Loaded Toolbox
At 18 years old they may be getting ready to move out and find their own apartment or home, which means they will now have an endless list of things to fix around the house. Give them the basic tools every house needs so they can tackle all the various challenges that await, like retrieving a piece of jewelry from the drain.
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Social media is everywhere. It’s where we get our news, our gossip and how we stay in touch with friends. It also plays host to some of our best memories and golden moments. Pick your friend’s best 140 characters of the year, whether it’s hilarious or embarrassingly awful, and get it framed for them to remember forever. It’s even better than going viral.
This is kind of an irresponsible gift to give to an 18 year old since it is traditionally a drinking game, but there’s no need to actually tell them that. There is also a lot of things an 18 year old has not had the chance to do yet. Bad or good, this gift might give them some ideas.
Time flies and words are often left unspoken. Here’s your chance to remedy that - tell that special 18 year old in your life all the wonderful things they mean to you, or collect messages from friends and family.
This is a tough one, because you have to take the month into account. A piece of garnet jewelry (January) is one thing, but are you sure you want to buy someone diamonds (April) for their 18th birthday? It’s fine to do that, obviously, but we can see why you’d think twice.
Here is the perfect gift to make visitors feel old - a framed copy of the front page of the New York Times the day they were born. People as young as 30 will marvel that the person they are visiting was born on the day that thing they sort of remember happened. Fun!
Draft them into the Swiss Army on their 18th birthday by giving them a tool that will hold up and be used for the rest of their life. Find the one with the perfect mix of tools and size for them, and it will be a part of their life forever.
Lots of people have let a kid scratch off a lottery ticket, but kids can’t actually claim the money, of course. Celebrate the legal right to make dubious gambling decisions by giving them a selection of lottery tickets that probably won’t win. Or they just might! It could happen!
We wish someone had given us some of this advice when turning 18. We DEFINITELY could have used it, if you catch our drift. This is a collection of letters of advice from 12 acclaimed authors to their 18 year old selves that may just save the 18 year old you know from a serious mistake or two.