Where Play Meets Potential
Thinking about gifts for an infant is challenging because they cannot tell you what they want and really they don’t need or want much. Babies also don’t remember or have much of a reaction to their first Christmas, but parents and loved ones often still want to get them something as a way to celebrate traditions.
It is also challenging to consider a gift guide for baby’s first Christmas. You could be shopping for a two week old or an almost one year old. They have very different abilities, needs, and wants.
I hope I have included enough variety and unique ideas to cover a year of development. Many of these items are used across developmental levels, which I like to find anyways.
Good luck, and happy shopping!
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Personalized gifts are perfect for babies. They are meaningful, thoughtful, sentimental, and a great keepsake for beyond the baby phase. Let’s face it, babies will not remember receiving these gifts and they don’t get excited or have specific preferences yet, so a sentimental gift is great to give at this age. There are so many things you can personalize for your baby. Etsy is a perfect place to look for personalized gifts. Here are a few more ideas:
One of my favorite traditions is putting the ornaments on the Christmas tree. I love it because I get to reminisce all the milestones and good times through personalized ornaments.
I love to give and receive personalized ornaments for this reason. As a teacher I loved receiving handmade or personalized ornaments so that I could think of that student each year as I decorated the tree.
Now as a parent, I am so excited for each new milestone and for years of handmade ornaments.
It is a good idea to get your baby a personalized ornament and have one for yourself, so that when they move out, they don’t take your ornament with them. Just an idea to think about 18 years (or maybe 30 ;p) in advance.
I personally love the ones that have either a picture or a handprint to show their growth and see how small they were, but there are so many options out there.
Check out these below by clicking the image or see more ideas by clicking the button.
Personalized books are a fabulous gift for any age really. If you aren’t reading to your baby because you don’t think they care or are paying attention, then you should really start. There is lots of research that reading to your child even from birth can increase their literacy levels later on in life. So, personalized books double as a keepsake and a great gift.
Wonderbly creates some fabulous personalized books. They have fun narratives, are made with excellent quality, you can make a personalized dedication page, and they ship quickly worldwide.
We own a few now and I am looking at getting some as gifts for some family members.
We received What Kind of Ruby Will You Be? For Christmas last year when Ruby was 6 months old and it was one of my favorite gifts for her. It’s really colorful with some contrasting colored pages perfect for babies. Ruby loves the kitty character in the book and it is short enough to sustain her toddler attention span, but also has concepts like opposites that are great for older kids too.
10 Little Yous is a perfect story for little ones as it is short and repetitive. The repetitive and rhythmic nature of counting books is perfect for babies. The bright colors are also fun to look at. This book will also be great beyond the infant stage. I love counting books because you can extend them with lots of play and learning activities.
A New Brother for Ruby is such a treasured book as we prepare to welcome her brother in early December. She has some other “big sister” books, but the fact that this one is personalized with a character that looks like her with her name and with a brother like she will have, makes it more meaningful.
I almost cried writing the dedication page. Although Ruby is really too young to understand the impact of a new sibling, I think it is important to talk about with her and it will continue to be important as he is here and she is older.
For older children about to get a new sibling, this book is the perfect gift to make them feel empowered, involved, and loved. You could even give a gift “from” the baby to the sibling as a sweet gesture.
You can search books by age on the Wonderbly website and right now they have Christmas books, which make great gifts.
Another great personalized gift for a baby is a name puzzle. We got Ruby this personalized puzzle from Busy Puzzle for her first birthday. The quality is superb and the colors are perfect. It is a nice decoration as well as a toy. You will probably use it as decoration for a little while, but that’s why it is nice that it looks so great. We have even used it for some sensory play (Check that out HERE).
Other personalized gift ideas include clothing, blankets, towels, blocks, Christmas ornaments, toys, teethers, stuffed animals, frames, photo books, and more!
Clothing is a great practical gift for babies. Oftentimes they are spitting up or having blowouts so they need multiple outfits each day. Also, some people have a tradition of wearing matching family PJ’s on Christmas. Growing up we always received new PJ’s on Christmas Eve and it was a really fun tradition.
Primary.com clothing is a go to for easy, but great quality basics. My sister in law was actually the first to introduce me to Primary.com and she loved it for the simplicity and comfort for her little one that hates anything too itchy, tight, stiff, or with tags. We personally own a few swimsuits for Ruby that are really great quality and super cute.
If you have seen from our social media or past blog posts, we are quite busy in play everyday and oftentimes it gets messy. That’s where Primary.com is perfect for basics and they have special features like reinforced knees that make their clothing more durable.
If you are looking for something more unique or personalized, then Etsy.com is a great place to look. Check out these cute ideas I found on Etsy.
