New baby
New baby gift ideas that help the parents rather than adding to the pile, plus the keepsakes worth giving and the ones that get outgrown.
New baby gifts
Everybody buys for the baby. Almost nobody buys for the two people who have not slept in a fortnight.
A new baby attracts a very predictable set of gifts, and the household ends up with nine of each. The clothes arrive in the same size, the soft toys arrive in the same three colors, and most of it is outgrown before it is worn.
The gifts that get remembered fall into two groups. Things the parents would not buy for themselves, which usually means food, rest, or an hour of somebody else doing something. And things the child keeps, which usually means one object made for them rather than twelve bought for them.
What people actually give
Sizing up is the single most useful habit: buy for six months or a year rather than newborn, because the newborn shelf is already full. If you are giving something to keep, the birth details are the material that will still mean something in twenty years, and they will not be sitting in a drawer of duplicates.
Save the date for next time
We will write about a month ahead, with time to choose well.