what to buy for 2yr old girl, premature baby boy + due-soon nephew???

February 8, 2013 7:19 AM

Being without children myself and not that well versed on what they need/want or the big trends right now, i need suggestions for the following gifts i need to buy in the next month or so: gift for a premature baby boy (or his mum); gift for a 2yr old girl; gift for my soon to be arriving nephew

the premature boy is fine and coming home this weekend, he is a teeny weeny 4 pounds. my friend (the mum) does not live in the same city as me and obviously i dont want to descend whilst she's newly at home. i will be visiting in around a month and will take a gift then. i think clothes would be tricky due to sizing so suggestions outside this please. i am happy to just take something for her as i think she could do with a gift really given whats shes been through and sometimes mums kind of get overlooked. so you could also suggest something nice for a new mum. Budget £20-25 (approx 30$)

2 yr old girl. again its a long term friend who doesnt live in the same city as me. i am seeing her in a month when we meet up halfway for a spa day (travelling by train) so i dont want to be taking something huge/cumbersome that she then has to lug home. For her first birthday i couldnt attend the party as i was out of the country but i sent something instead. Again it was actually more of a present for her mum - i found a short novel (i thought she probably wasnt up for 300+ pages at that point) of the kind i know her mum likes where the main character was called the same thing as her daughter and i wrote a message about how she could read it herself, read to her daughter and pass on when she's older (they are a book loving family). I dont want to do that exact thing again i.e. buy for her mum, but i am happy to buy books as i know how much value they have to her mum. Dont know what to get though if its that. Again i dont want to get clothes. Budget £20 - 25 (approx 30$)

My nephew. I am actually really excited about this! Not a broody sort myself but really excited to have a nephew. Not massively close to my brother or sister in law but this kid is family and will be my eventual childrens cousins so it does make me feel a bit dopey about it in the way i havent about kids before. I want to buy something big/lots of cool little stuff for this. budget £100 (approx $150)

Im open to anything really and happy to buy online so if its outside the UK but could be shipped thats fine. might even be better as they're not likely to get the same thing twice that way.

Thanks!

posted by moreteaplease to human relations (10 answers total)

When my godson was born, my then-partner and I thought long and hard and finally settled on supplying the parents with a bunch of hand-hemmed napkin-sized absorbent cloths. A stack of them. Like two dozen or more.

It was an ultra unglamorous gift and it made us be looked at askance by them and all their friends until they got to the business of raising the baby and suddenly they appreciated the gift. Having washable absorbent cloths lying around in abundance really just made the process of baby-raising a little easier, and any grace like that is priceless for a new parent.

If you go this path, you could by a swath of cloth and do it yourself or you could purchase. If you purchased, I'd probably go with microfibre.
posted by kalessin at 7:34 AM on February 8

A lovely gift for the Mom is a pretty nightgown. A reminder that she's a woman and not a brood mare.

I always like to give baby clothes for a year from now. New parents have enough stuff for their newborn, but it thins out the older the baby gets. Also, you skirt around the issue of his actual physical size.

As for a toddler, thick cardboard, hard to destroy books are great. Go to a book shop and look for some pretty books, with colorful pictures.

As for your nephew, I'm astounded that the UK has not yet caught onto the amazing power of the registry. This is a fantastic thing where parents-to-be get a scan gun and scan the items they would like to receive as gifts, into a list, that is made public to their friends and family. This way, they get exactly what they want, and as folks purchase from the registry, the items are show to have been purchased, so no duplicates.

I like to give practical things, you know, like a crib, or a stroller, or a car-seat. So you may want to give a gift certificate/gift card to Babies R Us, for the parents to pick out what they'd like, and for a sentimental item, make a small quilt with the baby's name embroidered on it. My sister does this for all of the babies we know. It's great for laying on when the baby is an infant, it's good for nap time as a toddler and as they get older, it's usually a 'wubby' and schleped to day care and pre-school for security.

She makes them out of very colorful, weird material. With dinosaurs or lizards, or ladybugs on them. Backs them in a nice matching fabric, and only embroiders the name on it after the baby is christened (as she has been burned when the parents change their minds on the name.)

