If you are wondering what to buy for a new baby or baby shower gift, you can’t go far wrong by making a personalized gift basket. But just where to start and what to put in a baby gift basket? Read on to find out.
You will be surprised how much pleasure a carefully thought out basket can give the recipient, and you get to bask in the sweet glow of satisfaction knowing you gifted good. Personalizing a gift like this is a fabulous way to ensure it is treasured for years to come.
What Do You Put In A Baby Gift Basket?
The parents will certainly need practical items such as clothes, baby essentials and some treats, but by making the basket yourself you can go beyond the right now of cloth diapers, tiny clothes and a blanket. This means your gift will have more longevity for the baby and the parents.
Combining a few essentials, such as baby beaker for when baby is older and some larger size clothes with pretty trinkets or even gifts for the mother, all attractively packaged makes the ideal gift.
Choose Your Basket
A baby gift basket can come in the classic wicker basket. Or you can pick a fabric and basket shape that suits your or mom to be taste. First you must take into account the size of the basket that is to be used.
Warning – the bigger the basket the more there is to fill thus incurring more costs, so consider a medium size gift basket and think about what contents you may add before you buy the basket.
To pad or line your basket use shredded tissue paper or scrunched raffia. This can be layered around the sides and at the bottom along with items that you have for the baby.
If you are adamant on having a large basket then fill it the same way only this time stuff and cram in more padding. You don’t have to struggle to fill the basket if you add bigger items like a baby pillow or cushion – one of each if need be.
While you can certainly use a useful wicker basket to present your gift in, but it may be an idea to think beyond this. For example, you could use a diaper bag as a basket and include a few baby toys, such as plastic ducks, a baby rattle, and a teddy bear, together with more practical items like a wash cloth set, baby manicure set, picture frame, flannel baby blanket, gel teether, comb & brush set, and baby wash.
You could perhaps fill a baby bath tub with bath toys for baby up to toddler age or beyond, bathing accessories, wash cloths, cozy hooded towels for baby and toddler ages, and of course a rubber duck or two.
What To Put in a Baby Gift Basket: Simple Tips
Knowing the gender of the baby will make your task slightly easier, but if the basket is for a shower and you don’t know the sex go for neutrals. Ask the pregnant mom for a baby registry list if she has one, or use a newborn baby checklist printable, this will also help with your content picking.
Many of the items parents will really need for a new baby are quite mundane, to say the least. Hardly the kind of gift many of us wish to give! However, combining some basic necessities with some toys, either for baby or when he or she is older, and then presenting them nicely, can bring about a transformation. This is where baby gift baskets really come into their own.
More gift items like photo frames, a baby blanket, or a gift for the nursery will become much treasured items too. Think about what you can make too, perhaps you knit or crochet, or you could make a quilt for baby to lie on in the yard or to use as a play mat.
Baby Handprint Footprint Photo Keepsake
Minky, gender neutral baby blanket gift
Muslin cloths and baby blankets are practical but always welcome, even more so if you can have the name or initials of the baby embroidered on. You can find out the difference between receiving blanket vs swaddle, or just include both!
Unique Baby Shower Basket Ideas
Let your imagination run wild if you want to go beyond the practicalities. A theme like a bedtime basket is fun. You could include classic books or a collection of fairy tales, musical lullaby CDs, pajamas and slippers in different sizes, soft to touch blankets, puffy cushions, music mobiles and cuddly toys amongst other bedtime essentials.
Baby bathtime essentials gift basket
Another example would be an educational mix in a wicker basket or a fun coloured bin. You could use blue, pink or neutral colours for the basket, then for the gifts choose items like board books, soft toys with classical sounds, colouring crayons and a colouring book. Such gifts will be appreciated more later, of course, but they are good to have in hand when the baby is born as babies soon take an interest in pictures.
Baby Shower Gift Basket For Mom
Of course, you also don’t want to leave out the mother when creating your baby shower gift basket. Adding some gifts for the mom or mom-to-be will show how much you care.
There are plenty of products that could be included for the mother-to-be in a baby shower gift basket, such as relaxation products that will help her to relax when she’s worried about her pregnancy or needs to relax.
A few ideas to include would be stress balls, votive candles, and raspberry leaf tea. It may be also a good idea to include lotions and bath products for the mother as well. Lotions, such as stretch mark reduction cream will definitely be much appreciated.
If you have even had a baby yourself you could make up a ‘You’ll Need This’ pouch for her birth bag including lip balm, lavender oil and other essentials. Consider gifting her a postpartum care kit to survive the first few weeks after baby is born.
After the birth, lavender oil, Epsom salts and a nice bath oil will be much appreciated. Chances are that no matter what you fill the gift basket with the mother will appreciate everything inside.
There are so many possibilites of gifts once you have made that decision to give a baby gift basket either at a shower, or after the baby has been born.
There is also one plus for you: it can be great fun making up a gift basket gift yourself. You’ll enjoy it almost as much as the lucky recipients will!
For more inspiration, I’ve included one of my favorite YouTube videos. Some people just need to see the process in action.
