Baby Gifts The Best Gifts For Baby Showers, Baby Sprinkles and More
The best baby gifts are the ones that make a real difference in the lives of the new parents, long after the baby shower is over. Having a newborn changes everything, whether it's your first or your fifth. So, one of the main goals of a baby shower or baby sprinkle is to ensure the new parents have everything they need to tackle this exciting new adventure.
We love baby gifts that are practical but presented in a way that is fun and engaging. When tasked with deciding what to bring to a baby shower, the first step is to remember what new parents need. Here is our list of essential baby shower gifts along with our best tips for presenting them in a way that makes a great impression.
What to Give at a Baby Shower or Baby Sprinkle
Diaper Gifts
Diapers are truly one of the best baby shower gifts ever! They're the baby care essential every parent needs. How to gift diapers, though? How can you know which brand the new parents will prefer or what size they'll need now or 6 months from now? The parents-to-be likely haven't even had their baby yet, so they probably don't know either!
Enter the Giftable Diaper Subscription. IncrediBundles.com features a line of bestselling Diaper Gifts for baby showers. Each diaper subscription gift allows the new mom and dad to choose the brand and size each time they redeem. You can choose to gift a 3-Month, 6-Month, 9-Month or Year of Diapers. It's the diaper delivery service of yesterday updated to have a decidedly more modern look, feel and redemption model.
Each IncrediBundles.com Diaper Subscription Gift comes with a beautiful announcement package that makes for the perfect baby shower gift. The ease of a gifted, prepaid diaper delivery service makes it a bestselling baby shower gift at events across the country. The snuggly teddy bear included in the announcement package will quickly become the baby's favorite lovey.
Baby Book Gifts
Books win our vote for not only one of the most thoughtful baby gifts you can give they're one of the most practical baby gifts as well. Every baby should come home to a book-rich environment. Books rarely make it onto baby registries, though. Most first-time parents don't yet know how crucial it is to read to a child early and often, beginning in the newborn stage. By gifting books, especially books just right for that first year in a baby's life, you prime the new little family to turn to books to soothe, entertain, explore and play.
Most gift-givers will be tempted to throw together their own childhood favorites and call it a day. However, the books you remember the most tend to be better suited for the 4-6 year old set. A baby's first library should be filled with books perfect for them to explore right away. Look for sturdy board books with lots of bold pictures and more limited though still lyrical text. Add in cloth books they can twist and chew on. Top it all off with a variety of touch-and-feel books and lift-flap books that will provide endless hours of entertainment.
By far, though, the best baby shower book gifts are IncrediBundles.com Book Subscription Gifts. It allows the recipient to choose the books they redeem for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or a whole year! Each comes with an adorable book-themed announcement package the purchaser gets to choose. Each month, your recipient will get to pick a new batch of 3-5 books to add to their home library. They select every title they receive.
As their baby grows, mom and dad pick the books they know their little one will love. Whether it's trucks and airplanes or zoo animals and sea life, studies show that children reap even greater benefits from books to which they feel a special connection. A Book Subscription Gift fills their home with the best books for babies. It lays the foundation for a lifetime love of reading, provides countless hours of snuggly story times and is the gift they will recommend again and again after receiving it themselves!
Baby Essentials Gift
So often, gift-givers focus on large items to make a big impression the stroller, the crib, the car seat. While these are indeed important, must-have baby gifts, we know baby care also revolves around the countless little items that bring comfort, consistency and joy to the life of a new family. Baby essentials bundled together make great gifts for baby showers. The teether that calms a fussy baby every time, the lovey that makes going to new places feel less scary, the toy that elicits a giggle every time it makes an appearance. These are the items that the new parents will turn to again and again.
We love gifting little things that make a big difference! Fill a box with items you know they'll use a hooded bath towel with a fun duck theme, a soft blankie with tags and textures that baby can clutch and play with in their stroller when out and about, an all-natural teether that they can chew and use to soothe themselves when those first baby teeth start to cause trouble. Extra points if the items you purchase and include are ones that your own child adored!
Be sure to keep the tags and packaging on everything you gift so the new parents will know exactly what materials the product includes, its age guidelines and any safety notifications. Also, try to focus on including fewer, higher quality products rather than going for quantity and using lots of filler items that might be more likely to be discarded.
Spotlight Baby Sprinkle Gift Ideas
A baby sprinkle is a baby shower thrown for a mom or couple who already have a child or children and are now expecting a new baby. That begets the question what to get for a second baby shower? When selecting a Baby Sprinkle Gift or a gift for a virtual baby sprinkle, purchasers should focus on those items that parents need anew each time they have a baby. Diapers are, obviously, the most important essential that comes to mind. As we mentioned above, a diaper subscription gift is a particularly thoughtful baby sprinkle gift. Not only can the parents use it for the baby they are expecting but, if they have a child still in diapers at home, the gift is flexible enough for them to use for that child too.
