Mead as a baby shower gift - need advice on logistics

I really, really don't want to go to Babys R Us to buy our friend a baby shower gift for this weekend. Sounds about as bad as a wedding show... but with hormones.

Anyway.

I was thinking it'd be cool to do up a card that says we'll put on a batch of mead, the day she gives birth, that she can expect to receive 2 cases of mead in a year, with the idea of using it to celebrate birthdays up til age 21, at which point, they can share with the kid, gift it to him/her, etc.

The hubby doesn't want to show up "basically giving her an IOU", but otherwise loves the idea.

Here's the thing... all of the meads we've made have been awesome within a year, but we haven't been doing this long enough to know how they are after a couple decades.

We tend to make sweet meads - am I right in assuming we'd need a dry, high alcohol mead to last that long?

Are fruits / herbs/etc ok in meads meant to age a very long time, or do they reduce their lifespan at all?

If we stabilize the mead before bottling, any reason that we shouldn't use the "zork" type corks that we tend to use for everything?

Any other considerations for doing this?

Nice idea, but I suspect you'll have to do the naff gift and the IOU.

You can still do sweet, but also high alcohol as both the alc' and sugar are preservative. So something like a "sack" mead would probably work.

I don't know whether some additional flavour like fruit, spices etc would reduce longevity or not, but I'd suggest cork and probably wax for long term bottled safety. Plastics can degrade and become brittle over time, and if you're thinking of a 21 year time span, well its your call......

You could always just start a batch when the kid's 16 or 17, and just let it age 4 or 5 years.

Wouldn't be what you're going for, obviously. Just sayin'...

Ummm.... Well..... How do I say this nicely...
It's the thought that counts, I suppose....

While there's nothing inherently wrong with a case of Mead - it's not really something that's useful.. at least not for the first year or so (Assuming Mom is breastfeeding)... You don't want Mom or Dad reaching for a bottle when there's a crisis going on with Kiddo...

Honestly, while on the surface, it sounds a bit uncaring or trite to you - write them a check, buy Diapers or Wipes or a Grocery store gift card.... These are the things that they will need most of all... and they will be grateful... Trust me... If not on that day - then 3 months after the babies are born - and it's Saturday night at 4 AM and the box of diapers ran dry... but there's that box from Aunt Marie sitting there in the corner of the closet.... Saved!

There are so many expenses that come due... and Mom will not be working for at least a month, maybe longer.... We were grateful for the money, Wal*Mart and supermarket gift cards, diapers, baby wipes.... All those expenses add up like you wouldn't believe - and it's a time when you are already short on money.... They go through so many diapers and wipes and butt cream and all that... Every bit helps....

You could still make a batch of Mead on the day the babies are born... Then - in a year, bring over the case... Crack open a bottle with them and laugh about it....

Thanks

Ummm.... Well..... How do I say this nicely...

THANKS, but I'm really just looking for answers to the questions I asked, not condescending snark.

Fatbloke: Forgot to mention, we have a small gift for the kid, and a bottle or two of ready-to-drink wine as the rest of the gift. That was our workaround to the "just showing up with an IOU" issue

High booze, high sugar, cork. Got it, makes sense. Still hoping to find out about how flavors behave over time!