Godparent gift panic...

[Doretaball]

Hello - I wasn't sure whether this was the right place to post but....

My OH has been asked to be godfather twice in the next 2 months (both to little boys - one is almost 2 and the other is 6 months) and we are really at a loss as what kind of present to get. I really wanted to get something for them to treasure/use for ever rather than something which would get put away and never taken out again.

If your child was christened - what were the best presents you received? And were there any complete "No-No"s!

Thanks v much for letting me pick your brains....

Ds1 got a silver tractor money box with a little trailer that he loves. He's 5 now, and still plays with it when I take it off his shelf to dust . Ds2 hot a silver dinosaur money box from the same godparent, which he also loves.

*got, not hot damn sausage fingers on phone!

Children's bible or other religious story book.

Noah's Ark playset.

DS got an antique wooden "treasure box" with his name engraved on a plaque which he loves, and will still be a nice thing to have when he is an adult.

Noah's ark is a good idea - perhaps include a book alongside. Also recommend Nick Butterworth/ Mick Inkpen 'Stories Jesus told'. Dorling Kindersley also have some interesting books - 'Who's who in the bible' is useful.

Also nice edition of any classic children's books - beatrix potter, winnie the pooh, tales of toad hall etc because there is a good chance that the child will get bible stories or bible etc from either his parents, the church he is christened in or several of the other people there.

check out www.thebookpeople.co.uk for some good cheap box sets - the stuff that they are actively selling in their catalogues is good value - things like boxes of all the winnie the pooh or beatrix potter stories for £30 instead of £100 but they also have some stuff that is not in their main stuff and is only a couple of pounds off retail price making amazon etc cheaper.

another nice thing to give is some nice stainless steel children's cutlery - I got given some by my godmother and it is still in use some 40 years later at my mum's house!

Yes, second the stainless steel children's cutlery - dd loves hers. We also really appreciated the money box (ours was china, would have adored a silver one).

We had nice silver pic frames and a wooden keepsake box, which were great.

We bought a bible ourselves - would have liked a children's bible to go with it (and did appreciate the religious stories we were given).

We got a lovely personalised blanket - ebay has a lot if you do a search. Also got a few really lovely books (Waterstones do nice gift editions). Moneyboxes are lovely, but we did get quite a few and you can't have them all on display...

To me a christening present should have some religious links to it. I got my godson a wooden Noahs Ark toy.

Religious stories/bible/prayer book.

I got DS a Noahs Ark personalised clock for his Christening. They do lots of other images for them if you dont want a religious link

DS got a lovely wooden Noah's Ark, he plays with it a lot.

We recently had our god daughters feet cast in bronze for her christening present, great keepsake to remember how small they were!

To be honest my children had many duplicates of money boxes etc and they do grow out of them and then get put away. We have also bought cufflinks for boys in the past as they are something that if bought fairly neutrel wont date and can be used when they are older.

We got quite a few money boxes as well! Useful presents for early years include toddler cutlery and melamine sets. Multiples of those don't hurt! Rather depends on your budget too. Best ones were probably:

Kid's chair + bottle of port for later
'special things' keepsake box and really good music box

Otherwise, how about:
personalised place mat
Night light
Book ends
All should be used regularly for a good few years. Have a look at www.alphabetgifts.co.uk

Thank you so much for all these suggestions - given me some really good ideas.
Will get searching!