So Mrs Eyepic and I are expecting our first grandchild shortly.
Our son (a soliciter) and his wife (a doctor) are not too short of dosh but equally are the proud owners of a humungous mortgage. They are slightly sensible and have already bought a buggy and cot from ebay along with new mattress.
Any ideas what we could get them. What we are really after is that indispensable thing that nobody thinks of but when you have a newborn you just can’t live without.
Obviously we are too old to have any idea what youngsters need now... when ours were young we just needed sleep.
Your help is appreciated
Time with the new one, space to adjust, help with the washing up and clothes washing. Super market trips and food for the freezer.
76 muslins and twelve multi-packs of babygrows. 😀
76 muslins is nowhere near enough.
Fair comment. ☝️
Sleep!
If your close by take the little nipper out for a walk to give them a couple of hours rest even if its just to tidy the house or even to go out for a meal. They might be lucky and get one that knows how to sleep,only one of our 4 knew this skill so we were always grateful of a break no matter how short.
Massive stack of nappies and baby wipes. That or open a savings account for the little one. Congratulations by the way
How will they house 76 Muslims? Sounds like overkill for the sake of a multi cultural upbringing..
MAke them meals for two weeks, and deliver them to the door. Don't go in, just ring the bell, deliver the food and leave.
Its the things you neglect when time is a distorted concept which will help them out the most.
Baby monitor.
A long pair of round nosed scissors, for when they are to tired to remove baby conventionally from poo stained baby grow and then wipe poo off baby, carpet, wall, brother and self followed by bathing baby for the second time that evening.
In all honesty???....... They want Space and Time.
Space to make mistakes and learn how to be the type of parents THEY want to be. Space from well meaning family members who turn up at all sorts of inconvienient times "just to see the baby" and enough space to be able to make their own decisions without someone going "well im just trying to help."
And Time..... Time to enjoy being a parent without being reminded of how tough it was "back in the day."
The biggest gift my folks could have given us would have simply to say... "We are here for you."
Thats what they probably meant but what they actually said was "you're doing it all wrong"
Forget material gifts mate. Make a vow to respect the new family unit. As a grand parent you ARE part of that family but in all honest its mum and dads rules from now on.
Get that bit right and they wont hesitate in coming to you when times are tough or when they want you to be part of babys first whatevers.
Have fun!
I had a kid 2 years ago.
best presents we got were a bath thermometer that cost about £2 from boots (still use it) and a big bag of marks and spencer microwave meals. We didn’t really have time to cook and they were a saviour in the first month!
As above. Decent freezer food, muslins and a pile of plain vests (short long and tank top style) in sizes: newborn: 0-3; 3-6. Same for baby grows. Get ones that have press-studs down both legs. The other ones require tying together and using as a noose to hang the person who designed them. When I say a pile i mean 30 or more.
AA cover. It sounds really dull but if a family with a young child have one less thing to worry about when out on a trip with a baby it could be the best present they've had!
Or really, really cack. Could go either way.
As above: food. Also, I buy every new baby in my circle of friends a copy of Each Peach Pear Plum, because it’s never too soon to read to a child, and it’s a lovely book that lasts as they get older.
Plenty of helpful books for them.
Haynes Baby Manual for the dad
Go the F*ck to Sleep for the mum, I forget the author but just Google it
Ladybird book of the Baby
Quantum Physics for Babies (loads in that series)
Home made food parcels was the thing I appreciated most.
Push chair handle bag/ organiser thing, or pushchair handle hand muff- both awesome and fit any pushchair
Our son (a soliciter)
Typo, hopefully!
Roughly how much are you willing to spend?
When sweanjr was born my parents wanted to get him something useful but also avoid plastic tat. We ended up with them getting a tree bookshelf. It will last and was useful.
Otherwise space and time as above. A recognition that it's hard work. Providing food. All good ideas.
If you get clothes, get 6-9 months: they’ll get loads of newborn stuff from others, so spread the sizes out a bit
we loved the babygro type sleeping bags, since they can’t wriggle down/under/out of them. Again I’d say 6-9 month size since they’ll it really need them yet, til winter starts to arrive!
I would suggest you skip the newborn size if you go for clothing - they'll get loads of that and it lasts about five minutes.
Yes Gro-Bags! Tk Maxx have them really cheap.
Good point about the newborn clothing, larger babies will never fit into it. We swapped a lot of clothes for larger sizes.
My brother in law got my nearly born son a huge Lego robot set. Absolutely no use at all, but great fun when we had time to play with it, when the son was about 5.
Thanks for all of above... passing it to Mrs Eyepic for approval.
We live 2.5 hours away from furure grand sprog... her parents 20 mins away from them, so much of the heavy lifting would be picked up by them I assume.
but some great help with ideas folks.
Our son (a soliciter)... yep Typo thankfully.
We got a million of those jellybean soft toys and loads of newborn clothes so avoid both i’d say.
bath thermometer simple but very useful! Books - what about Beatrix potter collection? My Parents in law bought our little one the box set - I’ve loved reading to him since he was dinky, and these bring back memories from my childhood (so probably more about me than him!!).
Standing order into a savings account? I do that for my nephews as they’ve loads of aunties / uncles and never short of toys for birthday / Christmas. Soon adds up and they’ll get it when they’re old enough to do something sensible with it (I might end up leaving it to the middle nephew in my will at this rate!).
Ewan the dream sheep.
Cold hard cash Grandad 👍
Honestly?
Having done it myself, albeit 5 years ago, the one thing I can suggest is to just ask.
I understand right now they might be out of their minds and you won't get an answer so don't expect one and make it clear you don't but it's better than another *thing* that will sit about and get used once if at all.
In all honesty???……. They want Space and Time.
