new baby "problem" gift

[Deleted User]

John Lewis vouchers - they're a middle-class acceptable form of money transfer

AND - a 'baby sitting' voucher - offer to babysit a few times for them. That is invaluable!

snowleopard61

When my first child was born, friends who had a baby a year older put together a basket of tiny, very useful presents - baby wipes, baby lotion, etc etc., all individually wrapped and topped off with a homemade cake. It's the one 'new baby' present I've never forgotten. Even if the family pass on clothes etc., this sort of item would still be useful and save them money, without being embarrassing. The babysitting voucher mentioned by Ringo above is a great idea and could be incorporated.

GoldenShadow

I was going to say how about a John Lewis voucher. Soooooo much in JL, whether they want something for baby or themselves

slightlyconfused1

snowleopard61 wrote: »

When my first child was born, friends who had a baby a year older put together a basket of tiny, very useful presents - baby wipes, baby lotion, etc etc., all individually wrapped and topped off with a homemade cake. It's the one 'new baby' present I've never forgotten. Even if the family pass on clothes etc., this sort of item would still be useful and save them money, without being embarrassing. The babysitting voucher mentioned by Ringo above is a great idea and could be incorporated.

I second this. I was given a huge plastic box full of necessary baby things (and a bag of goodies for me). It was the most thoughtful gift at a time when the last thing I wanted to do was go shopping or run out of anything. Because my friend made up the box herself it didn't contain any items that I wouldn't use and she had obviously spent a lot of time thinking about us.

newcook

To be honest I would put the money in a pretty gift card and say that as you didn’t know what the baby already has, you don’t want them to end up with duplicates and you didn’t want to buy gift vouchers as sometimes they have an expiry date ‘so pop it into baby’s bank for when you see fit to use it!’

If they keep refusing it, tell them its for the baby not for them and if baby has a problem with it they can tell you themselves !

Kastanie

snowleopard61 wrote: »

When my first child was born, friends who had a baby a year older put together a basket of tiny, very useful presents - baby wipes, baby lotion, etc etc., all individually wrapped and topped off with a homemade cake. It's the one 'new baby' present I've never forgotten. Even if the family pass on clothes etc., this sort of item would still be useful and save them money, without being embarrassing. The babysitting voucher mentioned by Ringo above is a great idea and could be incorporated.

That's such a gorgeous idea!

You could also look on Etsy for one-off handmade gifts - you can filter it by country, price etc to meet your requirements. There are some real gems among the overly "crafty" stuff! I bought a print from there for a new baby's room, framed it with an Ikea frame and it looked fantastic. Cost around 40 quid all in. If you want more details I can PM you.

You could also use Etsy for inspiration for things to put in your own baby basket if you make one :idea:

Counting_Pennies_2

snowleopard61 wrote: »

When my first child was born, friends who had a baby a year older put together a basket of tiny, very useful presents - baby wipes, baby lotion, etc etc., all individually wrapped and topped off with a homemade cake. It's the one 'new baby' present I've never forgotten. Even if the family pass on clothes etc., this sort of item would still be useful and save them money, without being embarrassing. The babysitting voucher mentioned by Ringo above is a great idea and could be incorporated.

I have done this for every baby that has been born. I have put in toiletries, vests, pack of pampers, weaning spoons, bib, weaning cubes, an outfit and then a gift for mum.


I love the idea of a babysitting voucher.


I would also recommend taking round the odd home cooked meal in a disposable container that can be frozen if not needed immediately. Invaluable.


hth

Timeflies

ringo_24601 wrote: »

John Lewis vouchers - they're a middle-class acceptable form of money transfer

AND - a 'baby sitting' voucher - offer to babysit a few times for them. That is invaluable!

We're expecting our first child, financially it's a big upheaval. I would really appreciate a JL voucher. It doesn't expire, but we'd probably spend it pretty soon, as it's such an expensive time, getting ready to survive on maternity pay! A babysitting voucher would also go down well!

I did receive a silver bangle from my grandparents as a baby, which I was not given until I was 18. It was nice to see the original packaging and card, written by my grandmother who had died when I was 10. To me, this is a good "keepsake" type gift. It's wearable/useable rather than just a decoration, and small enough to be tucked in a drawer for years.

I guess the voucher idea is really a gift to help out the parents in the here and now, and the keepsake idea is a gift to the future adult.

hawk30

One of the best gifts I got was a baby bath full of little bits like vest tops, bath toys, a rattle, etc. It was also filled with tissue paper, so I had great fun diving in to fish out the next treat and imagining using it with my LO. I also appreciated the John Lewis vouchers we got, which we spend on books/pram toys.

This I didn't/wouldn't appreciate are nappy cakes (nappies are quite personal to the baby), bangles/keepsakes (I'm too practical), babysitting voucher (i don't like to leave LO with anyone) or a photoshoot (not to my taste).

continualdiamond

As a mum to a 9mth old daughter I can say that whilst clothes are lovely gifts everyone gets you early on clothes and nothing far ahead so you end up with loads that you don't end up using.

Plus clothes I find not to be too expensive, well that's because I get the George and Nutmeg range mostly.

I like the suggestion of a photography voucher. No one thought of anything like that for us and it's something we wanted to capture so we purchased a 'year' package which got us a newborn, 6 mths and 1 year shoot and I must say having already done 2 shoot's it is sooooo worth it to capture them growing up. We're having a cake smash shoot following my daughters 1 year shoot.

We didn't/don't have much £££ and one of the best things we bought was a baby swing. When my husband returned to work it was a blessing to put my daughter in the swing whilst I did some jobs as I knew she was safe. We've kept it in case we have another child.

The baby sitting voucher is also a fab idea. I don't have any family here as I'm from Australia and my in laws won't look after our little girl as they're too scared so hubby and I haven't been anywhere just us since February when my parents were over and we went out to the cinema.