PGAD 2/23: Best birthday gift ever?

[jacinda]

Hey Sweet Shoppers! I hope you're having fun this month.

I have a super easy game today. All you have to do is tell us what's the best birthday gift you ever received?

Doesn't have to be expensive. Could be something small from your childhood or something you got just last year. It could be homemade or from a store. Might even be a special phone call! Whatever meant the most to you - we want to hear about it.

If for any reason you can't share about a gift you received, tell us about a meaningful gift you gave someone else.

And that's all you have to do! I'll start first:

About 20 years ago I was deployed overseas for 4-5 months. I returned not long before my birthday and was surprised by my husband who had built a whole standalone, fully furnished scrapbook room in the garage for me. (Back when I was a paper scrapper). He'd built and decorated it with everything I never knew I always wanted. It even had a little wendy house at one end for the kids.

What touched me most wasn't the size of the build (which must've taken him AGES to do), or the expense of it, but the fact that he knew I loved scrapbooking, and he was supporting what was important to me. Ah, my heart just about burst! Best birthday gift ever.

Everyone who plays along by midnight 2/25 will receive this adorable mini from Liella Designs

[CathQuillScrap]

My best birthday present happened 22 years ago... three days after my birthday my son was born (2 months prem).... he has been the best gift ever!

[Lidia G]

For my 28th birthday, my friend set me up on a blind date and it was love at first sight. We got married 6 months later - best birthday EVER!

[AlyciaIN]

My best birthday present(s) ever are the photos my kids share with me of them and their families. I have annual family photos from when they were growing up and when they went off to college, thankfully digital photos & cell phones were available so they'd send me photos on my birthday especially. This year for Christmas they both had family photos taken & since we were all going to be together, our son set up a family photo session for all of us. It had been since December 2019 that we had a photo of all of us together so this was a very special treat! Any time they want to get something for us photos are the best present ever!

[Effie4037]

My best birthday gift was for my 11th birthday. It was a large Winnie the Pooh statue (BIG FIG) that looks like it was carved out of wood and is wearing a red knit shirt. I still have the statue displayed in my room.

[Stefanie]

My best birthday gift was for my 21st, my favourite cousin made me a wooden pedestal for my bedroom in his woodworking class. It was a year long project and even now that my daughter has it, it still means so much to me. A labour of love.

[EvelynD2]

My best birthday gift was for my 19th birthday. I was a sophomore in college and was dating the wonderful guy that would become my husband the next year. We were poor college students so the gift he bought me was so special. I had always wanted a scrabble game. He bought me one and wrapped it in a book cover he had gotten from the college bookstore. He took strips of paper from another book cover and colored them blue. He then created a bow with those blue strips. That will always be one of my favorite gifts!

[snowberry]

One year I treated myself to a mountain escape and stayed in a lovely cabin in Banff. It was wonderful!

[tlowe]

My 40th birthday, my husband threw a surprise party for me and had gotten all the numbers off my phone of our friends and contacted all of them and when I came home from a play date with one of them, I thought we were going to go out to dinner but everyone showed up with their kids and we had the best time. I have the best husband.

[melscrap]

Tickets to Phantom of the Opera & Wicked.

[cinderella]

I'm a bit of a birthday Grinch! I don't like birthdays and especially mine. I tell my family not to buy me presents. So the best one is the cash my mom gives me!

[LaurieZyskin]

This past year my husband planned an excursion from Melbourne, Australia to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade. Afterwards everyone on the tour bus sang Happy Birthday to me. It was a pretty special day. One I'll never forget.

[Romajo]

The day before I turned 26 I got married to my husband. Best gift ever and still fun to be celebrating both anniversaries right after each other.

[elaov]

My favorite gift is actually more than one.....I love sitting around the table with family and friends playing board games. My children have caugt on make sure I get a new one every year.

[Leablahblah]

I've had a lot of great presents through the years but I'll pick the one I got for my 12th birthday. My parents surprised me with Hanson concert tickets. I had been a fan for maybe a year and I would have never dreamed to travel to Paris to go see them live. It made me cry of joy! I've been a fan ever since.

[jema]

My best birthday was my 13th. My parents took me out to eat, which was a huge deal, then took me to the store to pick out a sleeping bag. I was excited because now I had a sleeping bag to take to a sleepover and not blankets. When we got home my four best friends were there waiting for a surprise sleepover party.

[spenny]

The best Birthday Gift ever was a Handmade Oak China Cabinet made specially for me by one of our friends. Still in use and much loved 30 years later.

