Bruno said:
And a Mess Dress? For an ROTC cadet? Half of them if they go on AD will have a career that is over in a couple of years and the other half will wear it once every decade or so.
I agree and disagree at the same time. In the AF, they have formal functions at least once a yr, including AFROTC. Plus, since some of these parents will have kids that will go rated, their career will not be over for at least a decade.
Our DS has worn his 4 times already, the 5th will be this April for the Dining Out. We gave it to him last yr as his Xmas present. The 2 times he wore it not for a AF function was at weddings...I think he was selected to be in the wedding because he had the mess dress
Out of his friends, I believe only 1 does not have the mess dress and she is going Intel.
For rated, they wear them not only for the annual AF ball (held in the fall), but also for dining outs, usually ins are combat. That is on top of assignment night at UPT, plus graduation night at UPT and their FTU. That means they will wear them in the AD world at least 4 times in 2 yrs. I can't remember any officer in the AD world wearing their service uniform to these functions.
So yes, if your child is intending to do 4 and the door it is not worth the investment, but if they intend to go rated, where they owed a decade after getting winged, which takes a yr = 11 yrs in, it is a good investment.
The Mess Dress is typically the graduation gift for many, for us, because the kids have Game Fly subscriptions, we have no need to buy them 50 games.
TY our DS is getting a Droid phone because he knows he is going to a UPT base and the provider with the best coverage is not ATT, so we will drop him off our plan and pay for 1 yr with extra data costs and the new phone on Verizon. He is getting one present under the tree from us. That is it. He's okay with it because we just saved him money for the next yr when he would have changed providers anyway.
One thing to also think about for girls that are graduating this yr is :
Traditional black coach bag (shoulder strap) to keep them in regs.
Every female officer I ever met in the AF had that bag because it was nicer than the ones they sold at the MCS. Plus, Coach has a lifetime guarantee. If anything goes wrong with it you can send it back. It also works in the corporate world when they leave.
For females some ideas:
~ Bobby pins, and black elastic hair bands. You can never have enough
~ Lily Pulitzer carded ID wristlet
http://www.lillypulitzer.com/produc...ags/Travel/entity/pc/61/c/67/sc/117/2402.uts?
~ Hosiery
~ Cleansers
~~~ PT and sweating can cause acne issues. A high quality product will help them.
~ Simple stud earrings...pearls, sapphires, diamonds
~~~ They can than wear them with their service or mess dress, and as Bruno pointed out in yrs to come when they leave they are classic for job interviews.
~ Jewelry
~~~ We had 2 friends that did 2 different things, both were great ideas.
1. Build a pearl necklace.
~~~ The pearls were given for special reasons...Sweet 16, 18, graduation, Dean's list, etc. They started when she was a freshman in collage, They gave her 5 pearls to represent various things she already accomplished which were strung together on a fine gold chain. During college when she returned home they had more pearls strung, and the gold chain reduced. By the time she graduated she had a strand, and every pearl had a memory to her. It wasn't to her or them a strand of pearls, it was a lifetime of memories which was now an heirloom to her. It also was a way to slowly buy that strand. Any woman with a strand of pearls knows, it ain't cheap for a good quality strand. Women know that it is about matching color, luster and size when it comes to pearls.
2. White gold charm bracelet, or a build a bead bracelet.
~~~ Our friends did the same thing, but for them they kept adding charms each year. She has the AF insignia, the nursing insignia, her college, her state flower, etc.
White gold because she is AF and the AF uses silver.
They can't wear it in uniform, but again it is an heirloom piece for her, and a classic piece of jewelry forever.
The other jewelry gift I would suggest is if she has pearl or diamond studs, buy a sapphire jacket (AF or Navy), emerald (army). If you have never heard of jackets. They are a small circle of stones that the pearl is placed in it so now the pearl has an additional ring of gemstones. I have a pr in sapphire and wear them for formal functions. I can use my pearls or diamonds depending on how sparkly I want to be. Any reputable jeweler will know what you mean when you say I want a jacket of diamonds, sapphs, ems, rubies, for my studs. Price ranges depending on the size of the jacket, I think mine cost @150.
One last thing is to talk to your child about their laptop programs. DS had a Apple when he went to college as a freshman, but during his C200 yr he had to write reports and reviews for ROTC. The platform at his ROTC unit is Microsoft, so he had to get a program to convert his Apple OS to Microsoft for these reports. I think it was about 75 bucks.
plus, we have a kid in college. I would say judge by the kid. I know mine is asking for a new iron. But, he's expecting some fun stuff too.
Christmas gift giving is an individual family decision, ours will be modest too - two in college and one more left to get launched in 2013(thanks goodness she has no military plans given the information in the budget threads going around today
And a Mess Dress? For an ROTC cadet? Half of them if they go on AD will have a career that is over in a couple of years and the other half will wear it once every decade or so. 
