Looking for Ideas for Annual Birthday/keepsakes

Hi L.,

I see someone already recommended Cherished Teddies, which my mother started my son on, but I have another suggestion. My SIL started my son on a wooden train set. Check it out at woodentoy.com. They are beautiful! As far as your daughter, might I recommend going to a jewelry stor to see if they have an "add a pearl" program. You buy a chain with one pearl on it, then add one every year ... when she gets married, she'll have a beautiful pearl necklace to wear!

My husband wanted to start something for his first niece when she was born 6 years ago (before we had kids). We had just gotten married, and on our honeymoon we visited an antique shop in New Orleans - saw many old-time "pill boxes" and so picked one out, in sort of a baby design and figured we'd build on the collection as time went by, by incorporating her interests, which we have done. Now you can find pill boxes in many catalogs, but we still try to give her an antique when we can (they can be pricey). For his second niece we decided to give her coins. The first year we got a set (penny, nickel, dime, quarter and I think half-dollar) from the year she was born. Second year we did one from 100 years before she was born. The third year her grandpa turned 60, so we got one from his birth year. Last year we did some coins(not a full set) from the year MN became a state (150 years before). This year I think we're going to give her the full State quarter set that I've been collecting since it started 10 years ago and is now complete. So, obviously these gifts for the girls are not especially "girlie" . When our nephew came along, we didn't quite know what to do for him, but my husband started looking online, Ebay or something and noticed there was a lot of military memorabilia, so we started the boy on WWII artifacts, first year we gave a medal we found online and this year we are either going to give him a book of artwork done by some soldiers that were stationed in France during WWII, or an army jacket we got at an antique shop on a recent trip of ours. We are kind of enjoying the "hunt" for these gifts and find it a nice way to be thinking of these kids as we are on our travels. Oh, one more thing... for my oldest niece on my side, since I am her godmother I started giving her a Christmas ornament with her name on it every year. By the time she moves out, she'll have a nice collection of ornaments for her own tree. Good luck!

Hello,
How abput Add- A- Pearl necklace for your daughter and Brio train set for the son. You can add a piece every year.

It may not be as appreciated now, but I have a boy who will be 3 in Oct. and every year I have written him a letter about him that year. We also do a yearly christmas ornament (they get to hang on the tree on x-mas eve. My Mother-in-law did the letters for my husband and he LOVES looking back at the letters now and comparing them to his son now. It's great for when they are adults, and doesn't cost anything when you have financial strain.

We do Cherished Teddies figures for my daughter and my sister (her godmother) does an add a pearl necklace. For my son it was tough. We are doing some fire truck figures with his age made by Vanmark (my husband is a firefighter), but we also thought about giving him a train car for each birthday and when he was older he would have a nice train set. Good luck!

My SIL gets my b/g twins those figurine things too. She gets Precious Moments for my daughter and Cherished Teddies for my son.

One thing my mom has done for us is find a brand new shiny penny for each year (she doesn't just go to the bank... it has to come by her "naturally") so we have a penny from each year that we've been alive. She's started it for my kids now too.

The previous poster mentioned the add-a-pearl.. I have that too, and I have a pearl for every year and then major life events (baptism, first communion, confirmation, hs graduation, etc).

I have begun charm bracelets for my children and a few of my friends daughters. I have a charm bracelet from when I was young and I still put charms on it, such as a bell for my wedding and a special charm for each of my daughters. And yes, I wear it all the time. Charms do not come readily in suvenior (sp?) shops but you can go to your local jewelry store or ebay has everything you could ever imagine.