How to buy Gifts for Expectant Parents

When you’re buying gifts for a mother/family expecting a baby, most often your goal is to give what will be the most helpful. Gifts, while much appreciated, can often miss the mark of being useful.  Here is a quick guide to buying baby gifts:

1)      Check their registry.  If the parents have a registry it’s good to buy what they say they really need.  So often new parents have a lot of repeats or too many similar items. Blankets are always a favorite to buy – it’s hard to resist thinking of wrapping up those little bundles of joy in soft, warm blankets!  But 10 blankets or more is too much! Sometimes you just need to resist and go with practical.

2)      Have early baby showers. If you’re planning to give your gift to the expectant family 1 or 2 months before the due date, then you might be too late.  A mom gets very antsy about not being prepared in these last couple months and very well may go out and buy what she needs during this time.  If you’d really like to help out, get presents to them early so the mom doesn't worry about being unprepared.

3)      Ask the mom what she needs. Often times an expectant mom might get so many newborn clothes and then have nothing for the baby to wear when it hits the 3 month size.  Typically babies grow out of the newborn size in one month. While this size is SO adorable because of how tiny it is, often the baby will get the most use out of the 3 month size.  Sometimes you may even want to go to the 6 month size.  Asking what she really needs helps stretch your dollar to the greatest use.

4)      Second-hand can be divine!  If you know of a baby who will is of the same sex but just a few months older than the arriving baby, you may find a parent who is very willing to pass on some of the clothes her child is no longer using.  All those baby clothes take up a lot of storage room and a mother is often very happy to pass along her old baby clothes so that a new baby can get use out of it.  Ask around. A gifted box full of second hand clothes can be a real blessing to the new mother as well as the old.

5)      Beware of buying shoes.  Tiny newborn shoes are very cute, but often get no use at all!  Most shoes don’t get used until the baby starts moving around and crawling.  If you’d like to give the best gift, when it comes to shoes, try giving shoes in larger sizes.  Also, there are certain brands which are considered the best, though can be fairly expensive.  Brands such as Robeez are excellent for crawlers and new walkers. See Kai Run and Pediped are also very well made and will last.  As these shoes are more expensive so you may want to check second hand stores to see if they sell these brands gently used. 

6)      Too many soaps and lotions.  Another gift often over-given is soaps, lotions and other bath/cleaning products.  This is a place where checking a registry can be helpful.  If you see that they have already received it on their registry, then refrain.  If not, then they might really appreciate you fulfilling this essential need.

7)      Diapers!  One of the best gifts you can give a new or expectant mother is diapers.  They go through so many newborn diapers in the beginning and having a good supply is a big help. If the family chooses to go with cloth diapers, then they might need someone to buy the supplies for that.  Check with the family to see what might be most needed.