Attachment Parenting
NAPR: Inexpensive New Baby Gifts
3 of my friends/family out of town have had babies this month and I want to send gifts. We just had a major budget set-back so I'd like to keep the gifts & mailing under $30 each. Only 1 registered but only for the big ticket items so my options are wide open. I'm willing to go the homemade/semi-homemade route, but have few sewing skills so a lot of great baby items are out :-( Any great or favorite ideas you've seen, given or received?
TIA!
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Re: NAPR: Inexpensive New Baby Gifts
My favorites were/are:
SwaddleMe blankets - they are about $10 each, so you could get both a cotton and a fleece one.
Aiden & Anais Swaddling blankets - about $25? for 3 or 4 of them, or you can get them individually. The ones from Target don't seem as high quality.
The FP Seahorse - it's a huge craze right now and lots of moms swear by it - it's less than $15. It doesn't help DS sleep, but he does enjoy looking at it and snuggling with it.
Sophie the Giraffe - teething toy. We don't have her, but again, everyone is nuts about the thing.
Socks that actually stay on (can't think of the really good brand right now. It starts with an N.)
BabyLegs - always cute and helps makes diaper changes a snap!
Plain old Sleep'N'Plays - I prefer the zippers since they are faster. I also like the ones with animals or whatever on the feet. Sounds silly, I know, but DS LOVES to look at and play with his feet when there's a frog or a puppy attached! Otherwise he doesn't care. I got mostly cute outfits, but almost no sleepers, and I usually don't get DS fully dressed unless we're going somewhere.
I agree with what others have said. The only thing I have to add is that my favorite homemade gifts were large fluffy hooded towels.
A friend's wife took a fluffy full size towel and attached along the middle of the side a washcloth folded with one side sewn to form a hood. I love it. So much softer and easier to hold and dry DS than the tiny thin commercially available baby towels. They will easily last through the toddler years.
I second Sophie and the Aden & Anais blankets. DD now uses those blankets for her dolls, so we still get a lot of use out of them. I think I've given a set to at least 4 or 5 different friends who have had babies since DD was born.
Another thing I really like to get friends as a gift is an Angel Dear lovey. You can get just about any animal. I just sent one to my doula who is expecting.
NoseFrida has been our best friend this week. Everyone I know who has it loves it, but I had never heard of it until uiowachick told me about it. I bought it as a gift and wrote a long note about how much it had helped me. It's about $20, and you could also throw in a cheap board book and stick to your budget.
Another amazing thing has been the zoli electric nail trimmer. There were a lot of tea (from both of us) in those early days of trying to trim nails. This is probably my favorite baby thing I own and my only regret is that I didn't get it sooner. I bought the Safety First electric nail trimmer too but it doesn't work nearly as well as this one.
I think a good gift (especially one for someone without a registry) is to use your experience and give them something they don't realize they will need or that it will make their life easier.