Tips to Choosing the Perfect Personalized Baby Gifts

Unique personalized baby gifts are a great way to show your love and appreciation for the new life your friends or family members are bringing into the world.  

Whether you're giving a gift to a pair of happy new parents or an expectant mother, adding a personal touch will give both the parents and the baby something to cherish for months or years to come. Most importantly, whenever they see the gift they'll think of you and remember the important role you played in the baby's early life.

Remember, when you're giving personalized baby gifts, you're not giving it to the baby so much as you're giving it to the parents. At least not initially ;-) What the parents think about the gift is what really matters.

You can always give toys but it is nearly impossible to predict what a very young baby will like to play with. Some babies prefer simple household items like a spoon or the snip of a blanket, other treasure expensive educational toys and others again, are not really into toys at all at such a young age.

Also, toys are not personal and will not have that everlasting memory aspect to it that unique personalized baby gifts have.

The Art of Thinking Out of the Box

When you're planning to get someone a personalized baby gift, you want it to be unique. To be special! To be meaningful!

And personalizing it with the baby's name or some sweet words or a good quote is quite easy to do as there are many online companies that specialize in personalized baby shower gifts where you can literally design the item online. Clever! Creative!

So what kind of gifts can you personalize?

There Are Many Options for Personalized Baby Gifts e.g. Personalized Baby Clothing

Clothing is always a good option.

Baby clothing can be a huge expense that often catches new parents off guard, so giving them something extra will often be greatly appreciated.

• Embroidered name: Personalizing baby clothes can involve anything from having the baby's name embroidered into the fabric, through to getting a picture of the baby's favorite farm animal (if they already have one) printed on the back of a bunting or jumpsuit.



• Animal-themed clothing is a great idea – and you don't have to stop at printed or embroidered clothes. You can actually get unique baby clothes which are designed to make the baby look like a cute little animal, with teeth and eyes on top of the hood. You can find suits like this for a range of animals – lions, sharks, frogs, birds, you name it.




• Cartoon characters: If the child is old enough to be enthralled by cartoons at this stage, getting a cartoon character suit is another excellent idea for personalized baby gifts.

  Even with very young kids, it's often easy to figure out who their favorite cartoon character is just by watching them in front of the TV and listening to the sounds they make. Who's on the screen when the kid gets excited? That's the character you want to try and find in costume form.




• Confused? Go for what the parents like: Alternatively, think of a character that appeals to the parents and get a suit for the baby based on that character.

  Many parents would love to see their baby dressed up as Elmo or some other favorite character they remember from their own childhoods.
  
  

• Any kind of soft toy gift can also go down well. In particular, a soft toy resembling just about any animal or insect tends to be a good choice.

  In many larger cities, you'll be able to find a local store or two which will make soft toys to order – you choose the body design, mix and match clothes, decide which eyes to use and so on.
  
  

  Towels or bathroom package sets are another good option. Bath time will be a central part of the bond between parents and baby for the first few years of life, so it's nice to have some quality bath towels and a little dressing gown for the baby.

  Having some personalized embroidery or imagery on these items just makes them that much more special.

Custom Baby Bedding

If toys or clothing aren't your style, custom baby bedding is another prime field for good gift ideas.

Like clothing, providing plenty of bedding for a new baby puts a big cost on parents. If you've already seen what the baby's bedroom is going to look like, you can plan ahead and get some personalized sheets and pillow cases created that will match the layout and coloring of the crib and walls.

Again, both embroidering and image printing are your friends when it comes to creating custom baby bedding.

• Animals are a good choice once again – you could get a big cartoon lion face printed on a sheet, for example.



• Popular professions: Another option for the custom baby bedding is to pick a theme based around the kind of jobs kids love – we all had our phases as youngsters when we were obsessed with being an astronaut, a firefighter or a doctor.



• Role playing adventure: If the child is old enough to be playing 'make believe' games, getting some personalized sheets to match his or her favorite role-playing adventures will score you plenty of points with both the child and the parents.

A Personalized Baby Blanket

A blanket is a special part of any baby's bedding, as it often doubles as a soft toy.

Many of us had favorite blankets as children which we carried with us everywhere we went.

You might even want to play on this theme of a 'security blanket,' by creating a personalized baby blanket with images that relate to safety and security.

Creating a night-time themed blanket, with cartoon stars and moons, is another option. Or of course, you could have the blanket printed with an image and the baby's name and date of birth.

One cool idea is to print the first photo of the baby on a blanket, so when the child is all grown up he or she has a nice memento of early childhood.

Personalized Baby Shower Gifts with Mom at the Center

When you're going to a baby shower, you have to be conscious of the fact that there may be a dozen or more other people showing up with gifts at the same time. This makes it extra important to come up with a personalized gift idea that will stand out and be remembered.

Remember, once again, the baby shower gift is just as much about the parents as the baby – in particular, the mother.

Pampering the Mother

The new mother may be in need of some pampering at this point, so some unique bath oils or something similar can be an excellent choice. Bath oils are a good idea because they can be used for both baby and mother.

Delicious Foods for the Mother

Food is also a good idea for a baby shower gifts – you can find some unique candy or other packaged food and get a personalized label put on it.

All the standard gifts describe above can also be ideal for a baby shower scenario, and any gift involving photos of the baby and mother are always popular.

If you can get hold of a photo of the mother with her newborn baby and put it in a classy frame, it will become a gift that holds plenty of sentimental value throughout the mother and child's lifetimes.

Practical Personalized Gifts for Pregnant Women

Perhaps the baby hasn't quite arrived yet, but you want to get in quickly before anyone else starts giving baby gifts.

If it's your own daughter who is pregnant, no doubt you'll want to play an early role in helping the couple get set up with all the essentials they'll need for when the baby arrives.

In this scenario, the best personalized gifts are practical ones.

Framed photos and personalized food packages are great, but a couple expecting a baby needs to focus on essentials like clothing, bedding and a decent stroller.

If you have the funds, a personalized stroller with names embroidered on it will definitely win you some heartfelt thanks from the expectant parents.

Beautiful Personalized Baby Jewelery

A personalized necklace or bracelet in gold or silver with the baby's name and date of birth is a truly wonderful present particularly for baby girls

Most of my friends have such a unique personalized baby gift and today they all still have it in their jewelry box. They truly treasure it.

One has even had her bracelet made longer and so that she can still wear it now and then which she also does.

Benefits of Buying Baby Gifts with Other Friends

If you're giving gifts at a baby shower, it's a good idea to discuss with other mutual friends to make sure you don't end up getting similar gifts.

There's another benefit to coordinating your purchases with other friends – you can pool your funds to buy something expensive that none of you could justify buying on your own.

Of course, part of the beauty of personalized gifts is that your present will be unique no matter what. You might get the baby a blanket, only to find that three others at the baby shower had the same idea – but yours will still stand out because it will be personalized.

Unique Baby Gifts for Creative Souls: Hand and Footprints

If you're a bit artsy being the one in charge of the baby's plaster prints is a truly wonderful thing to do. You can easy buy these baby print sets with frames and plaster almost everywhere these days.

I have a friend who has made it into a tradition to give her friends beautiful hand and footprints of their babies. She just shows up right after the birth and takes the baby's prints and then goes home and does the rest of the creative process there.

Every time the new mothers are just so appreciative and happy because making their baby's hand and footprints is something they would never get around doing themselves.