New mum gifts - what does she need that's not body lotion??

[Happymumofonee]

Hi all,

Please can you help suggest some fun/unique items I can send my friend after having a baby?

For context - my friends and I thought it would be nice to club together and get her a giftbox subscription with stuff solely for her (i.e. no baby items) for 6 months or so, so she has a little something to look forward to each month... however everything online is either for baby as well as mum, or just candles and body lotions etc! There's about 10 of us old school friends contributing and we're all happy to put in £15-£20.

I feel like there's sooo many more exciting things for her to receive than just bath stuff and candles, so we're going to each divvy out the months between us and send her something - we all live around the country so should ideally be something we can post.

Some ideas so far:

• Selection of magazines, some snacks and teabags


• New garden trowel, and a nice plant pot (she's a keen gardener)


• New book and leather bookmark


• Flowers


• Mini cocktail set and shaker


• Box of brownies


• Meal voucher for a company that sends ready to make meals


• Epsom salts, tea tree and lavender set for immediate post birth baths


• Reusable coffee cup, mini cafetiere and ground coffee

I'd appreciate feedback on the above, or any more ideas - some low energy/pressure craft activities would be cool to add.

Thanks in advance!

A meal delivery service would be my preference.

How about buying her a massage? I would have really loved that in the early days.

I've never used Gousto / similar but think I would have appreciated that more than toiletries etc, as well intentioned as that might be.
I'd also have enjoyed a massage as PP suggested.

Voucher for her local nice coffee place - she'll be drinking a lot of it!

From my personal experience:
Selection of magazines, some snacks and teabags - just the snacks & Teabags
New garden trowel, and a nice plant pot (she's a keen gardener) no - she might never get time to do the gardening
New book and leather bookmark no, no time for that
Flowers no,look nice then die and look ugly until you have time to chuck them out. Maybe a plant?
Mini cocktail set and shaker does she drink? Or will she be breastfeeding?
Box of brownies OMG YES
Meal voucher for a company that sends ready to make meals ready made meals or takeaway much better
Epsom salts, tea tree and lavender set for immediate post birth baths I'd stick to shower products
Reusable coffee cup, mini cafetiere and ground coffee too much faff get instant

I would had handcream in a pump bottle that isn't heavily scented or too greasy
Maybe one of those sheet face masks to force her to spend 10 minutes relaxing

A monthy/weekly snack subscription sounds good or a massive takeaway voucher

The meal delivery service and the offer of free childcare TBH.

audio book subscription - for listening during the night-feeds?

What did she like before the baby? Is it that she might see as a luxury now but still enjoy?

snack delivery is better than flowers.

If proper coffee is too much faff (not in my book!), cocktails definitely will be. Don't go too mini on the cafetiere either 😀

Some research into nice things to do on mat leave? Membership of our local university botanic garden was a boon for me - somewhere nice to go and meet Mum friends, with a cafe ... if it's an option it would be lovely for a keen gardener.

I would get her a thermos flask so she always has the option of a hot cup of coffee/tea because no doubt she will have no time to make AND drink a cuppa even luke warm for a few months

I think things like gardening stuff won't get much use, seems like a weird thing to buy a new mother. Cocktail kits and fancy coffee are not very practical either.

I would say something which she can use day to day. Off the top of my head - insulated cup to keep hot drinks hot when she's feeding the baby or out and about?
Wireless headphones to listen to podcasts/music without baby getting tangled up?
Vouchers for COOK to order some decent quality ready meals.

If you have £150 to £200 i would probably get her a few smaller things and then the rest as vouchers to choose what she wanted.
Babipur is a nice website which has a lot of eco friendly stuff for mum and baby, might be a good place to have a browse.

Here's my thoughts, I have a 3 year old and am 28 weeks pregnant so thinking what I would like 😂

• Selection of magazines, some snacks and teabags - snacks and magazines yes
• New garden trowel, and a nice plant pot (she's a keen gardener) if she loves gardening absolutely - first few months babies do
Nothing except sleep so she should have time to use it. And anyway it's important to make time to yourself.
• New book and leather bookmark - wouldn't waste money on a leather bookmark.
• Flowers - yes lovely
• Mini cocktail set and shaker - make it a massive one 😂
• Box of brownies - perfect.
• Meal voucher for a company that sends ready to make meals - rather have a just eat voucher
• Epsom salts, tea tree and lavender set for immediate post birth baths - thoughtful
• Reusable coffee cup, mini cafetiere and ground coffee - Cup yes, no to the rest. What about some nice syrups for coffees?

:)

The brownies, definitely the brownies 😃

Nothing that requires maintenance - so no plants (even if she is a gardener), no flowers. It’s a lovely thought but it’s just another thing to do/another thing to take care of. Also, nothing with admin so no milestone cards or baby journals.

