This afternoon I’ve been thinking about birthstone jewelry in my family, but also among my friends growing up. I’m 43 and grew up in the northeastern US and I feel like a lot of my friends had some kind of birthstone necklace. My sister and I had them and also both had little porcelain figurines similar to this one.
My mother gave me a charm for my charm bracelet with my son’s birthstone on it when he was born, but he doesn’t own anything with his birthstone. I doubt he even knows that there ARE birthstones. Is that a function of him being a boy, or growing up almost entirely in the 21st century, or both? Do young girls wear their birthstones? Or is it more of a grandma sort of thing?
Bonus question:
If your birthday is in April do you feel that it’s unfair that your birthstone is significantly more expensive than that for other months?
What brought this up is that I was thinking about buying myself a ring. I have a ring that has my birthstone, my son’s (which is also my sister’s), and amethyst which is February’s birthstone but has no significance to me other than that I like it. I didn’t set out to buy a birthstone ring. I just happened to like the ring and realized afterwards that it’s a nice coincidence.
I’ve been thinking a lot about a departed loved one and thought a similar ring with his birthstone would be a nice remembrance of him. That’s when I found out that April’s birthstone is diamond. No diamond ring that I can afford will - scratch that, there are no diamond rings I can afford.
My own birthstone is peridot. Very affordable. It hardly seems fair. I realize that there is nothing in life guaranteed to be fair, and that our little statues didn’t have real gems in them. What I’m seeing on current websites is “birthstone colored crystals.” Probably the best way to go if you have to buy an assortment. Fair was a very big thing between my sister and me when we were of the right age to be receiving these types of things as gifts, usually from our grandparents.
I think opals are gorgeous and I do have a couple of items of opal jewelry. I got my first pendant, a gift from my mother, because it was my birthstone, but the other pieces were purchased because I liked the look. I think I own more pearl jewelry than opal, and that’s for a different month - June, maybe?
I hate pink tourmaline, the cheap replacement birthstone for opal.
ETA: Some sites say white topaz is a replacement for diamond, maybe that could be an option for you?
I was also born in August, and I have a large amount of peridot jewelry. The very first pair of earrings I ever bought were the peridot studs that were used to pierce my ears (actually I think they came free with the piercing). Of course, now that I think about it, I have jewelry in every birthstone, except diamond, emerald and sapphire. I am wearing garnet earrings today.
Many women I know who were born in April are delighted that diamond is their birthstone, because people giving them gifts are far more likely to give them diamonds. If you can’t afford them (or like me are diamond-free) there are plenty of alternatives – you could choose one of the many alternate birthstones for April, just match the color by going with any white stone (white sapphire, white topaz, etc.) or get a fake – CZ or crystal. There is also a different set of stones for the zodiac signs, so you could go with that.
I don’t know about current young girls, but birthstones and gemstones in general have always been more of a girl thing, because men don’t wear as much jewelry, and they tend to stick to all metal pieces.
I wanted an aquamarine (March) for my wedding ring but the diamond store lady talked me out of it, unsurprisingly. I don’t really wear any other jewelry but if I did get another piece, I’d definitely consider my birthstone. I think it’s a pretty stone.
I think it’s a girl thing, certainly. Who else are all those birthstone jewelry items aimed at?
On that note, my birthstone is topaz/citrine and the fact that I really don’t like anything yellowish just adds to the fact that I really dislike made-up reasons to feel sentimental about something, so…I’ll never be getting anything with my ‘birthstone’ on it, hehe.
I have some birthstone jewelry that I’ve gotten as gifts, but I pretty much never wear any of it. I don’t wear much in the way of jewelry any more anyway, and the rings don’t fit me any more, and frankly, garnets just aren’t all that attractive.
Yes, I do. I was born in December. Our first Christmas together, my other half gave me a necklace with a heart and a stone in the center made of blue topaz. Third Christmas together, a pair of earrings that were heart-shaped blue topaz with tiny diamonds accenting them. (second Christmas was a silver chain to replace the broken original chain of the necklace :smack:) I wear the necklace daily, and the earrings usually several times a month.
Also, there’s my high school class ring (this is with turquoise), but I probably won’t wear that much longer.
November is yellow topaz…might as well be called a pukestone.
Ugly.
As.
Shit.
So no…but I’m also a guy, so it’s not like wearing jewelry is a big thing for us. I mean…plenty of guys do, even discounting wedding rings, but it’s like an order of magnitude less than woman. I did get a class ring in high school, but I go some random green stone (not an emerald, some synthetic thing) because it looked cool.
I do. I have a sapphire ring, and I have a ring with an iolite, which is also called water sapphire. The semi-precious September stone is lapis lazuli, and I have a lapis ring, too. (I like blue stones!)
My 16-year-old son indeed knows his birthstone is ruby, and he chose that (well, not a real one!) for the stone in his high school class ring. He has another ring with a “ruby” in it, too. I’m thinking I might try to make him a pendant with a ruby in zoisite for his birthday.
My brother and I worked out a trade - He’s October, I’m August. This works out well for both of us, because he actually *likes *light green (puke face needed), and opals are my favorite stone and he claims they look like a bad special effect on cheap TV.
My birthstone is pearl. I inherited a strand of pearls that I used to wear until I gained weight and now it’s too tight around my neck. Pearls seem very old-fashioned, but I would wear a pearl necklace if I had one that fit.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pearl ring that I liked enough to want to wear. I’m pretty hard on my jewellery, so need something durable, and pearls can be fragile. Not fond of pearl earrings either - just not my style, but I think I may have a pair somewhere.
I hsve a fair amount of birthstone jewelry - my husband bought me a ring, necklace and earrings in blue topaz, and I love turquoise. But I also have opals, and garnets, and lapis…
I have some emerald earrings that I was given because it’s my birthstone and an emerald ring I inherited. I went through a period when green was my favorite color, so it was a happy coincidence. I much prefer sapphires now, but rarely wear jewelry.
