What was the most impractical baby gift you were given?

[LolaNova]

Was just in the kids bedroom looking at a blanket DS was given shortly after he was born by a friend of my mum’s. It’s absolutely stunning. White, hand crocheted, really intricate, very fine yarn, took hundreds of hours to make. It’s also massive, heavy, and wholly impractical for use as a blanket by anyone, let alone an infant! You could probably use it as a gorgeous beach cover up or a christening shawl for photos. It’s hung on the bannisters in DS’ room for the last 2 years.

What gifts were you given that never got used?

@StoneColdBitch

I suppose it depends on your circumstances. Some people appreciate that sort of thing. Personally I would not have wanted them but I was back cooking within 24 hours (exh couldn't cook) and went to the supermarket on the way back from the hospital.

DS was never christened but we got loads of silver cups, bowls and spoons. Also tons of 'my first teddy's'. I feel bad getting rid of them but he's 7 now and has never really looked at any of it!

A mountain high like of soft toys... why 😩 I hated them, didn't see the point in them and they all just got shoved into a drawer in the bedroom 😬 obviously not safe to leave in the crib with baby and I don't like the cluttered look of cuddly toys everywhere on the bed.

Hand-wash only cashmere baby cardigan in pale stripes.

Nike trainers for 6 month old I think. They were so heavy her poor feet would have probably got damaged or broken. God knows why they were made.

Seconding ANY clothes that do up at the back, totally impractical.

Ditto "hand wash only" the only new mums who have time for that shit are the very wealthy - who pay someone else to wash em! Machine washable at 40°c and tumble dry-able are the most practical

Agree on clothes for wrong season too, I took advantage of this quirk of retail to buy dds winter coats until she was well into teens (and therefore more picky) to buy her winter coats a year in advance every year, also wellies! I got very good at knowing what size to get

We were also give one of those door bouncer things, i never thought it looked safe and we never used it anyway, but if we had wanted to use it the layout of our home meant we'd have been constantly putting the damn thing up and taking it down again!

Slings I never got along with but agree these are a very personal thing due to fit for mother and baby etc and shouldn't be chosen by others.

In my case the breast pump I was given proved pointless as while I managed bf ok for several months I was never able to express more than a few drops, just didn't work for me

baby shoes (wtf?)
flowers... not for the baby, but it's one more bloody thing to take care of

@minniemoocher a relative posted a picture online of the stack of boxes of designer baby shoes his wife had bought for their child before they could walk. The cost must’ve equalled a months rent and they were never used for as much as one step!

I was given this stupid "bouquet" which was made up of baby clothes. Loads of sticks with tiny socks and vests wrapped up like flowers. It came with a tonne of tissue paper, I had to uncurl each thing and it was all horrible. It included a bib which was large enough to fit an adult.

I was exhausted, in pain and hormonal, so I got pissed off and chucked it all in the bin. I felt bad and ungrateful but I couldn't have cared less at the time.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

China plates, bowls, feeding cups etc. Received several sets at both Christenings.

I'm not sure what you are actually supposed to do with them.

My DC loved their children’s china bowls, plates, cups etc by the time they were about 4. Made a nice change from the plastic or melamine plates. So for me they definitely wouldn’t make the useless gift list.

My useless gifts were newborn dresses with fiddly buttons

And endless knitted booties from well meaning friends of my parents. So lovely and yet so pointless. I still have a couple of unworn pairs in a box that I couldn’t bear to get rid of.

A partially defrosted chicken. She meant well.

A silver mini tankard (?) for DS. He's grown up now and certainly likes beer but I've never seen him use any tankard much less a small one...

SIL was given a whole giant gift bag full of gorgeous dresses and outfits for her newborn ranging up to size 9-12 months. The 9-12 ones were lovely- cords, dungarees, basics too. But the smaller sizes were ridiculous dresses with giant bows on the back or ribbons that tied in the back that could only be worn when the baby wasn't lying down or she'd have a bow digging in her back! Completely impractical and often pale colours and handwash/dry clean only!

Teddies teddies teddies, if I could have a bonfire in my garden with all the teddies I'd do it tomorrow. I regularly throw them away when my daughter isn't looking

various fancy cups and bottles for christening and her first Xmas ... she's tube fed so not sure what I was expected to do with them.

@Medianoche

A partially defrosted chicken. She meant well.

So funny!

For me it was one of those print your babies footprint mould kits. As if there was time and space for that!! Also cringed as I gave a relative a really expensive kit before I’d had kids.

And dresses for pre-crawling babies. I appreciate some people wouldn’t see this as useless but for me this was unwelcome and practically interfered with crawling when that was underway.

A designer snow suit with side zip so you had to remove entire thing to change babys nappy...honestly i prefer vouchers or something that can be exhanged. Also seasonal inapporopriate clothes, i I have relatives who did not consider what age baby would be..no mum babypopcorn didn't wear the thick jumper you got him as it was the summer when it would have fit him!

A 0-3 month romper playsuit type thing in sage green lace fabric. That did up with buttons on the back. Was from jojo maman bebe so can't have been cheap either.
Gave it to charity shop with the label still on.

This is very outing but I used the baby footprint tin things on my cats

A giant cuddly sloth toy that takes up half of my son's bedroom.

Baby Dr. Martens boots. 2 pairs in different colours. I can’t envision a time when her feet will be small enough to fit but her leg muscles strong enough to lift them.

I was given an absolutely gorgeous home made "strampler" set - this is the standard baby clothing in Germany. It's basically dungarees, but soft and the trousers don't have any poppers in them I think I put it on my baby once and then it got relegated to a box of hand me downs. I felt guilty because it had obviously been lovingly made but I just found the entire concept of this clothing piece ridiculous. Why would you want to take the entire thing off whenever you change them and then have to put it all back on again including shimmying it up their back to flip over the shoulder and do up?

They provide newborn clothes in the hospital as well and they are all stramplers too. You pair it with a long-sleeved vest. I just don't get it, sleepsuit + short sleeve vest is so much more comfortable and practical, you don't need to match anything, and the stramplers don't even look that nice IMO.

We were also given a swaddle set in size 3-6 months, which I never used. Some baby towels which were so thin they didn't really absorb anything. Some jumpers that didn't have a stretchy neck so I was too scared to squeeze them over a wobbly newborn head!

Similar to a previous poster, we were given a couple of plants for the garden with a link to our baby's name. It was very thoughtful and I did appreciate the sentiment, but with a newborn when I had an occasional spare moment I just wanted to sleep or shower, not clear a space in the border and plant a shrub!

An outfit for newborn DD that I can only liken to a Vegas showgirl costume!
It was black and white stripes in a similar design to a swimming costume with staps that crossed over at the back. It was covered in black lace and sequins with ruffles on the hips and bum. It came complete with a sparkly headband that needed to be tied around like a long piece of ribbon (not a strangulation hazzard at all!!).