What gifts did you receive for baby?

[Edelweiss2020]

So obviously we're not expecting anyone to give us things and can afford everything we need, but close family have said they want to buy things for baby when he arrives. We are grateful for anything, but I feel bad accepting presents haha!

Do people usually buy clothes, or did you receive other useful things?

I feel like it would be useful to give them ideas of things we don't already have rather than potentially ending up with more than one of the same, but don't want to appear rude!

How did you manage baby gifts? :)

Lots of clothes mostly 0-6months, baby blankets and soft toys. I didn't really "manage" them, just said thank you very much.

Some people asked what we needed and so I suggested one or two things and they then would right ill get that.

So baby bath, bath toys, sleeping bags in diff togs, baby books, pushchair cosy toes type thing, as then most people got us clothes to be honest and they outgrew them so quickly! So my advice is if someone says what can we get you. Take the opportunity to say a few bits you might need. And then we also had grandparents and close aunties/uncles wanting to gift us bigger things so we were a bit more specific with that e.g. grandparents got the pram, other ones got the car seat. We are very fortunate with our family and I know grateful and supported we are.

It's hard as you don't want to come across grabby but equally if they want to buy stuff it's nicer to have stuff you need :)

Make yourself an Amazon wishlist. That way when people ask what they can get you, you just send them the link and they can choose what they want to get you (no awkward conversations about budget!), You know it's something you need, and like, and when they buy it it comes off the list so you won't get the same thing twice. I've found it really helpful with a number of family members asking what they can get for baby

My parents have offered to get a cot, old ones were worn out after years of use so got rid. Mostly get clothes, toys, we've had babys 1st year frames & baby toiletries.
We have lots of stuff from older children but have been buying the things we didn't keep a bit at a time, I feel a bit off when people ask what you'd like.

My parents offered to buy the pram & we picked up most of the big things second hand.

Most of our presents were clothes, but of those who asked, I asked for books or sensory toys instead. A useful present was handwarmers for the pram from a mum friend, as DS is a Christmas baby.

A group of friends bought a gorgeous toy storage box and book box which looks lovely in his nursery.

I tend to buy brownies for new parents, as we were just inundated with presents for him.

Just clothes really, my family bought us a new pram and mattresses for the crib and moses basket, best mate got a baby gym. MIL bought piles of disposable nappies, presumably because she knows we use reusable and thinks its weird. So they will go to the food bank. Already had everything else from DD2 really (had enough clothes as well really!) If asked i always say books as that's the one thing you can't have too many of.

I found that part of things really awkward @Edelweiss2020 😓 we got a lot of “We’d like to buy the cot, so pick one and we’ll get it” etc from very close family. I think that then puts you in an awkward position as you’re left trying to guess budget and we felt we wouldn’t be able to pick things we wanted that were a bit more expensive.
In the end, anytime anyone offered, we just said “Thank you so much for the offer, but we have bought everything we need” and anyone that still wanted to do something (like both mine and DHs parents) we just set up a bank account for our baby and they put away what they would have spent on a baby item for when he’s older.
We were gifted LOTS of clothes from aunties and cousins etc who hasn’t asked us about anything we might need and honestly, as grateful as we were to receive anything, so much of it was wasted (they weren’t from people that we could have asked for receipts to exchange things) 😓 I had people gift us some really useless expensive clothes - chinos, shirt and bow tie for 0-3months 🙄 loads of stuff that was seasonally inappropriate like big padded snowsuits in 6-9months which should fit our baby by the middle of summer 😓 and lots of clothes that really weren’t to our taste at all. And we have more blankets than I’d ever know what to do with 🙈🤣

@FTM91 Idea of an Amazon wish list is a good idea 😊 Also worth keeping in mind...if you’re a first time mum - lots of the stuff you think you need will never be used 🙈😂 I say this as a fellow first time mum with a house full of unused baby stuff 🤣🤣😅

In order of quantity:
Clothes
Blankets
Soft toys
Gift cards
Toiletries
Muslins
Nappies
Wipes
Books
Grobag

You can exchange most things even without a receipt if you end up with wrong season clothes or too much in one side or you just want to choose yourself. I've found Next and supermarkets great for that.