boring as a kid, but LOVED it later when I realized what an awesome gift it was once they matured.
My parents always gave us a new ornament for the tree that was sort of a memory from that year which I think is a very special tradition.
For me as a little girl, I would not have been excited at all about getting pearls or charms for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u]. I would not have appreciated these things until I grew up, at which point I would have loved it.
I have a friend whose great aunt gave her a silver place setting every year for her birthday. When she was growing up, she was not excited about silverware, but as an adult, she was thrilled to own a full set of actual silver. So yes, kids are unlikely to appreciate savings bonds now, but all of the young adults I have ever known have been thrilled about money.
Thanks everyone for the ideas and opinions. I probably will start something practical like savings bonds and also something fun like a train set or some other collection.
Can’t believe the holiday season is upon us already?!
With our boys we started the tradition of giving them [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] tree ornaments each year. They both have their own box to store them in, and my husband and I hope that they’ll take them with them when they move out as a start to their own collection. We plan to do this for all of our children. It is something that both my family and my husband’s family did for us growing up, and when we got married we had just over forty ornaments combine for our [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] tree. We still receive an ornament each year. For us it’s really special.
We also have a safe in our bedroom that has a one dollar bill from each year of their life that we plan on giving them for their eighteenth birthday. Though it isn’t something that we decided to do as a [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] tradition it is something that you could do!
I love the suggestion of cars… All boys like cars. And mine happen to love trains, so I think that’d be a great idea as well! Good luck with your decision! [name_f]Merry[/name_f] [name_u]Christmas[/name_u]!
We each also had our own “safe” box to put them in, so part of the fun every year was taking the box out of mom and dad’s closet and counting up our bonds and putting the new one in… maybe we were weird kids though!