Baby

If you’re a woman over the age of 25, then you are likely very familiar with the following scene: an expectant mother, surrounded by close friends and relatives, delights in opening a seemingly endless parade of cute baby shower gifts while everyone else oohs and ahhs over the items. For those who enjoy this type of thing, then showers are events that you eagerly look forward to. But for the rest of us, the whole routine can get a bit tedious after the third or fourth time. In fact, I used to hate having to shop for baby shower gifts because I had trouble finding products that I was sure none of the other attendees would buy. But now that I’ve found a few great websites, I’m able to share in my friends’ joy once again.

I’m not a good shopper to begin with, so it’s not surprising that I used to have trouble finding unique baby shower gifts. I didn’t have the time or patience to traipse through the entire mall looking at every children’s or maternity store in the place. I usually ended up buying the same old outfits from Baby Gap, and received the same old tepid response from the mom-to-be. I wasn’t interested in making any more effort than necessary, which was obviously the wrong attitude. I mean, if I cared enough about the person to buy a present in the first place, then why not at least try to get something worthwhile?

For the past couple of years, I’ve had tremendous luck finding unique baby shower gifts online. It took some searching, but I was eventually able to come up with a handful of websites that specialize in items for babies. These little boutiques are not nationally known, but their products are of top quality and very affordable. Plus, I can be sure that no one else will show up to the party with the same present! For example, instead of the usual bland onesies and diaper bags, I now buy personalized baby shower gifts emblazoned with the baby’s and/or parents’ names (if the parents have already decided on a name, of course).

Over the years, I’ve purchased miniature rocking chairs, rocking horses, toy chests, and even baseball gloves. And since these aren’t the run-of-the-mill things that the parents-in-waiting have come to expect, they usually receive a terrific welcome. I typically get a ton of compliments on each baby shower gift that I buy these days, and I have to admit that I’m proud of my recent track record!

So if you’re looking for a baby shower gift, leave the boring stuff for other people to buy. Go with something unique and memorable that the proud mom and dad will truly love!

How to make a thoughtful, lovely and economical baby gift basket

If you have an expectant Mom on your gift list, you surely want to honor her and her new baby with a gift that expresses your best wishes, love and care. However, this economy has all of us strapped, struggling to make ends meet, with not much latitude in our budgets. Here we’ve got an answer that fulfills all of your objectives, while also being an economical solution. A baby gift basket can be beautiful, filled with useful items that, while inexpensive, Mom may not have or have thought to purchase herself. A nicely decorated basket can become a keepsake with a useful purpose in the nursery too. Here are several ideas to get you started.

If Mom knows whether she’s expecting a boy or girl, you can key off that info with a color-themed basket. Start with a basket in pink or blue shades. If she doesn’t know the gender of her baby, pick a neutral beige shade of basket. Lining your baby gift basket with fabric or cloth adds a nice touch. You can also weave lengths of ribbon around the edges of the basket, using a yarn needle to pull the ribbon through the basket weave. Crafts stores are full of cute, decorative items, such as strings of hearts, little faux birdies, dried flowers and baby bracelet alphabet strings you can fix on the basket with a glue gun. You’ll want to decide on the contents of your basket, so you can purchase the right size and shape.

Now for the contents. Those tiny story books, made of thick cardboard-faced, glossy, easy-wipe pages, with simple illustrations provide some amusement for baby at meal time. A mobile is another good choice, hung above the crib or changing table. Baby stores are replete with stuffed animals, a favorite with any child. You might also consider framing a series of small pictures from an inexpensive story book to add some visual interest and entertainment to baby’s room. This also helps develop a baby’s depth perception, once they reach the age of focusing their eyes.

Practical nursery items, such as diaper rash ointment, baby shampoo and oil are inexpensive enough – unless you’re the Mom buying them every couple of weeks! The same goes for baby tee-shirts, which Mom can never have enough of and which are outgrown in a month. Packs of baby washcloths are another useful goodie to put in your baby gift basket. Teething rings are available in lots of colors and cute designs.

Yet another terrific addition to your baby gift basket is an envelope full of coupons. Get online and Google ‘baby coupons’. You can spend a couple of hours that Mom isn’t likely to have, gathering up coupons for baby products, from food to baby care products. When you go shopping at the grocery, go down the aisle of baby food and gather more valuable coupons. Mom will love you for your thoughtfulness.

So now you have lots of ideas on how to fill and decorate a baby gift basket on a shoestring. You’ll doubtless come up with lots more ideas as you go browsing the baby aisles. Another virtue of the baby gift basket is that it’s a lot of fun for you to put together!

Other baby gift ideas sites online

• Maternity Store Enula 9, Cph | Luvaville.com