A Book Subscription Gift is also a great baby sprinkle gift idea for the same reason. They can use it for their older children as well as the new baby. Hello lovely distraction while mom and dad tend to a newborn! Even more importantly, you don't need to worry about gifting them any titles that are duplicates of ones they already have since mom and dad choose exactly which books they receive each month.
If you are close to the new mom and dad, you can get some insight into some of their preferences regarding other items they might need to purchase again for their newest baby. Is there a particular brand of bottles they need? Baby bath or feeding products they want to stock up on? Never underestimate the power of not needing to stress over the little things because somebody thought to take care of them for you.
Baby Gift Extras that Make Your Present Extra Special
Something Small But Sweet
Attach a small toy to the ribbon on your gift a rattle, a teether, a stim toy attached to a hook or even a soft blanket lovey. It doesn't add much to the cost of your present but makes for such a sweet presentation. Some of our favorite baby gift ideas for twins include those that have us seeing double in the presentation 2 of the same rattles in different colors, 2 of the same lovey's in different patterns.
Memorable Quote for Your Card
Incorporate a thoughtful quote in your baby shower gift card message. It can be inspirational or funny, reference an inside joke among your family or friends or just be something that really resonates with you. You would be surprised at how often a simple saying can have a lasting and meaningful impression.
Tuck a Book In It
If there's one thing you can never have too many of it's books! New parenthood is filled with lots of sleepless nights holding a little one. Good reading material is always welcome. Whatever your main gift might be, there is always room to add a small children's book or a book you think the new mom and dad might like a book of short stories, of poems, of funny cartoons or good quotes.
New Parent Gift
Did you put together a fabulous baby gift box filled with practical items for the new little baby? Add a small new mom gift or gift for the new dad to be as well. We love a good water bottle to keep by the end table so they can take care of themselves while they take care of their baby. A pair of comfy socks for their hospital stay or for walking around the house post-partum is also always welcome. We love a soothing candle or a tea mug printed with a fun saying to let them know their well-being matters too!
New Sibling Gift
Becoming a big sibling is a truly big deal so it's wonderful when others acknowledge the momentous occasion. For Baby Sprinkles, we love adding a little something for the big sibling to be. The best sibling gifts aren't extravagant. Instead, look for a simple item that recognizes the individuality of the older child a book about welcoming a new baby, an activity book to keep them occupied while mom and dad are hustling to keep everything running smoothly or a snuggly plush of their own for which to care.
Gift Packaging Friend or Foe
Packing up and bringing home all the wonderful gifts from a baby shower is exciting. It's also a big job. So, we try not to make it more challenging with reams and reams of paper waste to discard. Eco friendly gift wrapping also helps cut down on the clean up after a baby shower. Steer clear of adding too much cellophane, ribbon, tissue and paper to your gift. It will just be thrown away in the end and most of it is often non-recyclable. Opt for creative gift wrap ideas that will create a memorable presentation with a minimum of waste.
Make the Box a Gift in Itself
Those paper boxes that make the layette you're gifting easy to wrap have no further life beyond gift presentation. They'll wind up in the trash the moment after the gift is opened. Even if the box makes its way to a recycling plant, it requires a lot of water and energy to turn it into something else!
We love packing gifts in packaging that is meant to be used again and again. Each IncrediBundles.com Announcement Package uses a colorful reusable storage container perfect for storing anything and everything. It's a box parents want to keep out and visible and the lid means they can hide the mess in a functionally attractive way.
Our other favorite gift box alternatives canvas bags that mom and dad can take on outings to the park or store, cloth cubby squares or bins that can store toys and plush or a diaper caddy they can use to bring supplies from room to room.
Ditch the wrapping paper and cellophane and go with a simple ribbon to tie it all up nicely. Wrapping Paper Alternatives
Don't let the name fool you. A lot of wrapping paper can't be recycled, specifically the higher end ones with a nice coating. Add glitter to any wrapping paper and it can no longer be recycled either. The waste really adds up. A Stanford University study found that "If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields." In the US alone, we discard more than $11 Billion worth of packaging materials per year.
When you pack your gift in a box or bag that's pretty on its own, you won't want to cover it up with all of that useless paper! A lovely ribbon will provide the perfect finishing touch.
If you do feel that only wrapping your gift with paper will do, there are lots of more eco-friendly alternatives! Look for sustainable, recyclable or biodegradable wrapping paper. One of our favorites is a plant based paper embedded with wildflower seeds. You can plant it and watch the wildflowers sprout.
Whether tied with a bow or nestled in a colorful tote, baby gifts offer an opportunity to support the new parents as they prepare for the future with their little one. What better way to start their journey than with a home stocked with all the necessities so that mom and dad can focus on bonding with their new little family?
IncrediBundles.com is the home of the bestselling Diapers, Wipes and Book Subscription Gifts. These are the gifts that keep families stocked up on the essentials they need in a child's first three years.
