Baby's 1st birthday, book as a gift??

annaangeluk_2

It's my best friend's daughter's first birthday in a few weeks and I'm stuck for gift ideas! I don't want to buy toys or clothes as this baby has stacks of both!  While I would love to buy a gorgeous piece of jewellery for her I unfortunately don't have the funds! I was thinking of getting her a really lovely book to put away for when she is older, read to her kid's etc! What do other people think? Would a book feel like a "decent" gift?? I am an avid reader and have put books aside for my daughter but my friend and her partner are not really readers! For her first christmas I gave her a beautifully illustrated copy of The Night before Christmas to hopefully start a tradition in their family. Should I stick with this "theme" of lovely books or go the safe route and get a toy or a voucher etc? If I get a book can someone recommend one please? I was thinking "Love you forever" (afterall, Joey from friends read it on Emma's first birthday!!) or "On the night you were born."

Looking forward to finding out what other people think!

Thanks in advance, Anna x

pinkduvetdiva

My friend is having a baby in August and I'm going to get this for him....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0040Q1UH2/ref=s9_simh_gw_p79_d0_g79_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0CG15NWN0K3GK2K8KN9Y&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
I though it would be a good idea because I could begin writing in it, and put pics of his parents and me inside, then once he's born, give it to his parents so they can continue using it and when he's old enough, they can pass it on to him.

faerie~spangles

annaangeluk wrote: »

It's my best friend's daughter's first birthday in a few weeks and I'm stuck for gift ideas! I don't want to buy toys or clothes as this baby has stacks of both!  While I would love to buy a gorgeous piece of jewellery for her I unfortunately don't have the funds! I was thinking of getting her a really lovely book to put away for when she is older, read to her kid's etc! What do other people think? Would a book feel like a "decent" gift?? I am an avid reader and have put books aside for my daughter but my friend and her partner are not really readers! For her first christmas I gave her a beautifully illustrated copy of The Night before Christmas to hopefully start a tradition in their family. Should I stick with this "theme" of lovely books or go the safe route and get a toy or a voucher etc? If I get a book can someone recommend one please? I was thinking "Love you forever" (afterall, Joey from friends read it on Emma's first birthday!!) or "On the night you were born."

Looking forward to finding out what other people think!

Thanks in advance, Anna x

Stick with your theme.

PixieDust

What about Guess How Much I Love You? Or some of the other baby/toddler classics like Peepo (board book), Hairy Maclairy, Gruffalo, Very Hungry Caterpillar....or an anthology of classic children's stories....?

carlamarie_2

i would agree with getting a book, however i dont really get the point of 'getting one for when they're older'. also any traditions in my house are started my me and my husband, while we may have taken things from our own childhoods, i dont think id be happy with someone outside our family unit encouraging us to start different traditions.

my ds2 is 1 next week and i would appreciate it if anyone got him any of the usborne touchy feely books (thats not my.... pirate,mermaid,car etc in particular)these books are great to introduce them to books and and listening to stories and all three of my kids have enjoyed feeling the different textures in the book at this age.
when they are a little older you can use the touchy feely bits to educate them further; 'is this sand smooth or rough' 'can you find the bumpy bit' etc.

jazzypinkpuppet

That's a lovely idea, much better and longer lasting than clothes, my friend bought my daughter the Sophie book collection when she was two. They were far too old for her at the time, but I still read them to her a couple of pages at bed time. When she was about four or five we began the collection again reading them at night a few pages at a time we stretched it out for months and both looked forward to our snuggle time to read the next bit. She is nearly 13 now and and still has the books and still remembers us reading them together.

stimpy27

For my sons 1st birthday I asked family and close friends to buy a book and write inside it. We received some beautiful books. Winnie the pooh, padding ton bear and kipper compendium with some lovely words. It also meant I didn't have piles of plastic toys clogging my already full home!!

kingfisherblue

I love books and introduced my own children to them from an early age. I now have a family of readers. My proudest moment was when my middle child, who has Down's syndrome, read his first book on his own - he was nine years old. He is now 14 and has a reading age of 9 years, 6 months (by that I mean he can read the words, but he does not understand the meanings of all of them).

Books are always an acceptable present, and in my opinion, much more preferable to vouchers or clothes. There are so many great books for children. I would suggest you think about those in PixieDust's post, or the Usborne books that jazzy suggests. My mind is a bit blank about books for the younger age group at the moment!

You could also see if there is a book with the child's name in the title. I know someone who is expecting a boy, who she intends to call Oliver. There was a lovely book a few years ago called Oliver's Vegetables, and I'm hoping to get a copy for her when the baby is born. Children love their names to appear in books, and I think it encourages a love of books.

sethsgran

This is a favourite book of mine..... http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Say-Little-Prayer-You/dp/0439296587.

Very thought provoking and tender.

I_try

Agree with all the books PixieDust listed. All as board books rather than paper.

Depending on budget - we were bought some ELC Happyland toys for our daughter which is not something I'd have got but she loves them. We put them aside for a few months as they were aimed at 18 months+.

She adores books though especially the 'That's not my' series and Rod Campbell ones.

zanuda

Books for reading much later, especially when parents are not readers... I doubt. But why not to buy something closer to the age and what a lot of children enjoy? I’ve got as a present for 0th birthday for 1st child and my second (5y) still enjoy it, that one was from Usborne, but you could find something similar, It’s a cloth book with some touching activities (different fabric, crunchy, shiny, squeaky) and simple text (which works well when they start to read) and simple plot (mouse going through different places to find cheese). Another one, I’m not sure it will work for a lot of children, is about different fishes and sea creatures (same company). A lot of pictures with simple text under – who lives where, who eats who and some interesting facts. If the first one is quite standard for all children, later one – I’ve got no clue why mine liked it and how to be sure the child going to like something like that.
Another kind of books my children like – ant it works for long time – it’s kind of books with black chalk board pieces and a chalk to draw on it (text is simple, and there are some educational activities – tracing dots, numbers...) – mine started use those between 1st and 2d birthday, with supervision of cause. There are some books with special marker to draw in it but in my experience it is hard to clean it after and in the end the marker dries out. Books with chalk work much better. The only thing they are relatively chip, it would not do as birthday present.