Source: Blue Bird Kisses
If I’m being honest I used to always be completely stumped for what to give my friends as new baby gifts until I had babies of my own. Then I quickly realized that the best gifts were ones they may not have thought to buy themselves but ones they’d absolutely, categorically, 120% use at some point in their child’s life. So here are my favourite 5 picks and a little background on why that is:
First off I love the idea of books, and our favourites include “The Very Cranky Bear”, “The Book With No Pictures” and “Llama Llama Red Pajamas”. They’re cute little stories all my kids loved and giggled at, and in some cases, they still grab out of the bookcase for me to read them at night. So a book is usually one of my favourite gifts to give
Sick days with little ones are unfortunately just part of parenthood. It’s not something that anyone wants to face but viruses happen, fevers happen, and its not as much a matter of I’ve been talking up a storm about how awesome our Braun ThermoScan 7 Thermometer is on Instagram over the past year and its always one of top gifts I like to buy for new parents. We bought our thermometer after my dad ordered one for himself on Amazon, and we saw that our Pediatrician was using the same one in her office. Its hard to find a good thermometer if you haven’t really thought about it in the context of a sick baby, and having a reliable way to measure their temperature at different ages is key and the Braun thermometer has 3 age settings for an accurate reading (the Age Precision Button): 0-3 months, 3-36 month and 36 months+ and clinical research shows that the definition of fever changes depending on your little one’s age. For example, A normal temperature in a four-year-old may be considered a fever in a newborn. My only regret is that we didn’t have it when Johannes was little, it would have helped us so much given our experience with Periodic Fever Syndrome. But after finding a really great thermometer now its one of the things I love most to give to new parents…because thought its not the prettiest boxed gift, it will be their most prized when they need it.
Third I love giving new parents a gift card to their favourite restaurant. I know most people think about getting things for the baby, but what about mom and dad? New babies are amazing but so is a favourite meal, and if I can contribute to a dinner where mom and dad have a little less work to do, then I’m all for it.
Now going back to flu season we can’t live without our Vicks® FilterFreeCool Mist Humidifier and so many of my mom friends feel the same way. We originally had the older version of this one with the filter that had to be changed, it worked amazing and helped our kids breathe easier when they were congested and little…plus it made great white noise too (when Johannes was a baby we used it exclusively as a sound machine, but I digress). Now Vicks made their awesome humidifier even better by making it filter-free! The humidifier helps restore essential moisture to any room, helping to provide soothing relief once those coughs, sneezes and congestion strike…which they always do don’t they? We use ours with the Vicks VapoPads® soothing scent and the demineralization cartridges which helps to prevent white dust. And though maybe a humidifier isn’t the most common new parent gift of choice, its again functional and helpful.
And my last favourite gift to give to new parents is a “day pass”. That’s a complete guilt free offer to the new parents for me to come and watch their baby any time any place for any reason what-so-ever…even if it is just for them to have a 10-minute breather while they sit on the patio with a warm tea, or have a much-needed shower. While I make this offer via a card, I find it rarely gets “redeemed” so I make sure to follow up on my own and even show up to help when I know they need it but maybe feel bad asking. I add this one as an “add on item” with something else like the humidifier and a book.
I guess you can probably tell that I tend to err on the side of functional gifting versus cute items that look pretty but maybe won’t be used nearly as much as I think.
What are some of your favourite new parent gifts to give??
This post is sponsored by Braun thermometers and Vicks humidifiers. All thoughts and opinions in this full review are my own.
For more information or to purchase these products, please click here for Vicks cool mist humidifiers and here ThermoScan® 7 thermometer.
This post was sponsored by Braun, but as always all thoughts, ideas and opinions are my own and formulated well in advance of any partnership agreement. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that continue to make this blog possible.