I am not planning to pay a cent as dowry for my girls nor am I expecting any dowry for my son. However, I do collect things for my children to put in their glory box when they leave home. ( not just for my two girls, but also for the girl who will be part of my family)
I collect heirloom linen. Ideally I would have liked to do the embroidery myself, but I am lazy and not very skilled. Most of the table linen now a days are machine embroidered and not many people are keen to do hand embroidery. By the time my children set up their own home the chances that they would be able to find anything hand embroidered is pretty slim, so I collect those items for them. So far, I bought each of them a embroidered table cloth, napkin set and breakfast tray set
I want to buy each of them a quilt from here. (http://lancasterpa.com/quilts/quilt-shop-at-millers/) They have so many pretty quilts there.
I also bought a dinner set ( antique bone china) for each of them, a crazy tea set ( different patterns of trios) and a silver tea set.
Every year I buy them a gold coin on their birthday..
I find it really exciting to buy things for my children to take with them when they leave home.
Here is a beautiful thought- Adopt ME!! 😉
MS: I hereby adopt you..now make me some chai please..
ok- it is coming your way!! 🙂
MS: 🙂
My mom gave me steel pots and pans that my dad got for Diwali from his company when i got married and left home. She gave steel glasses, big big plates, two sets of nice pots. Still have them and cherish that I was given those. My dad gave some family antiques the last time I met him. So it is a wonderful thing that you are doing this. They will one day value it.
MS: My neighbour ( 65 years old) still has the dinner set her mom gave her when she got married and every time she uses it, she thinks of her mother..and I think it is the best thing a mother could give her child..something that keeps the memories alive.
Very smart idea.
I like how you have the hobby of collecting things for your children so that they can treasure and keep it as a memory forever. It’s so thoughtful too that you are also doing this for your future DIL (so has your son found his girl yet? ;)..j/k). Def will make a great MIL 🙂
PS: I hope the dowry system diminishes in India. The idea of paying to get married is obscenely wrong. Thank god many are fighting against that.
J1206. My son has a GF, but he is only 14+ years old, so I don’t think it is serious.. however, I look forward to the day he brings a girl home..I can’t wait to welcome her to my family..
Sarah, of late you think too much of your kids. They leaving you and all. Buying things for them when they leave. Do you think they will take what you bought? They may not be in a position to do so. Then what?
Bipin: “When did future shift from being a promise to being a threat” C. Palahniuk
My job is to provide, my children’s job is to do what they want..Why should I stop doing something I want to do because they may or may not do/want something?
It is a good idea. You are a thought full mother. But can I ask you one thing?
I am a person who don’t want any unused items in my home. Isn’t it a difficulty for you to keep all these items for this long, especially if you are shifting to somewhere else? Can’t you buy and give it to them when they are already settled?
Anju: If I ought to buy today the antique dinner set that I collected one piece at a time over three years, I am looking at paying $3000. The older the stuff, the more you pay as each year goes by and by the time my children set up their own home, it will cost me a fortune to buy the same stuff. I would rather collect them now than spend a fortune later.. I use reliable movers every time I pack up to go to a new country and have not had any issues.