Best 'new baby' gift

[securegal]

I was wondering if all of you lovely ladies could give me some advice. My best friend has given birth to a lovely little girl today and I wanted to buy her something to say congratulations. I don't have children and am aware that she is likely to be inundated with bunches of flowers. I'd like to buy her something luxurious for her, and something for baby, but would like to give her something that she'd actually really like. What were the best presents that people bought for you? What do people who just had a baby really want (apart from sleep)?? Thank you so much in advance!

Vouchers for a local home cleaning service would be a nice idea, offering to clean her loo yourself would be nice I guess but I personally would feel really weird having my friend cleaning up after me but not having to do the house work for a couple of weeks would be fantastic!

I wouldnt go down the wipes/baby products route until she has figured out what brands suit her baby, I didnt use any products on my little ones until around 3mths and then only Weleda. Bamboo cloths in water with a dash of tea tree oil is the best thing to clean little bottoms.

Food is always a winner, we certainly got sick of freezer to oven frozen crumbed convenience type foods from the supermarket or ready meals, a nice homecooked meal is always appreciated, muffins freeze well too.

What about a magazine subscription? She wont have the energy to invest in novels etc for the next few months but there is a lot of sitting around with babies, especially breastfeeding etc so having a nice magazine turn up at the house would be great.

Oooh I tell you what I would REALLY appreciate (baby due this week) - PJs. Lovely, comfy PJs. I'm sure for the next couple of weeks they won't really be leaving the house and they will come in v. handy. No matter how many I buy I never seem to have enough. Primark are fantastic for them.

PJs for the mum that is - not baby!

Box set of a DVD series you know she will like - for sitting around feeding time.

The best gift I got was a big pot of home made soup which i lived on for a couple of days.

Best baby gift was a blue ceramic piggy box which he says hello to every morning.

Oooh, I just thought of something else I got! My mum paid for some post-pg yoga classes & babysat every week so I could go to them!

oh yeah, nice pjs would be fab - make sure tops can pull down to bf (unless you know she isn't of course). Especially cos it's wash and wear once atm...

my friend runs this business, I've used it for new babies and the bouquets have always gone down really well.

www.craftycakesandblooms.co.uk/

My mum did me a little hamper of nice breads, pate, parma ham, a bottle of sancerre, a box of eggs and a load of snickers (peanuts used to be banned) basically all my banned foods that I had missed when I was pg. It was lovely. On our first night with no visitors we had a pic nic on the bed and indulged. The sancerre got saved but I totally loved the present.
I also second the blanket idea it's something my daughter really treasures even now at 3.5

I'd have liked a spare Sky remote controller - the number of times DP would put the sport on then leave the room while I was BF, with the controller out of reach and me unable to move or shout for him as I didn't want to disturb the baby. Would have saved a lot of tears!!

cattleprod My DP did that too - so annoying! I used to text him to come back in and change it - BF could be dull enough without having to watch cricket at the same time

We got our friends baby Alexis one of these frames for her nursery. She is a little angel after all...
www.misi.co.uk/gifts/69383/Angel.html