what should i buy for my sister and her baby?

June 16, 2011 12:50 PM

gift ideas for new mom + baby?

my sister is about to have a baby! yay!
this will be the first baby of the family, and my sister and i are are very, very, very close.
aside from all of the free babysitting i will provide, i want to buy something special for baby. any ideas? (preferably something physical and not starting a college fund sort of gift.)
i would also like to get something nice for my sister. and her freezer is already stocked!

so, suggestions?

posted by sabh to shopping (15 answers total)

I always give newborns a good quality stuffed animal that is at least as big as they are and of a member of an endangered species. Years and years later, kids/now adults tell me they were their favorite - big and sturdy enough to really play with and cuddle (added bonus: most then go on to support WWF or Greenpeace or the Sierra Club or somesuch).

I always give new moms a pamper package. A basket or tote full of lotions and potions and perfumes and flowers and chocolate and a book or two. If you know them well, as you do your sister, you can totally tailor it to their taste.
posted by likeso at 1:03 PM on June 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

Is there something treasured from your childhood that you could pass along to the new niecephew? Or something of yours your sister really coveted?

Oh, and house cleaning service for the sister.
posted by pjaust at 1:29 PM on June 16, 2011

Something like a "birth print" for the nursery from www.printspace.com.au - not sure where you're based, but they ship overseas.
posted by finding.perdita at 1:49 PM on June 16, 2011

Since this is a family member and also the first grandchild, I would go with a sterling silver baby cup, engraved with the child's first and middle name and birthdate. It will run you about $200 but it will be a treasured family heirloom forever.
posted by pineapple at 2:00 PM on June 16, 2011

I gave my sis a really good camera with video for capturing (and sending to me!) all those amazing first moments
posted by wayward vagabond at 2:15 PM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

If you want something practical, an Ergo baby carrier with the infant insert would be awesome. Or a massage for her with a promise to babysit while she gets it. I love those totally impractical smocked dresses or jumpers too. Maybe a gift certificate to a photo shoot with a really talented baby photographer? These are totally random but I would've loved any of them.
posted by dawkins_7 at 2:19 PM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I recently had my own baby and I'm in the process of coordinating a baby shower for a friend. Here are what I've decided to get for her, since I love them and they're not available at the big baby registry sites (Target and Babies R Us):

Kammi Teething Doll
(I think this is the item that I will save forever as a keepsake of my son's babyhood)

NoseFrida SnotSucker
(Those bulbs DO NOT WORK. And this doohickie totally DOES work.)

These are not big-ticket items but I wanted to mention them in this thread since I love them and your sister and her new baby will too! (Well, the baby won't love the snotsucker -- my baby gets SO MAD when I use it -- but you know what I mean)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:34 PM on June 16, 2011

I recently had two friends have babies. We got both of them silver (plated) spoons.
posted by Gilbert at 3:52 PM on June 16, 2011

I sent my BFF (since we were 4!) (who now lives on another continent) a selection of our favorite books from childhood for her baby. The Velveteen Rabbit, The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs...
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 7:14 PM on June 16, 2011

Oh, and for new nieces and nephews on my husband's side (8 of them and counting...) we make a Build-A-Bear. Complete with cute outfit, accessories, and named after them. (Truthfully if/when my sister has a baby I will probably do something more spectacular, too, but this would be a part of the package.)
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 7:19 PM on June 16, 2011

Every baby in my world gets a set of the Pooh books.
posted by booth at 4:54 AM on June 17, 2011

My son loves his Winnie the Pooh. Every child has that one stuffed animal they love until the end of time. I think Winnie and "blue blanket" are it.
posted by stormpooper at 6:59 AM on June 17, 2011

Both my niece and nephew got a collection of my favourite kids books when they were born. From "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" through to "Where the Wild Things Are", basically a selection of books I loved when I was a kid. I got my Sister in Law a lady to come around and clean once a week for 3 months after the birth of each one.
posted by wwax at 8:03 AM on June 17, 2011

Do they already have a glider/rocker? Those are great for both mom and baby. A super-soft blanket is also something they will find invaluable and memorable.

If you prefer practical objects and accept that they won't be useful past a certain point, the two things I wished I'd had at the beginning of our journey was a nursing pillow and a Snuggle Nest. Baby carriers are good, too (mine didn't like the Ergo infant insert, but babies vary).

Knick-knacky things like cups and spoons and such are not always a welcome gift, so I'd gently probe her thoughts on those. Out of the traditional items, the one thing that has stood out for us is the piggy bank. If you pre-load it with a coin from each denomination for the baby's birth year, the parent's birth year(s), and the year the parents get together, that's both tender and interesting. We did that and also put in the quarters for the states we're from (we've also stuck to that in adding more coins, but also putting in years from before we were born and will later add bills from the birth/met years).

Make your sister a basket of all the treats she loves and things she can do while reclining/nursing, as she's going to be doing a lot of that in the beginning. Getting her the gift of a clean home she doesn't have to worry about seems like a brilliant and wondrous blessing to bestow, too.

nth the good camera idea, if they don't already have one. My goodness, that will come in handy!

Inexpensive add-on to whatever you do: An attractive, gnawable brush & comb set will always give them a moment to think of you at a sweet part of the day, and can be used on dolls after baby graduates to regular comb & brush.
posted by batmonkey at 1:01 AM on June 18, 2011

An excellent gift for the newborn would be a plush hooded towel. Avoid the small hooded towels (30" X 24") and the thin fabric or non-absorbent fabric. A good hooded towel that can be used for several months (even 2 or 3 years) will be ample in size (45" X 36" or so), and made from 100% cotton terry, preferrably a 14 oz (450 gram) weight terry. The hooded towel can be made more special by having the baby's name embroidered on the hood. Our company makes hooded towels, and several related products, and it is one of our most requested products on a repeat basis. I gave one to my grandson when he was born three years ago, and it has been used every night. He loves running through his parents house after his bath with the hood on his head and the towel flowing behind him.
posted by classicnow at 4:12 PM on June 18, 2011