A Gift To Remember

Last week I turned eighteen. It was fabulous – I had a party, cocktails and then hit the local town and danced all night. Somewhat clichéd, but it was the perfect evening surrounded by friends nonetheless. Admittedly, birthday parties aren’t the only thing we look forward to when our birthdays approach, it’s the gifts we delight in receiving which partly make the day. When it comes to presents, I’d like to think I’ve never been particularly hard to buy for; give me a book, item of clothing, or One Direction poster and I’ll be happy. However, for my eighteenth I wanted something special, something no one else would be getting and something I could treasure forever.

I asked for the Oxford English Dictionary, a thesaurus and the Oxford Companion to English Literature. This about sums me up and I’m proud to say that these gifts all fulfilled the above requirements.

However, my mum, being who she is, went the extra mile. For the last year I’ve been doing the Leith’s Cookery course at school. For those of you who have never come across this, it’s fair to say it’s pretty self explanatory; set up by author and chef Prue Leith, the course derives from the prestigious cookery school in London, offering training and, if completed, a qualification for budding chefs. I’ve always been into cooking, spending countless hours baking when I was young (although perhaps not as many as I spent reading) and moving onto more savoury things when I finally decided that I’d made one too many batches of brownies.

So, with this in mind, mum got to work on a recipe book for me with contributions from many of my friends, family, teachers, and even a few recipes from Prue Leith herself and (my idol) Stephen Fry. Each page was so thought out, with little comments from each person, some of which made me how with laughter and others moved me to tears (although, I admit, that really isn't a difficult feat). Although every contribution was lovely, the best ones were those that brought with them a memory; a message from my nanny who I haven't seen for years, or my brother's method of making his famous fish-fingers for one (the quantity for which reads 'fish-fingers: 10'). As I flicked through the pages, it astounded me to notice just how many of my memories are evoked by food and I realised that I couldn’t have summed up the first eighteen years of my life in a better way - without writing a novel, of course.

It's true that presents can come in any shape or size, but with this present I really learnt that it's the thought that counts. For me, with so many eighteenth birthdays this year, I know it’s going to be hard to part with all the cash, but it’s good to remember that we don’t need to. Whilst something material is always lovely, a piece of jewellery is always going to be in the shop. With that in mind, it would have been hard for me to have put together my own recipe book. Yes, it is hard to think of something original to give someone but it always means more when it’s been thought through.

So, when choosing a present for someone, although they will appreciate whatever you give them and a gift doesn't have to have sentimental value at all, make sure it counts. And, to those of you who were in some way responsible for my recipe book, I’d like to thank you for all your thought and care – it really is one of the most special gifts I’ve ever received.