Colleague's baby present

[rbe78]

Hi all - one of our colleagues has just given birth, and we had a whip round to get her a pressy. Appealing to the hive mind of mumsnet to see what we should get.

We have a budget of ~£200. It's her second baby, so she'll have all the big useful items. We're all WFH at the mo, so it would be nice to have soemthing a bit more personal than just a gift voucher.

So, do we get:

A: Several little things, mix of things for baby and mum
B: One little thing (e.g. toy, outfit) and the rest as a gift voucher (i.e. John Lewis)
C: One little thing and the rest as a bank transfer
D: One or two big things that she's not likely to have already

Answers on a postcard!

Also, any suggestions of potential big useful things that she might not have, or little things for her rather than baby gratefully received.

Thank you!

I've just had my second baby and there are a few things I've needed, but at the risk of sounding ungrateful, if I am given any more bibs or socks I'm going to scream! Seriously, I love the generosity and thoughtfulness, but the things I'm finding I need that I don't have are quite specific.

£200 is such a huge sum it would be amazingly useful for a big ticket item such as a cot. Spending that much on a load of cute small things would be a complete waste, IMHO. I'd go voucher.

I received a voucher for a pregnancy massage which was amazing. Plus cook food vouchers which were again very helpful for first two weeks - covered all evening meals!

but at the risk of sounding ungrateful, if I am given any more bibs or socks I'm going to scream

I don't think that's unreasonable at all, when I had my first last December I was given in total 84 bibs! It was completely excessive and whilst I was greatful for people's generosity if I'd already had a child I can absolutely have seen myself being even more frustrated at the money people had spent being wasted.

I got £200 for my collection when I had DS. Work gave me the money and I paid for a newborn photoshoot with it and it was one of the nicest gifts I've had. I couldn't have afforded that shoot on maternity pay so it was just a luxurious treat.

With that sum of money, I'd try and speak to the mum and get an idea of what she wants.

Things I could have done without:

• So many clothes - I felt such guilt that he only managed to wear things once because we got so many outfits.
• John Lewis vouchers - It's really not my kind of place, I didn't like much of the stuff there and even if it's "free" money, I really don't like how expensive things are there and didn't like spending that much on clothes.
• Bibs, muslin cloths - We got far too many.
• Soft toys, teething toys, bath toys, comforters - Again, we got SO MANY, and have had to give them away as more friends have had babies.

Really great things:

• Bumper boxes of baby wipes.
• Next vouchers - I really love their baby clothes and they're a bit cheaper than John Lewis so whilst it felt indulgent, I got more for my money.
• Chocolate for me!
• Money - I could spend anywhere on anything for him when I actually needed it.

I got an Amazon voucher along with an outfit from my work. The voucher got the highchair I wanted and an infant car seat base so it was bloody brilliant from my perspective.

What about an All For One voucher? They're accepted in loads of places, really, really useful.

I wouldn't do loads of little gifts, it almost feels a like you're frittering it away. £200 is a good chunk of money she could put towards a second car seat, buggy board, second highchair, whatever. And the issue with massage vouchers is some people just don't like stuff like that- my DSis wouldn't appreciate that for example.

C. People gave me loads of stuff for my baby and it got given away unworn and unused, because it wasn’t my taste. You might want to buy lots of cute things but the recipient might not like or want them.

I’d also go with B! As cute as it is choosing baby clothes and toys etc, some mothers have preferences over how they’d want to dress their child that aren’t shared with the gifters - eg I hate denim on babies and mini grown up outfits on them (I.e checked shirts, waist coats, tracksuits etc), some parents hate gendered clothing, others prefer it and don’t like neutrals/constantly having to answer “is it a boy or a girl”.

I’ve seen some really beautiful high quality blanket sets that come with a little knitted hat and baby gro (but really classy, not like old fashioned knitting) in muted colours like grey, sage green, cream, mauve, Air Force blue etc... I’d probably get something like that or a toy like a projector light or jellycat (TK Maxx is great for these) and then a John Lewis Voucher.

I’d go for some cook/hello fresh vouchers and the rest as a voucher

B or c.

Definitely not D, unless you ask her. If you dont know what she already has it's quite possible you might end up with a duplicate and then she has all the hassle of returning it.

B. When my daughter someone gave us a Folio edition of Winnie the Pooh. It's the prettiest book in the house and it's a really useful now she's 3. She loves being read from it. It genuinely is such a beautiful book, heirloom quality.

Thanks for the input everyone - in the end I put half into a John Lewis voucher, and bought some nice bits for Mum and baby with the rest.