The big 18

This weekend I have been back at home to celebrate my God sisters (don't ask) 18th birthday. 

Even though there are only two years between us I still couldn't believe she was actually turning 18! 

It made me feel old but that's probably because I still think of myself as being 18 (at least I act like I'm still 18)

Both of us only have brothers and therefore she is the little sister I never had. I had to make sure it was a memorable weekend.

My family are big on birthdays and go all out whenever one is around the corner especially one as significant as an 18th.

One of my friends received 21 gifts for her twenty-first birthday and I absolutely loved this idea so I gave my self a challenge.

I had one day to find and purchase 13 gifts (as a family we already had 5 main gifts to give). All the gifts had to be useful or have some sort of meaning. Basically I had to buy presents that she would enjoy not ones that would just sit in a draw. I decided the presents couldn't cost more than a standard pandora charm -£30- because this would be a typical present for an 18th.

Here is what I found:

1/2/3) This was the first present form my family. We thought it would be a good idea to have one main present and then lots of little ones.
I am in love with these sunglasses (mainly because they're Prada).
Lettie has recently booked a girls holiday for the summer so she will definitely be using these.
I love the shape of these sunglasses although the newest Prada range are slightly more square.
We also brought a cleaning pack and case for the glasses which makes up 3 presents.

4) For one year you can use everything that says 18 on it just to show everyone that you really are 18.
Therefore one of the most important things for an 18th birthday is a wine or beer glass saying 18.
The fact that you can legally drink is the most exciting thing about becoming an adult.
All card/ birthday shops sell glasses like this. I'm not positive where this one is from but different styles can be found everywhere.

5) My Mum loves making little bits and bobs in her spare time. She once went on a tiara making course and now insists that everyone receives a tiara on their birthday so they can be a princess for a day. I personally love the idea and think it's really sweet. She makes them completely from scratch.  I will post a blog about how to make them. The cost of the tiara depends completely on what you want to make it out of.

6) This is the first of the 13 presents I purchased. It's just a silly one.
Carrying on with the idea that you can now legally drink I thought a glow in the dark cup would be a fun idea.
It was from Pound World and you crack the glow sticks and it lights up. There were different colours but I went for the pink one. 

7) Being true Brits a coaster will always be useful to rest your cup of Tea on.
Lettie will be going off to University in September and this will be useful for her new room (and her current room for the time being).
I thought it was fun as it says 'lol laugh out loud'.
It was on sale from £5 to £1 from RED 5.
There's not really a lot else to say about a coaster so yeah ....

8) To celebrate the big day Lettie and some friends went to a day spa. I thought I would carry on with the pamper theme with these face masks. Its a brand that I've used before so I know they work very well.
These were also from Pound World and were on offer 3 for £2.

9) One Direction. Who doesn't love them aye?
This present is a funny one but also practical. It's a pack of 5 1D gel pens.
Lettie is a big fan of Niall and on the pack of this pack there is a cut out Niall bookmark. All in all it's a pretty perfect present!
These also cost a pound from Pound World and there is a whole One Direction section in there.

10) A pack of Thorntons heart shaped jelly sweets because lets face it who doesn't love a pack of heart shaped sweets!
(These were definitely found in the Valentines sections)
These were £1.99

 11) Everyone is loving caviar nails at the moment. This is essentially a starter pack it contains the base nail varnish and a funnel with which you can pour the beads through on to the nail.
I haven't had a chance to try these out myself but will hopefully be able to do a review on them.
These were from a shop called Dazzle in the Derby Westfield, I'm not sure if this is a chain or just the one but it sells known brands at discount prices.
This set cost £3.99.

12) On Friday the morning before her birthday Lettie passed her driving test. I thought that something relevant to this would be a cute present. I contemplated buying dice but they would be useless until a car was purchased whereas a keyring can be used on house keys as well.
This keyring is just another good way to show people you are now an adult.
:)
This was from Birthdays and cost £1.99.

13) Another gift from Birthdays and also saying 18.
 It's a sash that she wore on her first night out in town and it cost £1.99.

14) A BALLOON!!
I love balloons. I'm like a child but they are the best part of birthdays!!
There is no other reason for this present other than you have to have balloons on your birthday!
 It was about £2.50 from Clinton Cards and they blow it up for free.

15)  I love The Body Shop products so I thought it was a good idea to give her some shower gel.
Something you will definitely use and it smells so good!
This was on offer 2 for £5.

16) Shot glasses is what everyone needs on their 18th birthday.
These are shot glasses on a necklace and have 'one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.' written round the sides.
They were from Pound World and you get two in each pack.

17) This present is completely pointless but I think it's amazing! Maybe that's just because I am easily amused.
I thought it was a funny little present that would also be useful to take to Uni as fancy dress because there will always be a geek fancy dress theme in freshers week.
They're from RED 5 and were on sale from £5 to £2.
I loved them so much I had to get myself a pair.

18) Finally present number 18!!
I decided to make a sweetie tree. I will do a blog post about how to make them. This tree was a cone covered in mainly Moaom sweets and then decorated with caramel chocolates, lollypops and  Parma Violets.
Again this is one of those gifts than can cost as much as you want it too. The cone cost me £1.99 the sweets cost about £3 but you can spend a lot more or a lot less on this gift.







All together the 13 gifts I purchased cost £27.95. She loved all of them and definitely had a good 18th birthday weekend.

If anybody has any other good ideas about presents you can make I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks, Charley x