[3BluEyedBabi]

One year, my husband surprised me with a weekend in Pittsburgh to see my first Pens game. We also went to the museum & the aviary which is not really his favorite thing to do, but I loved it!

[shellbyj]

My husband gave me my sony a6400 camera in 2022. I have taken thousands of pictures with it since and I have so many memories to scrap!

[jess0920]

We always do a little getaway during September and it usually happens to fall on my birthday. Last year my husband and I drove to St. Augustine, FL (oldest city in the US) and had such a fun and relaxing weekend. We did the distillery, walked on the beach, did a ghost tour, and finally toured the winery and ended our night on the roof listening to music and eating fantastic food. I had the best time!

[lorigaud]

The best birthday gift I ever got was on my 40th birthday. My friends at school organized an Amazing Race type scavenger hunt for me and it was an absolute blast. One of my friends drove me around from place to place in our local area where I picked up various small gifts, gift cards and clues and eventually that led to a restaurant downtown where all of my friends were waiting to celebrate with me. It was so much fun. That was also the year that my husband at the time gave me a digital camera which led to my love of digital scrapbooking! I’d say it was a pretty good year lol!

[lisar]

my best birthday was my 10th birthday. this was before digital anything and my favorite present was a Kodak Brownie camera. my mom was an awful photographer ... heads were chopped off, people unrecognizable in photos too far away ... you get the picture. that was when i took over being the family photographer and never looked back. digital just makes it easier. and it must run in the family because i have books of photos going back to the 1800s

[mmbstaley]

Dinner of the birthday person's choice is one of my family's birthday traditions. One of the best birthday gifts I have gotten was when my girls made me dinner all by themselves. They found a recipe for one of my personal favorite meals, shopped and cooked and then cleaned up all without my help.

[mnjenlittle]

My best gift was when I was a kid. My mom took me and several friends to the Nutcracker in downtown Chicago (McCormick Place). It was amazing to see a live ballet!

[LynnZant]

I got an engagement ring for my 29th.

[knittingbec]

On my 23rd birthday, I went out to eat with my boyfriend (now husband) and several of our friends. I was living in Italy at the time and, even though I had been away from home for several birthdays by then, for some reason that morning in the shower I felt sad that I wasn't going to have a birthday cake. I don't even like cake that much, haha. I didn't say anything about wanting a cake or feeling down. After our dinner, the waiter said something to my (now) husband quietly & they walked over toward the kitchen and came out with... a birthday cake with candles lit! He had bought it at the store, written "Happy Birthday Rebecca" on it, and got it to the restaurant fridge without me knowing. It was a super memorable, special gift!

[ravenbyrd]

I don't remember what birthday it was for but my husband bought tickets to the Book of Mormon and took me to a fancy Mexican restaurant beforehand.

[Tls4183]

The best birthday gift ever was a relaxing spa day!

[hbam]

On my 50th birthday my son told me I am going to become a grandmother. Nothing better than that.

[mkcdaisy]

When I turned 21 my dad gave me his mom's engagement ring. I was 3 or 4 when she passed so didn't remember a lot about and it gave me something to reminder me of her all the time. I wear it everyday and got the wedding band that Christmas.

[angbrey]

When my (now husband) and I were dating, my first Birthday together as a couple he have me a heart pendant with a small diamond in the center. I put it on my neck and I've worn it every.single.day ever since. That was 19 years ago. Really he was the gift.

[knclark]

My husband does not like to ice skate but he will go on my Birthday. So my favorite Birthday gift is his willingness to skate with me.

[dgreenshield]

Time with family that I don't always get to see is the best gift I have ever received.

[bienejen]

Kind of weird combo of gifts but on my 40th birthday, my ex filed for divorce. Not the best gift at the time...but in retrospect, it was a gift. On a brighter note, my bestie took me out that weekend for a fabulous combo of food, pampering and girl time!

[sussemaus]

Oh goodness. So many things over the years, it is hard to choose. I think I will just share one that was really lovely.

A couple of years ago I was so down about never getting to go on vacation (our middle child is Autistic and at that point we were still afraid to travel with him). I always feel like while I get nice gifts, my birthday itself is boring and easily forgotten, about 5 minutes long and not much about me, also living in Germany I have to make my own cake because cake here is not great (sorry, not sorry, but especially not in East Germany) so that is a lot of work and gets me down. Well, that year my hubby planned a virtual vacation for me that weekend. He had videos cued up, background music, made and printed fake plane tickets, food matching the places and a "spa". It was so cute, but the best bit was that he made a special stop at Qo'nos (the Klingon home world) so I could have a Rakatajino because at the time we were watching DS9 for the first time and I said I would love to have one. He searched for a recipe and secretly bought all the ingredients, it was really yummy. So yummy in fact, I asked him to bring one to the hospital the morning after I had our third child this past year haha.

