# Looking for an idea



## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

When Wyxling was first placed with us, I got a charm bracelet for her, with the intention of adding charms to it over the years and giving it to her when she is considerably older.  I have a few little bits for it, and intend to keep adding to it either on her birthday each year, or maybe on significant other occasions.  I also have a few other things put aside for her, letters from before we met her, when we met her, when we celebrated her being with us for a year (a much better day for us than the celebration hearing, given how stressful she finds new situations).

Anyway, I want to do something equivalent for Bladelet, and I have no idea what to do for a boy.  If anyone has any suggestions, that'd be great.


----------



## SummerTilly (Aug 14, 2013)

Anything collectable - like mini toy cars for example?

Or pens (although they may be obsolete by then?)

Front page of the newspaper on his birthday each year. 

Sports memorabilia.  

Number one songs from his birthday each year.

Watches.

Anything that will be collectible in the future, but has meaning now.  

Will keep thinking - it's a brilliant idea


----------



## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

Thanks for the suggestions.  I guess what I'm really looking for is what I have for Wyxling, something that's personal to us as a family, something that means something to us - I've picked charms for her that have relevance to things we have done, e.g. our daughter has eczema, last year we managed to get it under control to the point that she had her first ever bubble bath aged nearly two.  We filled the bath, I mean really filled it, with bubbles, and I started bathing with her.  At that time Wyxling was incredibly hostile towards us, me in particular, most of the time, but she was so happy about this she really let herself enjoy herself with me, and we had such a lovely time playing in the bath together a few times a week.  This was really at the same time things started to get a little better.  

There was a song she loved at play group at the same time which goes:

"I had a little turtle, 
His name is Tiny Tim, 
I put him in the bathtub,
To see if he can swim.

He drank up all the water,
He ate up all the soap, 
And then he got a bubble, 
Stuck inside his throat, 

Bubble, bubble, bubble,
Bubble, bubble, bubble,
Bubble, bubble, bubble
Bubble, bubble, pop!"

I must have sung it for her hundreds and hundreds of times over the space of a few weeks, and she just kept asking me to sing it again and again and again.  I showed her the wonderful thing that if you fill your hands with bubbles and clap them, and when we sang it in the bath she would give me the hugest smile when we got to "pop" and she'd smack her hands into my bubble filled ones and they'd go absolutely everywhere, much to her delight.  Just briefly, she was our wonderful little girl, bright, cheeky, smiley, relaxed, completely enchanting, and not just scared and fighting.

I got her a little Turtle charm for her bracelet for her second birthday which was just after that.

I've got about half a dozen of them now, and I'm not going to bore everyone with all the stories behind them, but they all have some meaning for us, and I've written a little letter to go with each one.  I got one during the introductions, one for her birthday, one for her first Christmas with us, one when we celebrated our first year together, and I'm just picking one for her third birthday which is soon, which got me thinking about this again.  I tried to come up with something before Bladelet was placed, but just couldn't.

Music is important to us - although I wouldn't get anything chart related - but perhaps that's a route to go down - although what format music will be in when our children reach 18 I have no idea.  I still have a couple of lps!

I want something that can have similar meaning and thought.

I'm not really good at sentimental stuff tbh.


----------



## SummerTilly (Aug 14, 2013)

I think what you're doing sounds really lovely and sentimental. 

How about cufflinks?  Even if Bladelet won't wear them later in life, they are similar to a charm bracelet and you can get them custom made quite inexpensively to really match your experiences through sites like etsy.  They can have photos, shapes etc on them that reflect what you have done together. 

xx


----------



## MissMayhem (Feb 24, 2013)

Hi Wyxie, I agree it's a lovely thing that you're doing.  Lots of great suggestions above.  One other thing is a journal book (you can make your own or buy one on Gettingpersonal they have a lovely one that gives lots of prompts); I got one each for my parents and they both fill it in with their life story about their child i.e. when we were waiting to have you, when we first met you etc etc.  My father is actually my step-father so his version will be ten years behind my mother's!  They were delighted to have them and I will be even more delighted when I receive the completed version.  I also bought them for my friends who had twins via donor sperm; they thought they would be an excellent start of 'life story work' for them.  Gettingpersonal also do a lovely 'A star is born' which mimics the Hollywood walk of fame, blue or pink with a dummy and personalised with their name and date of birth.  Lovely too I think, my twelve year old step-daughter will be getting one this year as she loves to think that I 'waited' for her for years!   Am sure whatever you decide on will be lovely xxx


----------



## bundles (Jul 16, 2011)

Hi Wyxie,
I have a charm bracelet with charms that mean something, thats a lovely idea. How about stamps ! When my LO was born it was the queens jubilee so I bought her the special commemorative stamps in the display pack. They have quite a few issues a year & you could pop a note in each time saying 'these were the stamps when you started nursery' or whatever ! Another option would be coins, from the Royal Mint, but maybe not as easy. 
Hope you find something. 
xx


----------



## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

could he still have charms but have them attached to something more 'manly' like a strip of leather?
lovely idea!


kj x


----------



## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

I like keemjay's idea - lots of boys wear leather bracelets, and he can display it if he doesn't want to wear it.


