I have a friend who is pregnant. I am making up a gift for her. Instead of one gift, I am piling in things I have got for free/very reduced with coupons..or very reduced on clearance. I have so far:

full size bottle of Huggies baby shampoo

travel size pack of baby wipes by Huggies

pair of Robeez shoes I got on clearance

free sample of Huggies diaper I got from walmart dot com

free samples of huggies lotion and baby wash..also from walmart dot com

She is not due until this fall..so I will keep adding into the package. I am thinking of a bib or two, and a blanket...

would you think it is tacky to get a package like this ?

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Live, Love, Laugh

This is a great idea and I've done the same thing on many occasions for bridal showers, too. Get a cheap basket (meaning price, not quality) and use the baby blanket as a liner. Keep throwing in the samples or bargains and your friend will be forever grateful.

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I want to keep ALL of my paycheck and eliminate the pyramid scheme known as Social Security (there is no lockbox ). Do you want the same thing? www.fairtax.org

I think it's a great gift and one that I do if the shower is local (shipping would be prohibitive). The parents are always pleased to get "staples" of diapers, lotion, wipes, shampoo, wash, etc. It frees up their budget to get other things they prefer to have.

The one thing I make sure of is to stay with a theme. With with what you have listed, I wouldn't necessarily put the shoes in, I might tie them to the ribbon as a package adornment.

I would continue to gather baby care items for the gift itself. Depending on the amount of what you give, consider a laundry basket or cute storage bin instead of a wrapped box.


dl

I think it's a great idea too..........I like the idea of a nice laundry basket, or even one of the nice box like storage baskets.

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Nicole

Thanks for your thoughts. Hey, how about I put it in a plastic baby bath tub ? Those are pretty inexpensive !

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Live, Love, Laugh

That's a good idea....I think use of the baby tubs is a personal preference thing, I never liked 'em, but I had them for the older kids to pretend to give their babies baths while I was bathing one of the younger ones......Maybe throw a few things in for Mom, not just baby stuff?

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Nicole

Have you thought about putting these items in an inexpensive backpack? The backpack then becomes their "sick bag" and it always stays in the vehicle until it's needed.


I keep one for each of my children in our van. Each bag contains:

Change of clean clothes (including socks & underwear)

Wipes

Bottle of water to help little ones rinse out their mouth or it might be necessary for cleanups (remember to rotate the bottles regularly)

An old sheet (to cover a messy seat or stand/put little ones on if you have to strip'em down and clean'em up when you're out and about)

Garbage bag to hold the dirty stuff.

Hand sanitizer


These are so handy to have because you don't have to dig thru the diaper bag and sort thru items you don't need. Only the necessary items are at your fingertips. If another adult or older child is with you, all you say is, "Get the sick bag!" It's been a lifesaver for us on more than one occasion and everybody knows where it's at.

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I want to keep ALL of my paycheck and eliminate the pyramid scheme known as Social Security (there is no lockbox ). Do you want the same thing? www.fairtax.org

After my son outgrew his baby bath, I used it to bath my puppy .

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Live, Love, Laugh

I think you basket sounds great - all the sample things will go well for a diaper bag. I would not get a baby bath. I have seen so many at garage sales. Most babies grow out of it quickly and it is so easy to just clean your kitchen sink well and use it for a baby-bath-tub.

You could get a basket with a baby-theme cloth insert that mom could use to hold stuff for the changing table, or use a baby blanket as deerekid suggested.

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Mary

Sounds like a great idea. I did two baskets like this when we had a double baby shower. They looked pretty impressive and were jam-packed. One of my neighbors (who knows how cheap I am) said, "Wow, you spent a lot of $." Nope, not really....

This is a great idea! I bathed my daughter in a baby bath until she was a year old. She was tall for her age and it worked fine. I like the idea of putting all the items in a bag for the car.

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Tracey

The baby bath is kind of tricky - if she is registered for one then that's probably the ONLY one she will need. AND those are almost always bought off the registry (cause they are fun and easy). But as for all the rest. I say try to get samples of a lot of different brands. If she is a new mom she may not know for sure what brands she will like and what brands will be good for baby (I have allengy skin kiddos). Also sometimes certain brands are not good smelling (personal opinion) or don't work well with her type of water (like hard vs soft water). And, I just LOVE huggies wipes but HATE pampers wipes - don't know why. Yuo can also (if it is still a little time away) sign up for formula samples (put the "due date" earlier than the shower). I know some will flame for that but if she IS going to formula feed (which I recommend breastfeeding) then the samples and coupons are nice. Also, don't forget some fun stuff for Daddy in there. I made up a "bath set" of different bath stuff and gave to "Daddy" and told him it was so he could give the bath and give Mommy a break. Also if she is a first time Mom you can put little "directions" on some of the stuff. Like if you get samples of diaper creams then put a little note on the one you liked the best or one that you know is easy to get off your fingers - say "keep this one in the diaper bag because it has the quickest clean up time". Oh and if you just put it all in a regular basket, or a laundry type basket (they have those small round ones at Dollar Tree) or even in a trash can with a lid (those are great for diapers - better than genie type pails). And of course all the coupons you get put them in there too. I say sounds good and something a new mommy would like - and probably gonna be pretty expensive (value wise) so don't worry about looking cheap.

Go to google and type free baby items and sign up for everything ! That way you will have a lot to add to your collection and also add a disposable camera for those "I wish I had a camera" moments. Enfamil has a good program to join and they give a lot and usually a diaper bag too.

I think these are fantastic!! I got one at my shower, and I truly was glad to have it. The more freebies the better! I'm with the other poster. sign up for all of them!!

Couple of thoughts....

We weren't fans of the baby bathtubs despite receiving a couple of them as gifts. Our boys bathed in the kitchen sink for the first year or so. We have a double sink with one shallow and one very deep basin....really nice to not have to stoop over the tub. We did find a need for bright colored plastic tubs or containers for toys that we didn't have pre-baby - so something like that might make a good "basket" for this kind of gift.

Depending on how close the mom-to-be is and how often you see her, it might be nice to gift her with little goody bags and baskets of freebies throughout her pregnancy.....that might be a real special treat for her whereas at the shower she'll be getting many gifts.....just a thought...

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I think this is a great idea and would make a perfect shower gift.