This is a close friend I’ve known for over a decade. One of the first friends I made when moving to a new city as an adult.
He’s also the first close friend of mine to have kids, we’re both early 30s and I’d like to get them something nice but I have no idea what as I’ve never bought this kind of gift before.
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A box of diapers (size 1 since newborn diapers they’ll grow out of quick), box of wipes, and a nice bottle of booze will always be great baby gifts.
A giftcart for time to sleep. Meaning you take care of the baby while they get to sleep continiously for 6 hours.
Lots of questions to answer here. Price range? Is the gift for the baby, for him, or for the couple?
Many new parents (myself included) get overwhelmed and feel like their life is gone because all of their time is now baby time. Gifts that help them transition were appreciated the best. Maybe offer to watch the baby for an evening so they can have a night out. That was worth its weight in gold with our first.
If you want practical, diapers and gift cards. Newborns always need something that you didnt think of so having a gift card to somewhere that has everything (i.e. Target) was always appreciated.
If you want sentimental, arrange a professional photography session for them and the baby. There are photographers that specialize in just this and they are amazing.
The overall best thing you can do for them is be there. Know that he wont be able to hang out as much. Offer to have a game/sport/TV night at their place with him so you don’t lose that connection.
A little care package? Wine, beer/ spirit, indulgent sweet treats and a nice ready meal or two? Went down well recently for me.
If you know a few more of their friends or family, organize a meal train. That’s where you plan to bring them dinner for 1 night each. It’s just assigning each person the day they are responsible for providing a meal.
Easy answer (from a mom) – gift card for food delivery. They’ll be getting a lot of the other essentials but not having to even warm up food was so helpful.
A diner date for both of them with a reservation around year and a half after the baby is born. Or some massages.
Diapers, lots of diapers. All sizes, everyone gets you newborn ones but having sizes 4-5 in the second year and not having to buy them is awesome
Condoms?
Price range would be handy to know.
We have a BT Video Baby Monitor and that thing survived two kids. We don’t use it anymore but my partner’s mother loves it when my youngest (2) stops over because she stirs in the night and it’s extremely useful to check if she’s just making noises or actually waking up. For a first child, they can be pretty addictive and you feel like you’re looking at a lot but it does help a lot because you can check on them without entering their room and potentially waking them up if they’re just stirring.
Otherwise, a couple of newborn nappies and a few sizes up because babies grow fast and it’s useful to have some on hand incase you one morning find the nappies you have been buying now don’t really fit, some of the parents preferred drinks and treats and maybe a couple of ‘babysit’ vouchers they can use a couple months after the baby is born because they will have had no sleep and they will have not had any real time to themselves and they would probably relish the opportunity to just have someone have the kid for a couple hours so they can either get a nap in or go to the cinema, or whatever.
If you’re handy, you could offer to help paint and put together the nursery (if they have one) but definitely talk to them about this as for some people this is very sentimental and they may want to do this part no matter how shit it turns out.
Shit, you could even offer to come round and just take care of some household chores every now and again because that is something they may not realise can take a back burner when they’re both sleep deprived.
Best gift i got.
Was a basket with random gadgets I wouldn’t have thought of buying until needed but had them when I needed them. Included ear thermometer, fever strips, snot suckered, just a bunch of stuff that is in the drug store baby aisle. Was absolutely amazing.
Also had a couple people buy small boxes of diapers at different sizes. So when the baby did the oops I am growing to grow five sizes overnight, I was covered.
Don’t overthink it. The practical items are amazing.
I typically get white noise sleep machine for the baby with the phone app
Look at this product I found on google.com https://g.co/kgs/3WmKYrQ
As a father of six a thoughtful gift would be about a case of newborn diapers if you don’t wanna go the diapers out a bunch of onesies and a few of those newborn knit caps, bibs, pacifiers all that stuff believe me they are going to love it
3 months supplies of diapers. It goes a long way, considering $45/box on avg, 3 months will take 6-7 boxes if they change diapers on time. You can buy 2x size 1, 2x size 2 and 2x size 3
Plane tickets. Far far away.
My go-to gift for friends and relatives has been 2-3 outfits usually sized for 12-months+. I’ve heard a lot of parents get clothes in the 0-6 month range and a little beyond, but then after that everyone kind of forgets that babies get bigger.
Thinking ahead to when the kid will grow up and the initial hype of the bay has quieted down – and what they’ll need then – is great.
For really close family, we have also opted for a high-end baby food maker: https://www.beaba.com/en-ca/babycook-neo/babycook-neo-baby-food-maker-processor-terracotta-916705.html
In the same thinking-ahead-vein, this item helps make fresh baby food at home and provides easy clean containers to take it on the go. Down the line, it can be regifted or used as a small food processor.
I don’t have a suggestion but wanted to thank you for posting because I’m in this same exact situation and was planning on asking this question on Reddit this week lol.
If they have the room, cook them a meal that goes into the freezer. A lot of people did that for me and my wife and it’s really nice to have dinner taken care of.
Earplugs for the man and coffee for the woman. It will help him sleep through the crying in the middle of the night while it helps her stay awake to deal with the kid.
It can be tricky since they often have a lot of things they are getting themselves and you might not now it. If they have a registry for a shower you can look there. Though often it’s the mother to be that does that and only invites her friends to the shower.
For a guy, a nice messenger bag can be useful — it works well as a diaper bag and doesn’t look goofy. And it can be used for other things later.
I also like to get this book for male friends: https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Owners-Manual-Instructions-Trouble-Shooting/dp/1594745978 It’s fun and has some useful info.
Gift cards for food delivery or meal kits can be good too, it’s very tiring for the first few weeks.
A gift card to a photographer can be good, and they can use it at any point. Having a nice family portrait with the baby can be something they keep forever.
A personal thing I like to do is make diaper samplers. I get small packs of various sizes for a bunch of different brands. Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, the various store brands like Walmart, Aldi, Amazon. Usually in 0-3 months and newborn. It sounds silly but everyone tells new parents different things about which brand is best. Each baby is different and the diapers are going to fit differently so the best way to know what you like best is to test a bunch.
Things that assist in care, but lasting. People get diapers. Get a diaper disposal pail. People get newborn clothes. Get 18 month
Think ahead
Butt loads of muslin clothes! Or a nice blanket
Not sure if they have those but..
. White noise machine – this can help the baby stay asleep
. Velcro swaddles (regular swaddle blankets are so annoying and the last thing you want to do over and over again in the middle of the night is re-swaddle your newborn because they once again wiggled out of it)
There’s a lot of things parents need that nobody can buy for them. I usually give gift cards for drugstore type stores (or wherever they sell diapers and stuff in your country). There’s one present that I like, and that’s a snuggle cloth. Literally, just a nice piece of cloth for the baby to hold. Must be easy to clean and nice to touch, that’s it.
My go to is always: diapers (size or two up cuz that baby is either born outgrown from those dumb newborn diapers or gonna out grow them in a month), cute clothes (again size or 2 up, babies grow like weeds) or, if it’s on a registry, a sturdy diaper bag. Fill diaper bag with afore mentioned items depending on how close you are/budget.
Give them the amount of money you find suitable and tell them to invest it in an indexfund with little to no cost.
Write a letter to the future child where you describe the relationship you have with the children mom and dad, and what it meant to you.
The letter is supposed to be delivered when the parents die, and the money will accumulate interest rate until that day/inheritance.
Baby carrier. Every parent needs a baby carrier, and he might never get it for himself.
Gift cards for food. Food preparation and dishes cleanup is horribly difficult in those first few weeks.
Beer