iPod Touch engraving for teen - what to put?

[Louise-Montreal]

Every Apple ipod we've bought has been engraved. It makes it more special in our family's eyes. First one for DD said "Hands off Devon's Ipod" , another said "No, you can't borrow Hanna's ipod" DH gave me a nano with a special phrase,our names, date we started dating and wedding date. For 25th anniversary, i gave dh one with "and then you find 25 years have got behind you" with dates (he's a huge Pink Floyd fan and i changed the 10 to 25 in the lyric) DD's current one has a quote by her favorite artist, the other has a song lyric that means a lot. No we won't ever trade them in, any more than I'd trade a piece of jewelry in that was a special gift. Being of limited means, these were all huge gifts, in most cases the only gift they received that year. I now have my oldest DD's first ipod touch, and the engraving makes me laugh and remeber her face when she got it.
Twice the girls misplaced their ipod at school, and because of the engraving, got them back right away.

I guess it all ends up to how important a gift it is, and how long you plan on keeping it.

So true. My husband had my iPod shuffle engraved. He passed away and it has become one of my most treasured possessions.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just about All of ours are engraved with our last name and my cell phone number just in case we lose it and get lucky enough to have an honest person find it. We will not ever sell them(we have them all back to our first iPod from about the second year they existed) and we pass them from one family member to another, and nobody has ever complained that the free iPod they got had someone else's name and my cell # on it.

 

[Disney Addicted]

OR, you are 13 and don't need a freaking 5th gen ipod..

holy cow... amazing..

Need it? No, you are right - she does not. Worked for it? You bet. First job ever, delivering 65 newspapers, 3 days a week, no matter the weather. And then collecting money from each customer for 5-6 days in a row every 3 weeks. (The newspaper company does not pay the carriers. They request the customers pay the kids directly.)

Next month marks a full year and she has saved $3,500 in her bank account.

She gives her brother $5 a month for "helping" with the papers, and pays half her cell phone bill - out of her collection money.

AND DD is being a great sport, handing down her current iPod to her younger brother instead of selling it for $100 - $150 like we see them on Craigslists & Kijijii. No prompting.

My husband & I feel she deserves to treat herself to 1 major purchase as a reward for hard work & generousity. She did not ask to purchase the iPod - we offered to let her.

Now I realize you, nor anyone else here, did not know this additional information. I did not feel it necessary to make my OP long with the additional information. I wanted to focus on the engraving issue. And I would not have been offended by something like "she's only 13 - does she really need a 5th gen ipod?" But freaking... holy cow... amazing... ?

 

[luvmy3]

OR, you are 13 and don't need a freaking 5th gen ipod..

holy cow... amazing..

Someone sounds a bit jealous that they don't have one.............

 

[SaraJayne]

Need it? No, you are right - she does not. Worked for it? You bet. First job ever, delivering 65 newspapers, 3 days a week, no matter the weather. And then collecting money from each customer for 5-6 days in a row every 3 weeks. (The newspaper company does not pay the carriers. They request the customers pay the kids directly.)

Next month marks a full year and she has saved $3,500 in her bank account.

She gives her brother $5 a month for "helping" with the papers, and pays half her cell phone bill - out of her collection money.

AND DD is being a great sport, handing down her current iPod to her younger brother instead of selling it for $100 - $150 like we see them on Craigslists & Kijijii. No prompting.

My husband & I feel she deserves to treat herself to 1 major purchase as a reward for hard work & generousity. She did not ask to purchase the iPod - we offered to let her.

Now I realize you, nor anyone else here, did not know this additional information. I did not feel it necessary to make my OP long with the additional information. I wanted to focus on the engraving issue. And I would not have been offended by something like "she's only 13 - does she really need a 5th gen ipod?" But freaking... holy cow... amazing... ?

Good for your daughter.

Though no justification/explanation is necessary.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The chances of someone returning a lost iPhone or iPod are extremely slim (speaking from personal experience of several relatives). I would not engrave; as stated, it makes it hard to resell.

 

[MrsDoubtfire]

Need it? No, you are right - she does not. Worked for it? You bet. First job ever, delivering 65 newspapers, 3 days a week, no matter the weather. And then collecting money from each customer for 5-6 days in a row every 3 weeks. (The newspaper company does not pay the carriers. They request the customers pay the kids directly.)

Next month marks a full year and she has saved $3,500 in her bank account.

She gives her brother $5 a month for "helping" with the papers, and pays half her cell phone bill - out of her collection money.

AND DD is being a great sport, handing down her current iPod to her younger brother instead of selling it for $100 - $150 like we see them on Craigslists & Kijijii. No prompting.

My husband & I feel she deserves to treat herself to 1 major purchase as a reward for hard work & generousity. She did not ask to purchase the iPod - we offered to let her.

