Dads speech on daughters 21st Birthday 10-minute dad's speech delivered on daughter's 21st birthday.

Surprisingly, this speech was well received by my daughters friends. Can't believe it has had >21k reads! Take your time and pace your speech. Include facts that will flow naturally and deliver with conviction.

Welcome and thank you all for joining us today for this important milestone in Mirkas life. We are lucky to have Mirka as our daughter she grew up as a no-fuss child to little fuss teenager to well-adjusted adult! We also consider Mirka as very lucky as she has some exceptionally good friends from school, college, university and work. Today has a sad element. Mirkas good school friends mum passed away. I will start by asking you all to stand up and hold hands. I know this is important for Mirka. I request you to observe a moments silence and pray for her family before we proceed. Moving on - I am not here to tell you about Mirka you know including list 25 from her facebook wall! but share some stuff about Mirka that you may not know. We, as parents, have tried to provide as many opportunities as possible in terms of exposure to the wider world. Encouraged to learn Languages English/Mandarin/ Spanish, Travel (I am envious), Develop Skills, Mirka failed in sport but thanks to her mum she is into fitness and healthy eating now! Mirka has some unusual tastes. She did not go on a schoolie after her high school instead she went to Italy with a class-mate for 2 weeks ! Imagine our horror when we get phone call from hotel in Venice with a please explain, to verify if it was OK for Mirka to check into the hotel ! in Italy you are only allowed check-in to a hotel after you turn 18! She also decides to come to Melbourne university despite all her school friends being in Sydney ! well, every-time she comes to Sydney now, its party time with old school mates ! She is spiritual but not religious, believes in free market with a bottom-up view, Economics at the business end and guess what - she writes an university essay on Melbourne laneways ! Quirky but never a dull moment. Wants to live in NY / London working on a micro-finance project to help the poorest-of-the-poor. The following come to mind about Mirka : - RAGE on Saturday mornings - Brittany spears - Bush-walking in Bright - Harry Potter she has read the entire series 200 times - Buffy - Oasis - Beatles - Audrey Hepburn - Train-spotting - Breakfast at Tiffanys - Melbourne

- Breakfast / Dinner with dad @cool restaurants never mind the price ! - 3Hrs in coffee shop doing University assignment - NGA @Canberra - Thai roast pumpkin soup - Tiffany jewelry you get the drift ! We have a habit of summarizing experiences/events/place visited into 3 distinctive qualities/attributes. What do you think are the 3 distinctive qualities of Mirka ? Heres my take : - Passionate her senior school principal had this to say at Graduation dinner night. Nothing is half-hearted. Usually well researched, articulated and presented. All done with heart and soul / blood-sweat and tears. - Ambitious Very high personal standards very scary. Not satisfied with mediocrity will delay submission just to get it right ! Some refer to this as character building !! - Fiercely independent will take advise but make her decisions and maybe change them as well ! Finally, I will end with a Finish story. Being fiercely independent, our dear Mirka almost took complete care of herself bar one key activity i.e. wiping her bottom after the big job ! Up to 5yrs Mirka used a code word Finished to indicate for one of us to do the rest. If we missed the first call we got a louder Finished. I think I just heard a loud oneso will stop now. Mirka - You have made us proud and we wish you the best for the life ahead. The world is your Oyster, and we hope you will make the most of your capability to make a difference. Chase your passion and live your dream ! Once again thank you all for making this event happen enjoy the rest of the evening ! Thank You !! Mirka pop the champagne and get this party started ! Suggest structure to your speech : - Start with thanking your daughters friends and well-wishers in the audience, followed by family. Add a few anecdotes on their role in your daughters life so far. - Tell the gathering your perspective, whatever it is - surprisingly nothing is out bounds here, in fact her friends will appreciate the little known facts and quirkiness! Quote examples liberally. - Round-off with some insights which define her or are distinctive - Finally end up with narrating a funny event that will lead into launching the party! GOODLUCK