I was dreading this day but I knew it was coming. We have some very crafty people in our family who make beautiful gifts. But we also have a few try-their-hardest-and-it-still-sucks people in our family. We got our first homemade baby gift this weekend from a relative who makes the ugliest crafts. They made this creepy looking doll. Not only is it creepy, but it has all of these little buttons sewn on it. Perfect for a baby to choke on, no? And I know that more is just around the corner.
The thing is, call me mean, but I refuse to put this stuff out on a shelf and ruin a perfectly cute nursery. I don't even want to put this stuff out when the person who made it visits us. I just don't know what we are going to do with this stuff. I'd PIP but I'm afraid somehow it will get back to this relative. Trust me, it is U-G-L-Y.
Re: Homemade baby gifts are starting
Lots of sympathy here! I think my baby is going to be swimming in handmade blankets. I already have quite the collection including one from my grandmother's hairdresser whom I have never met!
Oh and PP, I completely get the hand-me-down thing. I'm all about a few items for sentimental value and some are very cute but my MIL has an entire dresser full of clothes my DH wore as a baby/toddler and expects our baby to wear them...
Our precious girl, born at 27 weeks.
Don't get me wrong... I have been sewing a ton of stuff for my baby, but I at least try to make it SOFT
I honestly love homemade stuff. We have some family who made such lovely gifts that I know we will keep forever and our grandchildren will use. That is exciting. It is when the stuff is totally not our style, unsafe for babies, or just plain ugly. We have a few family members who think they are very crafty when they really aren't.
LOL. I'm exactly the same way. I like home made things, and "mommy loves me" or "daddy's little angel" or pretty much any saying, cheesy or not, drives me batty. It's one of the many reasons that we're keeping it a secret (team green), I swear if I get a "boob man" or "little diva" onesie it'll go straight to the goodwill pile.
My grandma was a bit peeved that we "didn't tell her the sex" ("no, grandma, we don't know, we're keeping it a secret" didn't register with her) because she wants to embroider a blanket for us, but she can't pick the right colors until she knows the sex. We're like "grandma, any color will do, just don't do anything overtly pink", but oh noooo.. that doesn't work. I never knew that hunter green and teal were strictly boy colors, according to her...
I should say I do love the homemade things too. I just worry about how many giant blankets our LO is going to end up with-we don't have a ton of storage space! I'm making lots of things for the baby and my mom made ALL my clothes most of my childhood, many of which are beautiful and will be passed on.
I second Pinkpear's wish all the homemade were as pretty! But we are very thankful for whatever we get and this baby is VERY lucky to have so many people that want to do things for him/her already.
Our precious girl, born at 27 weeks.
I should say I do love the homemade things too. I just worry about how many giant blankets our LO is going to end up with-we don't have a ton of storage space! I'm making lots of things for the baby and my mom made ALL my clothes most of my childhood, many of which are beautiful and will be passed on.
I second Pinkpear's wish all the homemade were as pretty! But we are very thankful for whatever we get and this baby is VERY lucky to have so many people that want to do things for him/her already.
Our precious girl, born at 27 weeks.
I agree with you! My SIL gave us this silver/chrome looking piggy bank. Someone else had given it to her for her LO. So not only did she pass it on to us, but she decided to decorate it with what looked like permanent black marker. After she gave it to us, she asked us if it would match her nursery... All I could say was "Uhm, oh yeah, because we were planning to do a garden theme with fairies and animals, this will just be the "bling" element." I don't know if she got that it wouldn't really match but I tried to sound as grateful as possible.
But my husband absolutely HATES it. So much, he left it in the trunk of the car in hopes it would some how break. It never broke. When we were describing it to my mom, she suggested she could put it in her garden since she was going to plot out a small part to plant some flowers for our LO. She said it would be good to chase the bunnies away.
I love homemade things and I am getting a bunch of them. I'm also getting lots of hand me downs... and anything that has characters or "lil diva/princess" won't make it to the drawers. Call me picky or ungrateful, but it's just not my style. Trust me, I appreciate the sentiment. I really do. But I don't have to use everything and I feel like as long as I express my gratitude to the giver... I'm OK.
My Acme Box last update 3/28/11
I consider myself lucky, so far...my mom's planning on making some burp-cloths and changing pads, and has offered to make me a diaper bag, in addition to the requisite quilt(she's a quilter, it's her first grandchild, and I honestly don't care that I already made the baby a quilt too, hers will by far surpass anything I could make). I get to help pick the bits. Plus she's got all the hand-smocked dresses she made me saved back...including a couple that weren't finished in time for me or my sister to wear. Wait til she hears it's a girl
I did get a little worried over the weekend when my grandfather started asking about wood finishes...I grilled my mom, though, and it turns out he's making us a changing table(he's got a very impressive workshop, and has done this sort of thing before, just not for us), and can probably even duplicate the style of the one DH and I had picked out. The style thing was a concern for us, because we'd spent quite a while figuring out exactly what things we did and didn't want in a changing table, and both really liked the one we'd chosen.
My aunt, who also does woodworking stuff, has made wooden rocking horses for each of her four grandkids...and she and my grandfather are also planning on making one each for me/LO, my cousin's soon-to-be kiddo, and my step-cousin, who's also due this spring.
I normally would just put the stuff out if/when that person came to visit. However, MIL gave us an ugly lamp, and they are over several times a week, so it will have to become part of the nursery
. I appreciate the gifts, but I am OCD when it comes to matching.
I have also received loads of knitted blankets which are also NMS.