Now I realize you, nor anyone else here, did not know this additional information. I did not feel it necessary to make my OP long with the additional information. I wanted to focus on the engraving issue. And I would not have been offended by something like "she's only 13 - does she really need a 5th gen ipod?" But freaking... holy cow... amazing... ?

OP - You are absolutely correct - we did not need to know the background story, but now that I do, all I can say is your DD13 DEFINITELY deserves a new IPod AND a new case to protect it . I thought it was a great gift to begin with - not that you were asking opinions as to whether a 13 y/o should have one. I'm still leaning toward the "Boston Bruins" engraving for my DS ...but would like to add my cell phone number in case he ever loses it and an honest person finds it. Stranger things have happened .....

 

[momof3ds]

No, I wouldn't engrave.

If you have a warranty (either apple care plus or square trade) and something happens to the ipod. It drops, screen cracks, whatever. When you send it in, you do not get the same one back. You get a new or refurbished one that will not be engraved.

If an ipod is lost, you can use the where's my ipod program to send a message with a name and cell phone number when you lock the ipod remotely.

 

[4shinystars]

Engraved Ipod touch I bought for my DH had an issue, brought it to an Apple store. Fixes they suggested didn't work out, so sent it back to Apple for replacement. It came back with the same engraving, new ipod. I didn't think they'd do that, but they did. This was almost a year after purchase, fell under standard warranty.

 

[pixiewings71]

OR, you are 13 and don't need a freaking 5th gen ipod..

holy cow... amazing..

ummmm rude~~~~

Need it? No, you are right - she does not. Worked for it? You bet. First job ever, delivering 65 newspapers, 3 days a week, no matter the weather. And then collecting money from each customer for 5-6 days in a row every 3 weeks. (The newspaper company does not pay the carriers. They request the customers pay the kids directly.)

Next month marks a full year and she has saved $3,500 in her bank account.

She gives her brother $5 a month for "helping" with the papers, and pays half her cell phone bill - out of her collection money.

AND DD is being a great sport, handing down her current iPod to her younger brother instead of selling it for $100 - $150 like we see them on Craigslists & Kijijii. No prompting.

My husband & I feel she deserves to treat herself to 1 major purchase as a reward for hard work & generousity. She did not ask to purchase the iPod - we offered to let her.

Now I realize you, nor anyone else here, did not know this additional information. I did not feel it necessary to make my OP long with the additional information. I wanted to focus on the engraving issue. And I would not have been offended by something like "she's only 13 - does she really need a 5th gen ipod?" But freaking... holy cow... amazing... ?

Holy cow, she is freaking amazing and yes, she DOES deserve a 5th gen iTouch. Heck I want to give my 13 year old one this year as a combo birthday/Christmas gift. lol Her birthday is 12-15 and she's in honors classes so I feel she deserves it. I wouldn't get it engraved though, just don't feel it's necessary.

 

[Arielle22]

My older DD used her ITouch so much that it stopped working. New ITouch was engraved with " Please don't break me".

I am amazed so many people think about reselling it. We have bought lots of electronics and that thought never entered my mind. Usually the item is used until broken. If a new one if purchased and the old one still works, it is passed along to someone else in the family. When we bought our younger daughter an ITouch, I was the recipient of her old IPod while my nano went to my sister.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions. You are awesome!

I agree that it is a rare person these days who will try and find the owner. However, we decided to go with engraving as there is always a chance. There are still honest people left in the world.

Reselling will not be an issue. With her younger sibling and all their cousins, hand-me-downs are always welcome. Especially this type.

 

[furb & dez]

First job ever, delivering 65 newspapers, 3 days a week, no matter the weather. And then collecting money from each customer for 5-6 days in a row every 3 weeks. (The newspaper company does not pay the carriers. They request the customers pay the kids directly.)

Next month marks a full year and she has saved $3,500 in her bank account.

Hey, not bad! That's almost 3 to 5 months of college tuition.

 

[shortbun]

We had my son's first Ipod engraved with his initials. My husband now uses that one because DS ended up wanting a new one. He did not want the new one engraved.

 

[lady9]

Our DDs iPod went missing after she a new friend from middle school over. DD came home from school the next week and said this "friend" was showing people her new iPod that had the exact same case on it as her iPod. I called the homeroom teacher and ask that the next time this girl had the iPod at school could she please check the engraving on the back to see if it was my DDs. Sure enough, the next day the teacher was able to check the engraving on the back, and it was indeed my DDs iPod. The teacher called the girl's parent and explained what had happened. They were very nice and had their DD call mine and apologize for stealing it. Without the engraving, I doubt we could have proven it was DDs. We had DDs first name and her birthday engraved on the back.

 

[jgreco]

I have DS name and my husbands number on the back. If someone finds it and returns it great, if they keep it they'll be bugged by the name on it and at least we tried.
It's more likely to be broken for good (glass repaired twice) than stolen.