Seeking a Unique Baby Gift

Hi! I have a friend who has a baby boutique. She makes a lot of baby stuff... some unique and some not-so-unique. She also does speical orders if you want something specific, and can help you with ideas of what to give her. She is great! She is very creative and has things for sale that I have never seen anywhere else before! The website is: www.thewellbundledbaby.com She also has a lot more than what is on the website too, that is usually just sold at craft shows. If you contact her instead of just going through the website, she can do a lot for you! Hope there is something there that can help!

J.

my step mom bought my daughter a bonnet that my daughter wore at her baptism and it doubles as a handkerchief to be used on her wedding day. i thought that was one of the neatest gifts i had ever seen. if you are in appleton, the Irish store inside the northland mall sells them, but i think they only sell the ones with shamrocks on them, but they may be able to order other types for you. We are Irish, so the shamrock was perfect :)

This is fun - just need to buy a few simple thigs and put them in a basket - with tags or a card if you like. My mother and I thought up many of these, the original idea was passed from a friend.

A New Mom’s Survival Kit

Marbles –
To replace the ones that you will lose.

A Clothes Pin –
For changing stinky diapers.

Toothpicks –
To keep your eyes open in the middle of the night.

A Blanket -
For security.

A Nightlight –
To keep the monsters under the bed.

Ear Plugs –
For when it’s your turn to sleep

Calgon –
To ‘take you away’!

A New Choice of Literature – (get a children's bedtime book)
For Bedtime.

Tissues -
You'll wonder how you could survive without them.

Hershey’s Hugs –
For when you don’t know what’s wrong.

An Eraser –
To remind you that every mom makes mistakes.

A beautiful gift I received was a personalized children's book that includes my daughter's birthdate (or adoption date) and the whole book is about the animals of the forest choosing the perfect name for the new baby (her name of course). For example, the lion brings the letter 'l', the elephant brings the 'e' and the antelope brings the 'a' to choose the name Lea. The illustrations are beautiful. You can check it out on the book's website: www.iseeme.com. You can also get free shipping by entering in the promotional code: fsd7655. It's a wonderful book! Good luck!

Purchase or make little note cards for each of the shower guests to write their Wishes For The Newborn. Save them in a pretty box to give to the child when they are older. We just did this for a shower and sent extra notecards ahead of time to far away friends who couldn't make it to the shower so they could be included. I have done this twice - once 5 years ago that I made and once this summer from a company who makes them that I now represent (www.onceuponafamily.com/tracyaudette), search on Wishes For The Newborn. Lots of other great family oriented gift ideas there too.

Look up online Diaper Cakes. You can buy them, or make them cheaper. Beautiful designs and quite the practical thing.

I know that someone suggested they could make you a quilt for the baby. I suggest that you make one yourself. They can be very simple and easy. Nothing more then sewing squares together. JoAnn Fabrics sells something called Cuddly Quilt kit. It's the fabrics and instructions and you just need basic sewing skills to make it. I've make 3 for resent babies and they have all been very well received.

J.,
What about stocking her freezer full of meals. What every new mom needs is meals because it is so hard to have time to make meals with a newborn around. I had some girlfriends do that for me and it was such a blessing. My other idea which was kinda of mentioned in another message was a gift certificate for a mommy and yoga bonding class. I did it with both of my daughters after they were born and you can start at 6 weeks and it a great way to get back in shape and bond with your baby. Yoga Center of Minneapolis has these "yoga bonding" classes that you do with your infant. The women who was the engineer behind these classes still teaches there and she is great! She also sells her Yoga Bonding video at the studios. There website is yogacentermpls.com, and the teacher's name is Lisa. Good Luck!!

How about a gift certificate for them to take an infant massage class (great for bonding!) and a gift certificate for her for a massage or both of them for a couple's massage? (can you tell I'm a massage therapist?)
C. Ammermann

The coolest gift we ever received was a wooden letter block that has all the different baby information on each side; one side has their name, another side has birth date, time, weight and length; another side the day and where; and another side has the parents names. It was so cool we had to order one for our first child too. The website is www.craft-E-Family.com and they have other unique gifts too.