If you are just starting out with baby led weaning, then I highly recommend the Grabease utensils. We started baby led weaning with Ruby at about 6 months old and then at about 8 months we introduced the Grabease utensils.
She never really liked us to feed her the purées so I thought, “Well, why not you can feed yourself then.” I wanted her to be safe though and other utensils she would stick too far in her mouth and gag herself. She didn’t have the proper fine motor control or coordination for the regular toddler utensils, so what I really loved about Grabease was the ergonomic handle and the gag guard. They even have silicone utensils that double as teethers. Pretty cool design.
They also have some other cool products like the bib that covers the high chair and their whole upper body (my husband thought that was a little extra), a double-sided toothbrush, and they just came out with a suction bowl that also has a great design.
A few other things I love about this company is that it is run by moms and that for every item purchased they donate a meal to a child in need.
Silicone bibs are also super practical and there are some super cute designs out there too.
We were doing cloth bibs for the longest time before we tried these bibs. I was worried they would be too cumbersome or bulky. We have not had a problem with them so far.
Ava + Oliver Silicone bib
Something practical for when your baby starts crawling are baby knee pads. I love the ones that can just slip on and have a good amount of padding.
We owned these and they were perfect. Nice and cozy like socks on the knees. Plus, super easy to get on while staying on while they crawl all over.
People were always asking me about these. I’m glad because I thought I was so extra for putting them on my poor baby’s knees.
Bella Tunno Baby Knee pads
Baby will most likely start walking very close to or shortly after their first year. Ruby began using push toys before she was solidly walking too, probably around 9 or 10 months old.
So, these types of walkers are great to promote their natural development of standing and walking without using the more restrictive walkers.
We have this one and I loved how smoothly it rolled. I also loved that it came with blocks.
Cossy Wooden Baby Learning Walker
While I love the little Fox push wagon that we got for Ruby, I think this Radio Flyer Wagon would be sturdier and last for longer.
If I were to go back in time and only buy one walker, I would probably choose this Radio Flyer wagon. It goes well beyond the baby phase into the toddler phase and it doesn’t look like it would tip as easily as the cossy walker.
Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon
While there are a few toys that can entertain and are great for developing certain skills, young babies are not yet intentionally playing with toys. They may be grasping, shaking, or staring at toys, but they do not need a lot to entertain them.
So, toys that can double as nursery decor are perfect gifts. They look good in the nursery right now and will be used to play with later on.
For Ruby’s first Christmas, I had a lot of teethers on her wishlist because these were really the only “toys” she played with.
She started showing some signs of teething around 3 or 4 months, but didn’t actually get her first tooth until about 9 months. So ya, that’s a lot of teething months. In fact, I don’t think she has stopped putting stuff in her mouth even at 15 months.
Teethers are also great for sensory exploration. Infants are learning through their senses and they are getting lots of sensory input from their mouth. The neurons from their mouth to their brain actually develop before their hands, so that is why you see babies sticking EVERYTHING in their mouths. That’s how they learn. Read more about the importance of sensory play HERE.
So, to provide lots of variety in their sensory development, it is important to provide several options as far as color, texture, and material. Try not to get only plastic or only silicone teethers. Find a variety of materials including wood, fabric, rope, crinkly fabric, silicone, plastic, and maybe some metal (kitchen items like spoons and whisks are great for this texture). For more tips and tricks see my post “7 Hacks for Teething Babies and Exhausted Parents.”
Here are some fun ones to add some variety to your teethers.
Another thing babies engage in daily (or should be anyways) is tummy time. So, why not get a gift to help with their daily activities.
Another one of my favorite first Christmas gifts for Ruby was her foam mat. We had one of those puzzle mats before, but when she would spit up, it was not fun to clean. You had to take apart the pieces to clean in the cracks. Plus, as she got older, she started to take the pieces apart. I love the one piece foam mat with a neutral and modern design that looks good in our living room. It is super easy to wipe down.
Even though we had the foam mat, it felt weird to put my little baby straight on that cold surface. So, oftentimes we had a blanket or a tummy time mat for her to lay on. This was also helpful when she was spitting up multiple times a day. I would just quickly switch out the blanket.
Ruby never really minded tummy time, but we still had to keep her engaged while she was on her tummy. Some of the things that kept her engaged were mirrors, books, rattles, stuffed animals, and pictures (check out all the ways we played with pictures HERE).
Here are my suggestions for tummy time gifts:
Ok, I hope this baby gift guide gave some ideas for you or your family members. Feel free to share it with your family or friends with babies or your family for your baby.
Please remember the most important thing you can give your baby is your time, love, and attention. Babies need little more than your responsive care and love. Do not feel pressured to buy them all the things because holding them, singing to them, dancing, talking, and responding to their cues is all they really want or need.
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