Go to Baby Shower Gift

Becky with her GORGEOUS children Sam and Elisabeth

Since we have babies on the brain at A Well-Crafted Party, I wanted to share my recent “Aha!” moment in regards to newborn gifts.  I am the privileged momma of two darling crazies (as I call them) – Sam (4) and Elisabeth (2).

With the onset of my own motherhood, coupled with that season of life where friends start popping out wee ones as well, I began to mull over practical yet personal, remember-exactly-who-gave-it-to-you type of gifts. 

Some of my favorite gifts to give include diapers and pacifiers. Why? Because they are useful and save my friends money.  The problem? They are disposable and, within a couple of months, my gifts are in the trash and usually stinky. 

Thus, began my hunt for a gift that balanced practicality with personality. 

For Christmas last year, I asked my mom to embroider some bath towels for my son and daughter.  She owns an embroidery machine and regularly makes personalized hand-sewn blankets for newborns and monogrammed hand towels for newlyweds.  She did a fabulous job on the gifts; plus my kids loved their towels and we use them every single week!

And just like that, I discovered my go-to baby shower present (along with diapers and pacifiers, of course). I shop for high-quality bath towels but at discounted prices.  For instance, when the local K-Mart started closing up shop, I stocked up on the nicest towels they carried, and paid less than $8 per towel.  Since my mom owns the embroidery machine, I get it done at no cost; except she did make me learn how to run the machine on this last batch. But that was my pleasure. 

I know you may not have the same inexpensive access to embroidery as I do, but shop around to find a competitively-priced store. Then, see if you can get a better deal if you personalize more towels at once. For about $20 or less, you can have a perfect gift for those parents-to-be that will keep their freshly bathed child snug as a bug. 

As a sidenote: when the second or third child comes along, I typically make towels for all of the kids – that way each kid gets something new and special that is just for him or her, too.