I have just LOVED reading all these great responses. One of my favorite gifts was a 2 year membership to JC Penny's Portrait. That way you don't have to pay a sitting fee. It's really kept me on top of getting my son's picture taken because I don't want to waste the gift and I will enjoy the photos forever!

A great gift that I and my daughter recieved as a shower gift was a very soft blanket that had my daughters First middle and Last name stiched on it along with her birthday. This has been a very treasured item for both of us.

For a first time mother, I often give a basket of "mommy must haves" (items that only a mother would know she would need prior to the arrival of the first little one (i.e. emory blocks for little finger nails, little tummys gas drops for those digestive issues, your favorite diaper cream, disposable cameras for each room so you never miss a picture because the camera is in the other room, etc, etc, etc). I have always gotten rave reviews from the mommies to be and other invitees (very rarely do I get out of the party without someone asking me for my list so they can use it themselves for their other friends and family.

J., I have been giving a wonderful set of all natural baby products along with a recipe to make all natural baby wipes. I give the Daisy Blue Naturals baby box....if you email me I can email the recipe. I also happen to be a daisy blue consultant. My 2nd had bad eczema, and very sentitive skin, so right off the get go, we had to find gentle, products for her delicate skin, now because I receive a great discount, all new friends with babies get this gift and sometimes, depending on my budget, I include something special for the mom like lavender lotion, or a lovely soap bar just for her to pamper herself. oh yes the website is www.3623.daisybluenaturals.com T.

My suggestion really can't be for the shower but for after the baby is born. Thing Remembered has a new product (I was going to do this for my parents' 50 anniversay). You can take a picture in and they can make a throw blanket or wall hanging out of it. I thought it was pretty cool.

I have a small business on the side that is called 'SavannahSentiments' in which I create custom wooden letters to spell out the name of the child, I paint the letters to match the theme of the nursery or color scheme. I've done everything from Spider Man to Disney's Cars, Bugs, etc. It is a great gift, pricing varies depending on the amount of letters needed as well as the extensivity of the design. I would need a good description of the room/nursery, or an idea of the character so that I can properly match it.

Another GREAT and FUN gift that I make are Diaper cakes! I can add anything and everything, and I can do any color scheme, green, blue, pink, purple, it is made out of a pack of size 1 diapers, they are individually made to suit the needs of the buyer. Again, prices vary, depending on the deign/color needed/wanted, as well as the brands of the items, we can create them from the $$$ store brands, to Gerber, Huggies, Johnson etc.

For more information e-mail me at ____@____.com

Kind Regards,
Savannah

Well if you are interested -

I make customized quilts for babies (or anybody) Any size and I work with you so it can be anything! So if you thought that you would be interested let me know!

God's Blessings
J.

What a great list this is already -- I love hearing everyone's ideas! Here are my top two for very special gifts (i.e., not for just anyone)

A present I gave recently was a "handprint plate" at one of the local paint your own pottery places. After baby was born I took my friend to the pottery shop and we each made plates with our hand prints and our children's hand prints and we painted messages of love to our children on the back along with the date and names. She has told me many times how many compliments she's gotten about the plate. The plates can get a bit costly -- with individual painting charges, the plate, etc., I think they locked in around $40+, but you can do coffee mugs, or whatever suits your budget and her taste, or you could give a gift certificate and she can decide if she wants to add to it.

Please note when reading this that I had not sewn since high school home ec, but a family friend gave a quilt to my mom when my sister was born (I was 11) that I have always loved -- it was made from some of her family's favorite clothing to share the love and good times of their family with my sis. When I had my daughter at 37, I made two of the simple checkerboard quilts (lots of different fabrics, but that's the pattern). With 4 x 4 squares it was really a reasonably quick project 6 x 6 squares would even speed the process more. But trust me, if I could do this, anyone could!

Everyone at my baby shower brought their favorite childhood book for my baby's little library (and I just love that idea). Also, someone made a scrapbook for us which I thought was extremely thoughtful. She also contacted my husband’s mother and my mother, got a baby picture of both us and put it in a frame with the center space for the baby's picture.

There are a lot of great ideas here, good luck!