Baby Shower Gift Ideas

Baby Shower Gift Ideas: Yep, we get it. Babies, with their chubby little cheeks and their beautiful big eyes are pretty hard to resist. So it’s no wonder that baby shower gift ideas are so often aimed squarely at them. Whether it’s adorable cot toys or delightfully diddy babygrows most of the presents piled high at baby showers are for the newborn, while new mums tend not to get a look in. But while we adore those teeny-tiny humans, we also know that they are happiest in a pair of willing arms and care not for pink or blue babygrows. So with this in mind, here we share 8 unique baby shower gift ideas that will help news mums recover during the postpartum phase.

1. Baby Shower Gift Ideas: A Postpartum Recovery Kit

The first six weeks postpartum are very challenging in terms of recovery, so one unique baby shower gift idea we love is a postpartum care kit. Our care kits contain all sorts of healing goodies including soothing bottom sprays, hot and cold compresses, maternity pants, organic pads and nutritious snacks – everything to help her heal, basically. This is the gift she REALLY wants to see pop up on the table at her baby shower.

2. Breastfeeding Recovery Kit

Breastfeeding is a beautiful and bonding experience, but it can also be very hard in the early days and it can take between two to six weeks to get fully established. To show her that you feel her pain (think cracked nipple pain) gift her with a breastfeeding recovery kit. Our Bosom Buddy Breastfeeding Box contains essentials such as nipple balm, bamboo breast pads and lactation cookies.

3. Food, food and more food

Now we’re not suggesting you turn up at the baby shower with a baked lasagna, but you could gift mum a COOK food voucher. Alternatively, take round a hearty meal to the new parents once bub arrives. We kid you not, the postpartum phase is exhausting and even the most enthusiastic of chefs is likely to feel unenthusiastic about whipping up a meal when they’ve been up all night changing nappies and nursing a hungry newborn.

4. Baby Shower Gift Ideas: A New Baby Journal

Blink and you’ve missed it. Yes, we mean the first few weeks. So a ‘new baby’ journal is a good way to remember the little moments and milestones. As well as being a touching keepsake for mum, it’s lovely for children to look back on when they are a bit bigger.

5. A Newborn Photography Session

Babies change so much in the first few weeks so a newborn photography session is a lovely way to capture that precious newborn period. Of course, always book with a reputable studio that is used to doing newborn photography. A few things to check when you book are, do they have  props? (’cause mum may want baby photographed in a giant lettuce…); do they have space heaters? (’cause bub probably won’t wear anything); and do they have baby-safe cleaning facilities (’cause it may get messy if bub is being snapped in the buff).

6. Unique Gifts For New Mums: A TV Subscription

New mums always put themselves at the back of the queue when it comes to self-care so you need to give her an incentive to rest in the early weeks. Hello TV subscription. Whether it’s re-runs of Poldark or a marathon session of This Is Us, a good box set is an ideal way to while away those breastfeeding hours.

7. Dry Shampoo (and other beauty bits)

If she’s been up all night with a noisy newborn the last thing she will feel like doing is washing her hair and blasting it with the hairdryer. Enter a can of dry shampoo. Perfect for days when a shower isn’t on the agenda. For a unique baby shower gift, why not fill a basket with a few other quick-fix beauty bits, like a soothing eye cream, a Tangle Teezer hair brush and some nourishing lip gloss.

8. Baby Shower Gift Ideas: At-Home Mani-Pedi Voucher

A trip to the salon is not on the cards anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have her hands and tootsies buffed and polished to perfection. Book her an at-home mani-pedi and she can receive the five-star treatment from the comfort of her living room.

Words: Catherine Sullivan is a mum of two, a freelance journalist and the co-founder of Mama Hug.