If you are planning on doing this over 6 months, which is a lovely idea, I would time your presents so you have survival stuff in the first 3 months and pamper/self care items in the next 3 months. So the first 3 months - nice chocolates, brownies, food delivery (I would recommend cook vouchers), travel mug, voucher for coffee chain (she will be stopping in many to feed or because the baby is asleep). You could also do a power bank for her phone, a travel mug or a little shoulder bag to take things up and downstairs with her while carrying the baby.

For 3-6 months, baby might be starting to go down in an evening or go to dad, check in at 3/4 months and see if she’s still glued to baby, if she is more of the things from 0-3 months. If she’s getting a bit of time, this is when you can look at the massage or bath salts. Maybe a voucher for audible as she might be doing daily walks with baby and want something to listen to. Or a voucher for her favourite clothes shop, encourage her to treat herself to something nice, especially if she’s still self conscious about her body and not to wait until she’s lost the baby weight. Restaurant vouchers would also be useful at this time, either for her to use with her partner or to go out and get some alone time without feeling too guilty about the cost as she’ll likely be on SMP by this point.

Absolutely food delivery voucher etc. Your body is crying out for nourishment in the early days but you absolutely struggle to find the time to feed yourself. Also, nice loose Jim-jams or lounge pants in an accommodating size. (Maternity ones likely to be too big but your friend may not be back to her original size for a few months. So something comfy to wear in the interim is appreciated.)

JustEat/Deliveroo/UberEats voucher. I would have been so happy with this in the first few months with my newborn!

Some of the best things I had when ds1 was born were a pump bottle of luxurious hand soap (Korre's 😊) which didn't aggravate sore hands (hadn't realised how much more I would suddenly need to wash my hands when a baby appeared - a week or two of normal handwash and my hands were cracked and bleeding and horrible).

Set of old fashioned towelling nappies - basically big squares of soft towelling that got used for so many different things - only thing they never got used for was as actual nappies 😂. DS1 is now doing his A-levels and many of them are still in use, as mini grab towels or washing/cleaning cloths etc, and in summer as something white to put over the steering wheel in the car so it doesn't become burning hot when parked! I used them as well as muslins - sometimes it was handy to have something thicker.
A large 1m square 'muslin' made of brushed cotton - also had a multitude of uses, including as a handy thing to put down on the floor if I was out (typically at family or friends rather than at a cafe or similar) so I'd got somewhere clean/soft to put the baby to play but also would protect their carpet if he drooled or worse!

A spare kettle - I wasn't planning on formula feeding but ds1 had different ideas and I couldn't get him to breast feed so reluctantly I ended up bottle feeding in conjunction with expressing for months. Needed lots of cooled boiled water for the bottles - I don't drink tea or coffee so wasn't an issue for me but if anyone else was at home, I would leave the kettle to cool down then go to use it only to discover that somebody fancied a cuppa so would have boiled the kettle and I had to wait for cooled water again. Soon stopped this by leaving a note on the kettle to say don't use, but then they would get antsy because they were desperate for their drink 🙄. Extra kettle solved all the issues!

Food food food. Not gousto that needs preparing but vouchers for something like Cook meals. We also got vouchers for pasta evangelists, DP could put the meal together so easily and it was almost like a date night. (If your dates involve shoveling food down your throat quickly before the newborn wakes up) seriously though it was delicious, such a treat.

I also would have liked some really nice quality (button down pyjamas) or a really quality dressing gown. Basically to make slobbing around the house feel less slobby and more luxurious
.

Laundry service vouchers, where they take your dirty stuff away and bring it back clean and ironed 😊

Takeaway vouchers and offers to come do some cleaning for her or to look after the baby whilst she grabs a nap or a nice bath. Things to help practically why they find their feet.

Love your ideas as they’re obviously personalised to your friend and much better than candles and bath stuff (although I do love a nice candle)

If you want more ideas, I liked: box of biscuits, nice hand soap, badedas for the bath, malteasers and M&S vouchers x

My husband bought me a Nespresso thermos mug and it was and still is a life saver. Holds a pint of tea/coffee and keeps it hot for hours! Was great when my baby was sleeping on me

This is exactly what I would have liked!

It's a sweet idea but, honestly, to me this list would be better suit for someone retiring, not having a baby.

To be fair though, it will depend on her parenting style. If she's breastfeeding the alcohol and caffeine presents aren't going to be helpful. If she's not, then crack on.

I was given a book (a short one too) by a friend when I had my first child. It was a sweet gesture but I never got round to reading it and at times just seeing it sat unread on the bedside table made me resentful of my lack of free time...

Likewise, a postpartum bath never happened for me until.... 6 months? Maybe? It was speedy showers until then.

You can guess what I'm going to say about gardening/craft stuff....

Food help all the way. Life saver. Or genuine offers to do the washing.