Present for new mum expat?

[TimTamSlam]

Hello ladies
One of my good friends has recently had her first baby in Singapore. They're not exactly short of money, and I've asked her if there's anything she needs or is missing from the UK and she says not, but I'd still really like to send them a little parcel of things to say congratulations.

Any suggestions?

Tough without knowing what she already has. Some very lightweight clothes? A 0.5 tog grobag? Swim stuff maybe good as she'll probably be taking the baby swimming from an early age and it might be hard to get things like babyfloats, swim nappies, etc in Singapore.

Hi, am in Singapore - if she's bfing and missing the UK a bit then I'd try dvds (of favourite tv programmes/series), magazines etc.

She may not be short of money but nice baby clothes are stupidly expensive here.

Other practical things I used to get bought over for DS when he was tiny were packs of muslin squares (we have mothercare but again $$$), large tubes of bepanthen, nappy bags - difficult to find for some reason, kids toothpaste that isn't bubblegum or strawberry flavour (this I still ask for), sachets of calpol and calprofen.

Those might not make great gifts I realise !

Not sure about Singapore but these are the things that I could not get in Germany:

• calpol - the German paracetemol tastes disgusting and was difficult to get my DC to take it.

• Infacol

Which may or not be helpful, depending on whether she can get UK style medicines there, and not really a present.

One of the best presents - and it seems weird but they were - was a set of stacking cups. Once my DS was about a year old, he would sit for HOURS playing with them.

I bought them from my cousin's baby and she emailed me a year after her son's birth to thank me as he played so much with them.

What about a book and cd of nursery rhymes? I really love Playtime Rhymes [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playtime-Rhymes-All-Favourite-Book/dp/0752860887 here]. It's nice to be in touch with your childhood favourites even when you're so far from home.

here's that link again

XP with Merlion. Yes, we could not get nappy bags either.

She may not realise it yet, but she will be thankful for these things later.

You could make up a UK baby set with some practical things, and perhaps a couple of pretty bibs. My Next bibs were always much admired by the local mums.

Yes what is it about nappy bags? I couldn't get them in the Caribbean either and even in America it was hard to find them. I ended up using dog poo bags instead!