Newborn babies are fairly hard to buy for as they tend not to have developed any interests yet. It’s not like you can buy them a DVD of Battlestar Gallactica or the latest book by Terry Pratchett… so what do you buy a new born child?

Well really it’s important to remember that when you buy for the child you’re also buying for the parent. Something that will keep the child a bit happy, or save the parents some money is bound to go down really well and these are gifts that anyone can give. However if you’re in that close circle of relatives, or say a Godfather, then your newborn gift ideas need to be a little more long lasting and sentimental. So it’s either practical or the parents, or long lasting and sentimental for the child. Let’s start with practical.

Practical gifts are ones that the parent needs but maybe hasn’t gotten yet, or things that will keep the child happy – for example a mobile to hang over the crib. This has the advantage for the parents of keeping the child distracted and quiet while it watches the mobile spin round. You’ve just bought the parents an extra ten minutes of sleep a night – and at the moment that’s probably the greatest gift you could give. Plus the gift is allegedly good for the child’s cognitive development so you’re also giving the gift of genius offspring. Similarly, a small soft toy or chew that the baby can play with for a while will also keep the sprog happy for a while to give the parents some alone time.

To go further down the practical route you could also buy clothes or shoes or a bib. Babies get through clothes rather quickly what with being remarkably messy creatures and so the more pairs of clothes they have the better. This also gives you a lot of freedom to be cute/funny. If you’re skilled in that department you could always knit your own clothes for the little trooper and then adorn them with their name or with something witty and amusing for the parents. If you do knit the clothes yourself however this will require you to begin working on the present a while before you give it to them. This means you’ll also need to know if it’s a boy or a girl, or if you don’t know, make the clothes gender neutral. Alternatively however there are a whole host of clothes you can buy on the day or online and there’s bound to be something suitable/amusing. If you know which cartoon characters the parents enjoyed as children then getting them clothes in this range will prove to be particularly thoughtful.

Finally a story book will go down well for the child and while it probably won’t be understood for the first year, it can still make for a stimulating and colourful gift. Again if you know which books the parents liked as children, see if you can get the same one still for their child.

Similarly books for the parents on parenting and what to expect, can be comforting and helpful. As can a bottle of wine for them to share in a rare quiet moment… On a similar note, flowers always go down nicely too when given alongside the other gifts. Here you are acknowledging the parents as well as the baby and given them something cheerful after what’s a beautiful but no doubt stressful ordeal. In the same vein chocolates, a spa day or new clothes for the Mother (now that she can fit into them again) are also nice treats for recovering parents.

Parents will also suddenly be very snap happy as you can imagine – taking photos of every tiny thing their child does. For this reason photo frames or photo albums can make great gifts, as can even a new camera or one with a record function. The child will thank you in future years… All of these are great, practical newborn gift ideas aimed slightly more at the parents than the child.

So those are some practical newborn gift ideas, so what about the sentimental stuff? If you’re a God parent or an Aunt or Uncle I’m afraid the bad news is that you can’t really get away with a pack of diapers. What you’ll need instead is something that the baby can hold onto until they’re older and can really appreciate. Something that will have special meaning to them because they had it from birth, and something that touches the hearts of the parents by bringing home the fact that one day this child will be turning 18, graduating, finding jobs, getting married and having children of their own.

We all have a teddy bear that we’ve had since we were born that’s too sentimental to let go of, and while the child will be getting lots of soft toys these will mostly be from newsagents and department stores. If you want to get a newborn that special bear, then you need to spend a little bit more and travel a bit farther a field. Cuddly toys from larger more specialised companies such as Steiff are actually collectable and you know that they’ll endure the test of time. We’re talking a bit more money but then that’s really the point…

Cuddly toys are still aimed at the baby as they currently are however, newborn gift ideas that they can appreciate more when they’re older have more of a time-capsule type of appeal. For example a nice chain or piece of jewellery inscribed with the child’s name or a nice message will last forever and is something sentimental they can wear when they’re older. Alternatively cufflinks, watches, a broach… anything along these lines will stand the test of time and be something that they can one day wear proudly to their graduation ball. Be weary of getting something religious however – even if they’ve been christened – as you never know how their views might change as they get older and develop their own personalities.

A slightly more unusual idea is to give them something for a different birthday now. For example a gift that they inherit once they reach a certain age. Again this could be jewellery (perhaps an old ring that you yourself inherited from a relative) or maybe a bottle of wine that will benefit from the maturity that being stored for so long brings it. The usual time scale for these sorts of gifts is the 16th, 18th or 21st birthday, but really it’s up to you. You can even buy them premium bonds, shares, or just leave some money in a savings account for them if you have the resources.

If you want to do several of these options then making an actual time capsule can be a fun and nice idea (and if anything should happen to you it means you’ll be providing for them for a long time in a way). For example on their 18th birthday they might open the time capsule to find themselves a bottle of wine from 18 years ago, information about how to access their savings account and maybe even a nice pre-recorded message from the past. All of these are great newborn gift ideas as each will benefit from being locked away for so long and each will have grown in value. This also gives them the excitement of having something to open that’s been kept from them for so many years and if you don’t tell the parents what’s inside it can be fun for them too.

Another nice aspect of the time capsule is that it contains several different newborn gift ideas combined into one. A way you can achieve this in a more immediate fashion is with a gift basket. For example you could give them a gift basket with a bottle of champagne, a Steiff cuddly toy, a piece of jewellery and some flowers.

So there you have it, a whole host of newborn gift ideas, any of which will make great gifts that both the child and the parents will appreciate.

Mack LeMouse

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