Sister having a baby, want to get a present that will really mean something

PenguinJim

That's a good idea. A 1oz silver coin for £17 seems a good price, and while it's not a particularly popular investment material, they are nice coins and will most likely increase in value.

A friend was recently given a bottle of whisky for his newborn son, which is a brilliant idea. It'll be 18 years aged by the time he can drink it!

Lixi_2

nonnatus wrote: »

Why not get her a token that she can exchange for having her baby's hand or foot prints cast in silver or something similar?


I know mothercare do the Plaster of Paris kits, but Silver is a bit more glamorous in my opinion!


She can have it framed and will always be able to see her newborn as a newborn!! I have a basic plaster hand print done by my daughter when she was at Nursery (so aged about 3yrs) and I LOVE looking at it even now that she is a miserable 17 year old!!

Someone bought me the mothercare kit and it's been my favourite gift. Hand and footprint at a week old displayed/preserved forever next to a picture in a frame. They're about 25 quid.

For less than that you can often find vouchers for family photo shoots with prints which we had and made use of when my little one was 4 months old. I will treasure those pictures forever.

FatVonD

Your friend doesn't sound the type to be into astrology but, on the off chance, you could get the baby's birth chart done once you know the exact time and date of birth. I did this for one of my friend's daughters and then illustrated and framed it though, if you aren't of an artistic persuation, you may need to pay someone else to illustrate it!

FatVonD

Something like this only prettier and more child like:

Rev

When my beat friend had her children I got a blanket which had the babies full name. Date of birth and weight on. She loved them, used them when the kids were small and has kept them as a keepsake.

I got her loads of stuff but wanted something that could be a keepsake should she want it to be. So got those.

uk_american

I am nearly 40 and some things that I have that I received as a baby:

1. Jewelry
2. Bonds
3. A relative wrote a letter to me, very heartfelt, saying that he hoped that I had characteristic X of my mother, Y of my father, etc. It spoke about other members of the family and gave me a glimpse of what life was like before me and included some inspirational sayings that were important to him.

mr_knight

hat about one of these http://www.lifememoriesbox.co.uk/childrens-keepsake-boxes-13-c.asp

They are lovely to fill with cards and bits for LO to look back at. You could fill it yourself with things she will need or make a nappy cake on the top of it. I made my brother and SIL a nappy cake and they were really pleased with it. It was nice and personalized and obviously I checked she was going to be using disposables

barbiedoll

Save the money and make a pledge to pay for her driving lessons when she is 17. She will love you forever and you'll be giving her a gift that will last her a lifetime.

Toys, jewellery and other expensive tokens all end up either tatty or (worse) not played with, or they get lost or broken during house moves, fights with siblings etc etc.

I like the shares in Disney... that was an inspired choice! :

Hermia

BargainJunky wrote: »

When my children were born we invested any monetary gifts for their future. They both had first curl boxes, first tooth boxes, picture frames etc etc and they are sadly stuffed in a drawer so I would not recommend that sort of thing.

One thing I keep saying I wish I had bought them was a gold coin (Sovereign or Krugerand) with the year of their birth on. As the gold price has now dropped I'm seriously thinking of doing it now and keeping it until their 21st birthdays.

I think the problem with things like first tooth/curl boxes is that they are really gifts for the parent, not the child. Parents get sentimental about that sort of stuff, but it's probably just mildly interesting for the child. I dumped that sort of stuff years ago. I find it interesting to see pictures and hear stories of what I was like as a child. But seeing my footprint etc is of no interest.

Brighton_belle

The trouble is, you can only ever buy things you think are meaningful - the chances of them being meaningful to the recipient, especially a child who's character will not be fully formed for some time, are fairly remote.
A lot of people struggle later in life with sentimental clutter: they don't like it but they feel obliged to keep it because someone gave it to them.