Space to make mistakes and learn how to be the type of parents THEY want to be. Space from well meaning family members who turn up at all sorts of inconvienient times “just to see the baby” and enough space to be able to make their own decisions without someone going “well im just trying to help.”
And Time….. Time to enjoy being a parent without being reminded of how tough it was “back in the day.”
The biggest gift my folks could have given us would have simply to say… “We are here for you.”
That. By all means ask if they want help (usually that means seeing as much of the babay as you like whilst one or other parent gets a nap or out the house for an hour) but make sure it's convenient for them. And no, nobody likes being told they are doing it "wrong".
You can never have too many meals in the freezer when they're small, make a massive stew / curry etc and tupperware a load of two person portions for the freezer.
Our copy of Each Peach Pear Plum has also been a hit with both of our mini people.
Our little girl is 1 on Wednesday.. where did that year go??
One of the most useful presents we got was this:
We used it in the cot and the pram.
A pile of good meals in the freezer.
Ewan the dream sheep (google it).
A quality travel cot. Can be used as a prison downstairs day to day and as a cot when they go away... We've used ours loads.
Anti-depressants lol
Meals that can be whipped out of the freezer & cooked - 2 weeks worth would be good. 4 weeks even better, although storage might be an issue.
If breastfeeding doesn't work out, a Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine is worth it's weight in soiled nappies!
5 hours in and no powerkite? This place has gone to shit.
P O W E R K I T E !
AA cover?????????????
WTAF.
These guys are so middle class they'll have a paid for bank account that includes annual travel insurance and breakdown cover. Obvs.
Travel cot = good, as does backpack carrier.
If bottle feeding get a tommy tippy bottle warmer, milk maker, steriliser thing. The bed wetters on the forum will recoil in shock but they are ace.
Dad to a happy 1 and 4 year old btw.
Ewan the sheep. Best present for little uns and their parents. Really helps them sleep. we got bought one and then bought any friend/ family having a baby one, they all did the same.
They need rest, recovery time and ready cooked meals! Practical help trumps presents.
And it’s a few years now, but buy a good maclaren buggy for them. Perfect design never dates.
Mini-Batfink is about to turn 2, and the second one is on the way!
You can certainly make do without them, but practical things we found to be of disproportionate value were:
Ubbi "smell-proof" nappy bin. Seems like a lot of money for a bin, but its one of the best bits of kits we've bought - it's 100% sealed, so doesn't smell at all.
Feeding pillow https://ergobaby.co.uk/nursing-pillows/natural-curve-nursing-pillow-heathered-grey-cover-2 Useful whether you are breast or bottle feeding. At 3am when your arm had gone to sleep but you are terrified to move, you'll wish you had one.
Travel-cot is a good call - useful for naps downstairs during the day. Get an extra decent mattress for it though.
I'm going to buck the trend and say that the Tommee Tippee perfect prep machine didn't work for us for a number of reasons. Anyway, I would steer away from feeding-related gifts
I think I would be tempted to get something that will still be around in 20 years - a picture for the nursery, a book with a written message, something like that.
Looking back on the first few months/year - the practical stuff is all very helpful in the moment, but the time goes so quickly, that before you know it the feeding pillow is gathering dust in the bottom of the wardrobe, and the mountain of baby-grows have been passed-on to somebody else.
Nothing wrong with getting a practical present, but get something thats going to be a more permanent reminder of their grandparents too.
Middle class you say .....
Nursing rocker
Bumbo
A baby sling
A lambskin fleece (actual really good)
or the wood burning, coffee making Audi ..... Sophie La Girafe
Many congrats
Good luck
Anyway, I would steer away from feeding-related gifts
Agreed, feeding is a very personal choice and can be very emotive for some if it can't/won't work or you they are being made to feel that their choice is wrong.
Frozen meals have been suggested lots, I hope you know whether they have a large freezer or not!
Sleep related gifts might be a good shout. We made do with neither a Ewan the Sheep (we got a white noise app for a spare phone) nor a SleepyHead type thing, buy have heard good/ok things about both. The issue is that they can seem like a lot of money to gamble for tight-fisted new parents!
Small, practical gifts, maybe a couple of pairs of sock-ons or mocc style slippers?
A card book? The Emma Dodd ones are very sweet, as is Ten Little Fingers or - a current favourite for our 16-month old.
I think clothing is a good call. We have been lucky with all our kids because my wife has quite a large family, most of whom had children before us, so we got lots of baby essentials such as vests, baby grows, etc, handed down. But if you have to buy them new, they're expensive, so a stack of this sort of stuff could be a big help. Worth asking the parents-to-be what they have first, though, so you don't double up! The other clothing option is a "nice" outfit or so (works better if you know what gender the child will be), for those events where you'd like the baby to look extra cute.
I would also second gifts of food. Just lots of food, fresh and freezer stuff. Treat-type food is ace (I'm sure our marriage (and certainly sanity) was once saved by the timely consumption of a home-made crumble from my Mother in law at around midnight during the general blur that was our second daughter's early days), but also healthy 'proper food' that will keep them going.
I've found that "baby stuff" is quite difficult to gauge. One family's essential tool is another's unused load of clutter, and it's hard to predict ahead of time which it'll be. Some kids have trouble with sleeping, so sleep related stuff is a life-saver. Others sleep really well. You don't know until they get here. So possibly, boring as it sounds, vouchers for somewhere like John Lewis would be an option.
"Ewan the dream sheep" +1!
Other stuff that helped ours sleep:
- one of those disco lights which make rotating patterns on the ceiling! Our little one loved it. Great before bedtime.
- musical cot mobile that plays lullabies
An afternoon of baby sitting + spa session for Mum (and dad too maybe?)
A Bumbo.