13 Year Old Daughter's B-day

Get a nice Ipod. That is what she really wants. I like the idea to upgrade.

How do you feel about pierced ears? Might be another gift....then you can buy some pretty earrings.

A sleepover with friends is always good.

One of my friend's had a party with important ladies in the daughter's life. They gave her advice about becoming a yound lady. They also gave her a purity ring - a symbol of her waiting until marriage to have sex - a commitment to the Lord and to her parents and to herself.

My daughter is about to be 13 as well. She has a book by Barlow Girl (her favorite band) and she asked for this ring as well after reading what they were saying.

My husband and I will take her out to somewhere special to give her the ring. We want to make it a very special event, not just focusing on purity. It is a neat time. So we will encourage her in her strengths...

I don't want to be negative, but just want to caution you about getting into the "horse" stuff. It is a wonderful thing and many young girls are very into horses. But just wanted you to investigate before you encourage her interest. I think many parents introduce their kids to the horse world without realizing what they are getting in to. Horses are a VERY expensive hobby. It is a commitment for the entire family. My younger sister was interested in horses and so my parents started out by letting her take lessons. Then they had to lease a horse and my sister got into the English Saddle stuff. It was very costly and it can take over your life. She had to go to the barn everyday to care for and ride her horse (difficult if it is not close by and you have to drive her). They encourage you to get into the shows and competitions, which are expensive and you must have a horse and trailer (or pay to have it transported) to travel each weekend to the various competitions. My parents just could not afford to continue with it to the next level and my sister was very disappointed.

I have a niece that got into the western saddle stuff and barrel racing. Her family was wealthy and had land to keep the horse and her mom enjoyed the traveling. I also have a good friend whose daughter began the whole English saddle and jumping stuff. She loves it, but they could afford to do it. They bought her a horse, but had to lease a stable to keep it and drive out every day to care for the horse. She graduated from high school this year and went to a private "horse" college. Not sure what type of career she expects to find. She has had numerous broken bones, including a serious leg fracture that required surgery with a pin put in. My sister also broke several bones - collar bone, twice and one arm while she was riding.

I just wanted to share this with you and hopefully help you to make an educated decision to pursue the horse interest. My parents really wished that they had known what they were getting into. All in all, it was a good experience for my sister, but very hard on her to have to give it up, once she was into it. She still would love to ride today, but really can't afford it or have the time for it.

You're getting some good ideas on how to make the event special. On the gift end of things...you could upgrade to the iPod Touch. It holds all the songs and photos, but also does all the aps that an iPhone does. My teenagers love it. That way you would be honoring her gift request but upgrading to a much nicer item. And you will avoid the frustration of her getting the nano and then requesting the upgrade herself next year.

My dd is turning 13 this week. We are giving her a new camera - kodak easyshare. Our price limit is usually around $50 - but we spend $60 on the camera from Overstock.

I know my dd loves her Itouch more than she did her iPod nano - so maybe look that. If you go to Apple.com and go to the store they have refurbished (which are essentially brand new) Ipods for a discounted price.

We are taking my daughter and her friends to see Fame and then have a sleepover.

Since you know she wants an I-Pod, I would get teh best I-pod I could afford. Also, you might think about getting her name engraved on the back of the I-Pod....there are a bunch of them out there, especially when girls are at sleepovers, etc and it can get misplaced or mistaken for someone else's easily. It happened to us.

If you want an economical party...just have a small sleepover with movies, popcorn, mani/pedi's, they can dance to the new music on the I-pod.

Another good item (when you are ready for purchase) we got when our daughter was younger was the clock radio port from Apple to house the I-pod. It works great. Bose makes a port with speaker that we got which works with both the I-pod and I-phone. We used that with a small group of kiddos over here to dance last year.

Enjoy!

Hi Miss T.

You could check into Camp Alexander http://www.campalexander.com/widowmaker/widowindex.htm

Hope you and her have a memorable 13th birthday!

B.

I have a friend that brings ponys to your house for birthday parties for the kids to ride,Her name is Paige and she owns ewe's petting zoos .Tell her Razzle Dazzle the Clown suggested her to you.Have a wonderful party!

About the horse - I'm not sure where you live, but in the Saginaw area, there's a place called the Eagle Mountain Equestrian Center (I think that's the name of it!). They allow you to "lease" horses. You pay a certain amount per month to help feed and stable the horse, and then you have riding privileges. They also offer lessons. Maybe that will turn out to be your "connection." : )

Good luck and have fun!

Lessons are a great way to introduce her to horse/pony and the care that they require. If she enjoys it you could look into leasing a horse in the future. She could join 4-H and do a horse project. You don't even need to own a horse to do it and she would learn a ton. Maybe do lessons and 4-H together? I had a horse growing up and it was such a good thing for me. It kept me active and out of trouble too! Maybe she could volunteer at RIde with Pride in Keller. They provide therapy for children with special needs using horses and I think they may also give lessons. THey would also be a good contact if you wanted to lease a horse in the future. Good luck!

I agree with the ipod touch. It does so much more than the regular nano. My daughter just bought one from Amazon (no sales tax and free shipping) in July and it is really cool. It is wi-fi capable so if you have wireless internet or go to a free wifi hotspot, like starbucks, you can surf the internet and do your email and stuff. Looks like an iphone without the phone part.

Just be aware that the newest models just came out. You would be looking for a 3rd generation ipod touch. If you are going to get the 8gb itouch, not much difference in 2nd or 3rd generation, so shop by price.

Also I would caution you about having it engraved. We did that with my son's first ipod and when the time came to upgrade, we weren't comfortable with having him sell it because of having our phone number on there. It limited his options when he was ready to get rid of it.

My mom teaches horse back riding lessons in Rockwall. I think group lessons are $25 per lesson. There are quite a few girls down there that are your daughters age, give or take a few years. They have so much fun down there. She doesn't teach jumping or English style though, it's Western, and Barrell Racing that she teaches. I grew up doing it my whole life and loved it! You can send me a message or an email if you want more information, ____@____.com