What's the best present someone has given you?

[DaisyRose144]

I currently have 2 close friends who are pregnant. I'm looking for some nice ideas for gifts once the babies are born. I have already bought both clothes and a baby toy for their baby showers...however I am open to any ideas.

I am also pregnant, but can not think for the life of me what sort of present I would appreciate.

A selection of snacks, breakfast bars, dried fruit etc

Emergency pack of nappies, wipes, black sacks, soothers.

I brought my 2 good friends a personalized baby book once I knew their names. They said they were the best gifts they got. Lovely nursey rhymes and the green cover with gold writing looked great. Had the name throughout the book! Not exactly cheap but lovely gifts. The website has lots more bits on :)

www.babyblooms.co.uk/collections/personalised-baby-books/products/personalised-classic-nursery-rhymes-book

A bag of all the little essentials - nipple cream, some bottles and a dummy, small pack of nappies etc. They gave it to me quite early on and made me feel like I had a good back up !

Second was a bottle of champagne and chocolate truffles from fortune and mason, which came in a lovely gift box which I re-used to put all their baby keepsakes in

Cake. Loooooots of cake.

Babies grow so quickly that lots of the 'stuff' we were given is already too small small for my 9 week old!

A small deep freezer full of food!

The best gifts I got were a voucher for a nice bra shop (none of my pre-DC bras fit anymore) and a massive wheel of brie (which you're not suppose to eat when pregnant). I also had some beautiful hand made blankets/jumpers/hats from my mum and some of her knit & natter friends which I hugely appreciated. My mum also made me some flapjacks which were supposed to help bring your milk in (Google breastfeeding flapjacks for the recipe).

Some other useful bits...

For baby:
A bath thermometer
Some bits for the baby (for a little further down the line) that you wish you had to hand at 2am but can't get until the shops open 5 hours later (calpol, infacol, teething granules, a snot sucker, thermometer, baby olbas oil, sudacrem)
Teether/teething ring (the ones you can freeze)
Muslins

I was given loads of nappies, but ended up giving most of them to the food bank because babies grow so quickly my son needed the next size up before I could use them all.

For mum:
Chocolate
Nipple cream (lanisoh)
Tea tree oil is good for adding to the bath postpartum (helps with stitches)
Hand cream (you will end up with chapped hands as you'll be washing after every nappy change)
Some antibacterial gel (for the changing bag in case you have to change in a park or something without a sink available)
A big pot of Vanish stain remover
Some homemade meals in portion pots that can go in the freezer

Food! Sending some nice ready meals or even some pasties! Something easy to cook/eat.

Also a friend organised for a beautician to go to her another friends house after a couple of weeks to give her a home pedicure. Thought that was a lovely idea. Didn’t have to leave the house, could sit cuddling/feeding the baby but felt pampered x

Thank you very much, there are some fantastic ideas on here that I'll be using!

For my baby shower my friend got me a reflexology session it was amazing!!

Posh shower gel, made quick showers feel luxurious and I smelt lovely with little effort!

Also nice hand cream, your hands get trashed with washing them so much!

Audible subscription for night feeds.