Friday, August 16, 2013

What Do You Do When Your Son Turns Sixteen?

That’s what I’ve been asking myself this week.  My oldest turns 16 in a few days and I want to do something special.  I’m just not sure what.  it’s so hard to believe he’s turning 16!  Just yesterday he was two!

How do you go from this…019_7copy1

to this…Turning 16In the blink of an eye???

Btw, is it still called SWEET sixteen when it’s a boy turning 16?  Lol?  These are things I don’t know!

Anyway, while I discuss what to do about this special occasion, if you are that son, please click away.  Or go watch one of your endless recorded Top Gear shows.

Since our nearest relative lives 646 miles away, birthday celebrations often include best friends, and I suspect this one will, too. 

One thing we did early was to get him an adult study Bible.  It seemed like it was time.  Especially since he lost his teen version, lol!  A number of pastor friends  suggested we look closely at two: The ESV Study Bible, and the MacArthur Study Bible. 

My son chose the MacArthur SB and is really happy with it.  That was his main present.

However, I still want to mark his actual birthday with something special.

We were thinking of taking him out to eat.  ALL teens love to eat.  But to my youngest son’s horror, he said, “Nah, no need.  Just make me tuna casserole.  I really like that!”  Lol!

And lately, we’ve been contemplating taking the plunge and getting him a phone.  Maybe even a smart phone. 

But that’s a big maybe.  The cost and fees might be prohibitive at this point in time.

He’s ok with waiting a bit to get his learner’s permit. 

He needs long pants, but hates to shop.  That’s the catch 22 of taking a teen shopping on his birthday.

So what are some little things you can do to celebrate a young man’s 16th birthday which don’t break the bank? 

Here’s my running list of ideas: 

  • 16 Fudge Rounds. Of course.
  • A Matchbox Audi.
  • Maybe helping him open a checking/ savings account and depositing one hundred dollars? (I know, that would break my bank.)
  • Wallet, with 16$ in it. (Much closer to my budget!)
  • Taking a trip to the Lego Store
  • Sending him and a friend with my husband to race go-carts. (I don’t know how expensive that is…)
  • Letting him have an air soft war.
  • Having an ice cream sundae bar with 16 different toppings.  Hmm.  Could I think of 16? Chocolate, Carmel, peanuts, M&Ms, pretzels, hot cocoa mix, choc chips, mint chips, Reece’s pieces, strawberries, bananas, apple pie filling, blue berries, whipped cream…HELP, I need two more!
  • This looks fun…but I don’t have time to order it.

  • And this looks right up all three of my guys’ alley.  But again, no time to order it.  Why must I procrastinate?

  • Taking him to an empty parking lot and letting him get behind the wheel of my car.
  • 16 protein bars.
  • 16 sticks of deodorant. Now we’re talking! Lol!
  • 16 candy bars.

What else??? 

If you are reading this, Birthday boy, then you deserve to be embarrassed by me saying publically how proud I am of the wonderful young man you are becoming.  :) Happy Birthday!

3 comments:

Mari said...

Happy birthday to your son. You blink and they turn 16! I loved your list of gift ideas!

Adminswife said...

When our children turned 16 (four of them, so far), we paid for their driver's license, gave them keys to the cars, paid for one quarter of their car insurance AND gave them a credit card (attached to our account) with certain restrictions (obviously). Don't know if that helps you any, but that is what we did!

Homeazillion said...

Happy Birthday to your son, what a wonderful age! I would like to suggest a smart phone that is one of the go phones that yo pay by the month with no contracts. These are fairly reasonably priced, you can still control things like internet access and with ATT you can get it as low as $25 a month with unlimited texting or go with Virgin Mobile they have great deals too. All 3 of our boys use the no contract phones and are completely happy with them.