----------



## Handstitchedmum (Mar 24, 2013)

Quilt using his favourite shirt every year (or pieces of favourite clothing) as another square? Helps if you purchase tee shirts from memorable events.

Christmas ornaments (this is what my mom did for me and brother).

Coin sets (this is what my dad did for me and brother).

Engravings on a leather belt.


----------



## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

Thanks for some lovely ideas, everyone.  

I'm still leaning towards something involving music tbh.  Music was a huge part of my life when I was younger, although it's something I only do casually now.  Bladelet loves music too.  Wyxling just wants baby music on, really, or something quite light, she likes Dire Straits, and sometimes some Muse, but really she'd rather have the Hokey Cokey.  She likes me singing some older music, but mostly just carols and hymns.  Bladelet is quite happy to chill out to something quite a bit heavier and more to our taste.  He was wriggling round the room happily earlier showing off his new found ability to put the lid on Wyxling's teapot and then shake it back off again, and dancing quite happily to some Queens of the Stone Age (I do filter the songs with explicit lyrics, I may add), and I had some Rachmaninov on the other day which he absolutely loved (at the moment, when he's happy, he's lying on his tummy and wriggling on the floor giggling, which is just adorable)!  I need to put my thinking cap on for a nice way to format that.

I do also have something with photos - I have a noted photo album for Wyxling from when she first joined us, and I've started one for Bladelet as well.

Bundles, I also have a charm bracelet.  It's a little out of character for me, but after we stopped trying to conceive and decided we would adopt, I wanted something solid to commemorate (I'm not sure that's the right word, but I don't mean remember, because I could never forget) the babies we'd lost.  I didn't really have anything for them at all, except the dates which they'd arrived, so I got a charm bracelet with their birthstones.  I normally hate that sort of thing, maybe because often when I see people telling everyone they've done something like this, it can feel fake.  Actually, I now have a lot of charms on there, from my husband, and to celebrate our daughter, although not yet our son because I'm waiting for Christmas to justify the outlay!  Anyway, it's something that's actually really important to me now, which is odd for me, but there we go.

Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age or something.

Thanks again for the lovely ideas, do keep them coming!

Wyxie xx


----------



## katie c (Jun 15, 2009)

Handstitchedmum said:


> Christmas ornaments (this is what my mom did for me and brother).


i'm doing this. i'm going to buy an ornament every year, then when he leaves home he can take them with him 

i started last year when i saw two ornaments that said 'hope' and...er, something else 

i want to get hold of a 2012 one for his year of birth, a 2013 for this xmas and when he's old enough he can pick his own


----------



## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

Katie, you could go to a pot painting shop near Christmas - they normally do kids handprints on baubles and then decorate them and add words, so you could get one done with his handprint for the first christmas with you - although that might be more something for you than him!  We did half a dozen last year for Wyxling tbh, and they went to all the grandparents and great grandparents for Christmas presents!  Wyxling loved it of course, 'cos she got to have her hand painted lots of times in different colours.


----------



## Daddyboo (Paul) (Dec 24, 2012)

I would stick with charms on a bracelet, exactly the same as Wyxlings or something special that can be kept safe (see below).

Boys like jewellery that can be passed down the generations, and he will love the fact that you have been doing this for him.
Boys don't have to wear it to own it and appreciate it.

I know one thing that I would really like from my father at some point, and that would be his original boxed corgi cars.
One of them is already worth 4 figures (not that I'd ever sell them). http://www.corgi.co.uk/shop

I love Minis, and you could buy him a corgi mini every year (or you could buy me one every year  ) http://www.corgi.co.uk/shop/mini/mini-mania/


----------



## Handstitchedmum (Mar 24, 2013)

katie c said:


> Handstitchedmum said:
> 
> 
> > Christmas ornaments (this is what my mom did for me and brother).
> ...


My mum's reasoning was that when she left home, she had nothing to decorate the tree at Christmas time and felt horrible about it. So, she wanted to make sure that when we left home, we were able to bring memories with us. Except the ornaments didn't really mean anything. They were just ornaments she fancied that year.

HSDad and I took the idea a step further and make ornaments every year. Sometimes painting them as Wyxie suggested at those little shops.

HSDad's dad collected stamps and after he passed away, HSDad and his mum had a hard time deciding what to do with them. They sold most of them and kept some.

I understand what our parents were thinking, but I would have liked something more relevant to my interests. So, follow your inclinations, Wyxie. And maybe consider evolving how you commemorate the year as your family evolves?


----------



## mummy2blossom (Feb 21, 2013)

Sticking with the charms idea but along a male theme, how about a pocket watch with a chain attached? You could add the meaningful charms to the chain?


----------



## sevsxp (Oct 1, 2012)

Wyxie,

We buy my sons a football shirt with their "new" surname and age on the back....

we started with a tiny one with a 1 on it and now up to 5....... they dont get worn but look geat together when hanging up and the also shows how much he grows each year.......


----------

