Suggestion: She will love and remember you if you give her a Porche or Mercedes or similar type of trinket. On your mega salary, you must be able to afford it.

Jeff, I must be one of the rare ones. I didn't have a 21st celebration. I had a beer with my dad a few days afterwards. No gifts, no fanfare, no biggie. As for modern things?...I cant see something like an Ipod as being very 21st birthdayish, for mine, it doesn't symbolise a lot.

Jeff, some young people have everything and appreciate nothing, others have nothing and appreciate a card.

I can sympathise with you on this one - I agonised for weeks over what to get my son a few years back. In the end I bought him a tea-set - handmade T-pot (I was a professional potter for many years - a friend who makes wonderful T-Pots made this one for him), all the other tea accoutrements were sourced from places like the tea shop at westfield and gourmet kitchen shops. He and his wife both love the ritual of having a cuppa together so this seemed the best I could do - some friends said "a tea set for a 21 year old boy - that's a bit weak!" but he seemed to like it and will probably see it as a heirloom later. For my 21st (long ago now - 35 years *sigh*) my mother - also a potter and craftswoman bought me a hand woven (Mary & Larry Beeston) poncho which I still have. A friend of hers gave me a pumpkin with a ribbon around it - I had just had a 6 month trip through Asia returning as a vegetarian so... I have another son coming up in the next couple of years and have absolutely no idea for him yet

get her a typewriter, some typing paper and correction tape.

Jeff-100 BHP shares should do the trick--especially as they are going south at the moment after the Henry kerfuffle.She gets a lesson in human behaviour watching the gyrations of the stock market and learns the value of time and patience.When they go up or pay the dividend you get the reflected warm fuzzies.She gets to think of you every day when she reads the financial pages.Thats better than wondering if you are up at the knock shop having a freebie-(beer I mean)

Devaluing matarial posessions for their own sake is a good thing, as long as it isn't a symptom of disrespect for what some things mean or symbolise. Generation Y (or, soon, Z) do seem to place little importance on things of significance and durability, like a high quality watch or a real piece of furniture. In fact, the research suggests that they don't expect to own property, that they have a stong 'entitlement' mentality, and do not expect to 'start at the bottom' in their careers. None of this is necessarily malicious or even negative ~ but it is interesting to people that do value things of intrinsic worth, and beauty, and significance. I find that, as I get a little bit older, I am attracted to owning less 'stuff', but do value things and experiences of inherent value, design quality and significance. How about a small piece of art? A painting or a small sculpture? An Eames chair? Even a young woman would appreciate a thing of beauty....

My parents baught me a trip away to Great Kepple Island. It was the worst holiday ever so i highly recomend not getting that. I felt so ungreatful leaving the island early and my parents felt bad sending me to a hell hole. But in all, i would have prefered something more sentimental. Even something that didn't cost any money, My Grandad died a few years before, and something as being handed his war medals would have sufficed. I was given them a couple of years later and i hold them dear and would be distraught if anything happened to them.

Jeff you have not learnt. In a family with daughters there is a girls union. Now mum is the liaison between daughters and dad. You ask mum. In our family of seven children four daughters and mum seem to rule. Now wake up and consult mum.

Jeff - if you can't find anything that they will find rewarding for its own sake now, then buy them something that will help them grow as person, though they may not appreciate it right now. Such as a gift to a charity or involvement in an activity such as Outward bound (http://www.outwardbound.com.au/) .