Dear Lee — Baby Shower

Dear Lee, One of my college friends is expecting her first baby.  She's the first of my friends to have a baby and her baby shower is at the end of this month, but I'm not quite sure what I should get her.  I want to get her something nice but also something that she will use.  Do you have any ideas?

Thank you!

Katie

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Hi Katie,

Thank you for writing!  I can certainly help with this.  When I was planning my baby shower, I created several registries to help family and friends with ideas of what we needed for Baby Clark.  For the most part, people followed along the lines of what we registered for, which is lovely.  However, looking back, I realize that some of the things I registered for were not terribly useful.  If you want to get your friend something nice and useful, here are my suggestions.

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A basket filled with bath time items like baby soap, a bath toy, a hooded towel, and wash cloths. Or a nice baby bath.

A bed time themed basket of board books with a going to bed theme, swaddle blankets/swaddle sleeper, a snuggly toy, a nightlight (maybe one of the most useful gifts we received), and a white noise machine (I SWEAR by this).

For play time I like a soft blanket, some teething toys, interactive books, and also a baby gym.

A diaper bag, in a style that suits your friend, filled with diapers, wipes, a changing pad, a teething toy, an interactive toy, and burp cloths.

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These are just some ideas, I don't know how much you'd like to spend on your friend.  I've linked all of the items that I use and love above but those are my preferences.  Above all, I would say, any of these items are useful, in any combination.  An aunt of my husband's sent us a set of Margaret Wise Brown board books and they basically saved my life so really the gift doesn't have to be large or expensive to be useful or well-loved.