That birthday really sticks out as being special. I don't even remember what gifts I got that year, just how special I felt for all the plans he made.

[HeatherB]

Last year my husband bought me an iPhone 14 Pro Max for my birthday so I could have a good camera on my phone. (My previous phone was an iPhone 6, so you can imagine the big difference.)

[Mandi]

When my daughter was small, she would go to the store with my husband and pick me out some flowers and a cake for my birthday. Those were such treasures to me because they were from the two people I love the most in the world!

[beccasue]

Mine was in 1993. My husband came home in April and told me he put in his retirement papers from the Air Force after 23 +years and we would be home by my birthday. Then my sister and him planned a big surprise party for me.

[Kim Hansen]

Every year on my birthday is a gift for me; the gift to be alive! My mom died at a young age. I have surpassed that age and it's a weird feeling to me to outlive my mother. I miss her so much and wonder why she had to die so young.

I'm soooo thankful I'm still alive and learning and being with the ones I love.

[Kimberly27]

My favorite birthday (that I can remember, my memory is awful) is 2009 when we spent the week in Disney. My birthday we went to a luau dinner. My father in law and brother in law led the congo line for the kids as well as limbo. It was a lot of fun and great laughs with my in laws. Unforgettable!

[hichchei]

I would say last year when I got my bigger air fryer!

[immaculeah]

My family and friends know me so well. Every time I receive chocolates and/or gift certificate for spa on my birthday, I'm in heaven!!!

[CindyB]

My best birthday present ever was a surprise getaway to NYC to visit my sister when she lived there. She was studying at the Aveda Institute, so I got my hair done and we saw Aida on Broadway. It was the most amazing weekend.

[dinahfig]

I'm having a hard time remembering them all! I think the best was when I turned 21 and my mom and aunt took me to Atlantic City. We had a great time and enjoyed many hurricane drinks. lol


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[stephc777]

I've had many wonderful birthdays, but the most recent one that stands out to me is when my oldest son (a mid-20s adult) bought me a plane ticket to Portland, Oregon, and then drove from Seattle to pick me up & took me to Powell's Book Store. We are both huge readers and we've talked about going there together a lot but had never done it. It was such a thoughtful, fun gift!

[vicky23ny]

For my 29th Birthday, January 23rd, 2005 my then boyfriend chose to gift me a dog. He lived far away and wanted me to have a companion at home. I didn't want a dog. I finally decided to give it a try. I told him the only dogs I like are Yorkshire Terriers, the small, cute ones. I had no idea how to be a dog owner. We finally found a pet shop back then and ordered a Yorkie. He was to arrive in 2-3 weeks. I got the call on January 18th, a few days before my birthday. I went and picked him up. Bought the first things he would need. Took him home. Had no idea what I was getting into. I ordered a 3 kilo dog and my Chico ended up being 6 kilos. I expected a small dog that would be sleeping all day on the couch and ended up having a 6 kilo dog, crazy, full of energy, like an energizer bunny till he was 15 years old. He was the best gift ever. We shared an amazing life together, 16 years full of love and joy.

[chai]

One year, my dh planned a huge surprise for me. I didn't have a clue--and usually, he can't keep any secrets from me.

He flew a friend into town who I hadn't seen in ages. He surprised me with her visit. Then he sent us on a spa day for my birthday gift. When we returned, he had a surprise party for me.

[Route66]

For my 60th birthday I was supposed to go on my dream trip to Europe, all the plans were made but COVID had other plans. My family pulled off the ultimate surprise, they purchased an on-line tour with a guide from London to take me around London and the best part was that I could invite 10 friends (together but apart). What I thought was going to be a sad milestone birthday turned into a birthday filled with surprises! I did end up going to London in 2023 and it was just as amazing!

[Spacecadet]

In 2016, my birthday present was my little Gigi girl, a long-haired mini dachshund. She was my heart dog. Unfortunately, I lost her very unexpectedly this past September after a routine teeth cleaning. She developed aspiration pneumonia and died three days later. I'm still having trouble looking at photos of her. I miss her so much.

[flutterby]

Every year my husband surprises me with a dinner out to a great restaurant. It’s one of my favorite things to do.