Need opinions on this RE: birthday

hersheykiss

Last year our gift to E for her first bday was a personalized plate that I had all the guests sign. I was thinking about doing a plate for each year so as she grew up she would have the plates and could see the names of family and friends. Am I being sentimental and she will think it silly or should I do it? DH thinks it is a silly idea and a dust collector. I would have loved it if my mom would have done this for me.

bethCT

I like the idea but I also see your DHs point.  What will she do with them?  Can she use them as plates?  I do like it but my practical side is too involved here

Princess_Lily

It may be a cute idea, but I think you are thinking about what you would like if you were her.  Do you know what I mean?

You want to do it, because you would like it.  Its not bad...its just my perspective on this.  Her likes are pretty simple right now, and she could end up with the mindset of your DH and end up thinking its a dust collector.

amandopolis

It's hard to predict whether your daughter will be sentimental or not.  I am not a sentimental person at all, and keepsakes and such hold no value for me.  I resent it when my overly sentimental grandmother and mother-in-law try to force heirlooms and keepsakes on me, since I see them only as clutter.  

I mean, you could do it, but don't hold out hope that your daughter will treasure those plates as much as you do.  If you're willing to keep them in your own house, then go for it. 

katekirschner

Cute ideas but when she is 18 she isn't going to want a collection of 18 plates that she won't use.

Starlette1983

katekirschner:

Cute ideas but when she is 18 she isn't going to want a collection of 18 plates that she won't use.

I agree with this.  It will be a nice keepsake having the 1st Birthday one though.

Sage Mommy

Why not just do it for a few big birthdays if you really like the idea? You could do another plate for 10 when hitting double digits and then one for 16.

You could always make a birthday scrapbook instead. Include family photos, cake picture, guest list and favorite gifts from each year.

I'm sure a photo scrapbook would get looked at more than 18 plates:)

Scooter359

I like the idea, but I think 18 plates is kind of a lot. I prefer the idea of one special birthday plate that you use each year. If you have a baby book maybe keep pages blank for people to sign and write notes in, since a book is easier to keep than plates.

gumiberg

i agree with sage - a scrapbook is a great idea.

i wouldnt want plates.  had my mother done that, they would be in a box, probably still at my mother's house. 

BabymakesFIVE10

I have a friend that gets a piece of construction paper and puts which birthday(2nd, 3rd, etc) and a picture of her daughter that year and has everyone sign it each year at the birthday party and they put it in a book for her.

jessicaclare

I think that's a bit much and its likely it will end up being just a dust collector. Also, what about the years you don't have family and friends over to sign it? You'll be surprised how easy it is get tired of throwing birthday parties and once she's in school, she'll just want to have one with her friends. When she hits her teenage years, she probably will only want to go out with her friends so there won't even be an opportunity to sign them.

sunnyday016

Personally, I wouldn't want that many plates with names on them. A lot of the names will be the same from year to year, so seems kind of silly to me. But I'm not sentimental at all.

hersheykiss

Thanks ladies. I still haven't made my fnal decision. I mainly wanted to do it because she has a 90 great-grandmother and I want E to have as many memories of her as I can get. Also, my family is scattered all over the country and E has some aunts, uncles and cousins that she has never met and will meet for the first time at her birthday party. I think having those signatures would be awesome, but I do see DH's perspective of it being a dust collector.

TeamRey

hersheykiss:

Thanks ladies. I still haven't made my fnal decision. I mainly wanted to do it because she has a 90 great-grandmother and I want E to have as many memories of her as I can get. Also, my family is scattered all over the country and E has some aunts, uncles and cousins that she has never met and will meet for the first time at her birthday party. I think having those signatures would be awesome, but I do see DH's perspective of it being a dust collector.

I say do a scrapbook. Pictures will be much more meaningful than signatures.  You could do the scrapbook before the party and just leaves the spots for the pictures blank and have people sign the scrapbook pages that way you get both.  I just don't really see someone pulling out 18 plates to look at people's signatures.  But I do see someone pulling out old scrapbooks to look at pictures from their birthday parties and showing those to people.