Comments on: What Do You Give New Parents?

Question: What Do You Give New Parents?

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:43:38 -0800

Parents of Metafilter: What the best gift you can give new parents? Everyone has suggestions for the baby but what about the parents? What are the things you wished you had/realized you couldn't live without when dealing with your first kid? How could someone have made your life easier despite being on the other side of the planet?

Young professional couple, interested in doing swanky cultural things and fine dining. Areligious and left-leaning if that matters. In the US, I am not. Sadly I can't just give them the name of a great babysitter which I imagine is the actual answer.

By: elizeh

elizeh — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 11:58:11 -0800

Not sure if this is a parental must-have, but if mom is breastfeeding, I like to give her a few large, machine-washable patterned shawls to cover up with in lieu of baby blankets.

By: tylerkaraszewski

tylerkaraszewski — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:03:29 -0800

Like you said, child care. Kids don't really need material things. Parents don't either. People would like to maintain social connections, which means letting them go out or coming to visit.

By: barnoley

barnoley — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:07:38 -0800

What about a meal delivery service? If the baby is brand new, they probably just need food...no time or energy to cook.

By: LyndsayMW

LyndsayMW — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:17:01 -0800

House cleaning. Preferably ongoing into perpetuity.

By: dawkins_7

dawkins_7 — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:19:43 -0800

Oh yeah, housecleaning would be awesome. Also a big gift basket of snacky foods is always nice.

By: christinetheslp

christinetheslp — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:38:19 -0800

Gift cards to local places that do delivery or have carry-out. I ate so much cereal when I had my first child because I didn't have the time or energy to cook.

By: PorcineWithMe

PorcineWithMe — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:40:31 -0800

Housecleaning. Housecleaning. Housecleaning.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:42:14 -0800

Booze. Anything that helps extend downtime. Housework and babysitting if you know them well.

By: mamabear

mamabear — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:43:01 -0800

A gift certificate to a laundry service or dry-cleaner (preferably with pick-up and delivery). Our city has some online services that I'm sure would help a gift-giver from overseas. You can find the best ones on Yelp if they live in a bigger city.

By: bingoes

bingoes — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:45:43 -0800

Food. Or a cleaning service. For serious.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:52:48 -0800

Food is lovely! Even if it's a big box of Fresh Direct grocery/pre made stuff.

By: bfranklin

bfranklin — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:47:17 -0800

Meal delivery. House cleaning. Hell, sometimes it's nice to have people come over and not expect to be entertained so you can just get some to-dos completed.

By: yarly

yarly — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:59:59 -0800

Meal delivery or some other kind of food thing. I wouldn't do housecleaning because they may already have a cleaner. Other ideas - DVDs of shows they haven't seen (preferably brainless); an at-home pedicure for the mom; a really soft warm blanket for cuddling with the baby on the couch (regular size, not baby blanket size); pajamas and robes; slippers.

By: chiababe

chiababe — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:02:25 -0800

Some sort of food delivery.

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:34:44 -0800

Previously. Previously. Previously. Previously. Previously. Previously. Previously. Previously. Previously.

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:35:41 -0800

Argh, that looks smarmier than I meant! Sorry, I meant to point out that there are good ideas for parents in those.

By: ambrosia

ambrosia — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:37:47 -0800

Seconding the food and cleaning, but some other things that got a ton of use when we had newborns:

- a subscription to Netflix instant

-12 rechargeable size D batteries and a charger (all the baby gear used D batteries, so there was a set in the swing, a set in the bouncy seat, and a set in the charger.)

a year of Amazon prime (the ability to buy stuff while the baby is sleeping, and have it delivered in two days, rather than packing up the baby and schlepping to Target: priceless.)

By: snickerdoodle

snickerdoodle — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:03:06 -0800

Moms get Amazon Prime for free for the first year, but I am totally on board the quick delivery train. Diapers.com has baby stuff, and ships 1-2 days, and their selections don't always overlap.

They probably won't be doing cultural things/fine dining for awhile, but maybe conspire with people to give them a "night out" at around six months? Give them a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant (GiftRocket is great for this), and coordinate with any nearby relatives for babysitting.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:50:07 -0800

Yeah - using Amazon for groceries was a major lifeline for us with child two, maybe some kind of gift card? That said its a but like just giving them money. Of course, you could just give them money...

By: Confess, Fletch

Confess, Fletch — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:00:27 -0800

A set of Flight Deck rated Ear Muffs, great for when Colic hits.

By: saturnine

saturnine — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:27:24 -0800

One thing that made my life a lot better post-delivery was LOVELY SOAP. In my case it was Lush soap, but really, anything that can make a shower the Best Shower will probably be welcomed - nice towels, soft fancy washcloths, a gift basket, some gift cards to their favorite stores. It's so hard to find even five minutes to indulge yourself when you have a newborn around - the shower was my haven. Still is really.

(Also maybe offer to hold the baby while they shower.)

By: dpx.mfx

dpx.mfx — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 03:55:38 -0800

A membership to the zoo or museum nearby for easy outings with the babe.

By: esmerelda_jenkins

esmerelda_jenkins — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:24:58 -0800

All the seasons of an awesome TV show. While my husband was at work, and I was housebound and recovering from a c-section with the new baby, I tore through The Wire (twice) and The Sopranos.