Congratulaltions. I myself am awaiting the birth of a new baby in the family and babies are always so awesome!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:24 AM on February 8

For babies, I like to always go something classic like a wooden rattle.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:36 AM on February 8

For the newborn: I would visit bearing a gift certificate for a local service. Maybe take her to get a pedi, and watch the baby for an hour while she does it?

Two year old: art/craft supplies. Make a cute kit with washable crayons, markers, etc., and some drawing paper. Bonus points if you can find a nice, sturdy box to put everything in, and decorate it with her name. You can include things like peel-off jewels, etc. if she's the girly-girl type.

Your nephew: First grandchild in your family? For something sentimental, you could collect photos of the pregnancy/first year and create a keepsake calendar or book for the parents. Or the biggest, softest plush animal you can find (every kid needs a bear bigger than he/she is). Or a really lovely quilt that can be passed down (maybe incorporating elements of your family history).
posted by snickerdoodle at 9:00 AM on February 8

For the two-year-old, a nice follow-up on last year's name-related book present would be some sort of personalized book that incorporates her own name. I like the "My Very Own Name" book from this website because it incorporates the alphabet (which the 2yo will likely get started learning in the next year or two), but not sure if the UK shipping makes it prohibitively expensive or not. In any case, there are likely a gazillion personalized kids' book companies out there, and toddlers really do enjoy hearing stories that incorporate their own names and personal details.

For your nephew, spending some portion of your substantial budget on a cool gift, but then putting the remainder into some sort of saving/investment vehicle, like a savings account (or UK equivalent of a savings bond, or whatever) might be nice. As parents, we always appreciated gifts like this that point toward the child's future, especially early on when the kid's buried in cute expensive onesies but still has zero college savings fund. And having received a bunch of savings-type gifts in my childhood, they were definitely appreciated (probably far more than random long-forgotten toys or whatever) when I actually reached college age and got around to cashing them.
posted by Bardolph at 9:05 AM on February 8

Something both cheesy and really cool (for any of these three) is one of those lullaby CDs where they insert the child's name multiple time into the song. We received one when ours was just three months old, and now at 2.5, I still play it frequently. It makes them feel special, and even before they start talking they can recognize their name in the song - I saw the delighted look in my daughter's face when she was maybe 6 - 8 months old.

These Sophie giraffe teething toys are cute, truly practical, very trendy, and stupidly expensive - and this last bit is what makes them a really good gift. They squeak too. They can be found at pretty much any baby store.
posted by kitcat at 11:35 AM on February 8 [1 favorite]

For the preemie, there are a lot of preemie clothes out there, actually. Avoid zippers if he's on oxygen or monitors. General baby items are always nice, rattles, mobiles, baby books. If she'd be into it some kind of wrap or carrier (she probably cant use it til he's 8 pounds but it's nice to look forward to). If you will be visiting during cold and flu season, a preemptive flu shot and immediate hand washing upon entering the house will be much appreciated by mum.

Gifts for her: FOOD that is easy to prepare and ideally can be eaten with one hand. Individual portions for the freezer are even better.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 2:30 PM on February 8

For the two-year-old, you could consider the Roll & Play game, a simple multicolored plush cube that is fun to play with on its own, but is also a developmental game based on colors and activities.
posted by 1367 at 7:47 PM on February 8

I second Bardolph's idea to divide your budget for nephew into a physical gift and a contribution toward his future. Many times I wished for a magic wand that I could wave over a sea of plastic toys to turn them into college textbooks.
posted by Breav at 7:04 AM on February 9

Thanks everybody - some stuff there i totally hadnt thought of. I loved the ideas about baby names in books or songs - hadnt heard of that before. I particularly liked the books one which had a pirate version, i think that would suit the little girls mum down to the ground as shes constantly battling the pink/princess stuff.

And thanks on a separate note to those who suggested making stuff like blankets. Dont have the skills to do that right now but 'learn to sew properly' was on my projects/to do list for 2013 so you've reminded me to sign up for an evening class!
posted by moreteaplease at 7:22 AM on February 13