Going to a baby shower soon? While most people have registries, sometimes it’s fun to go rogue and buy something unexpected.

Gifts for the New baby

When we had Corrie’s baby shower one of my favorite gifts was a big basket full of bath time necessities. Fun to open, useful, and wrapped so cute. Here are a few ideas with that theme in mind:

Gift Basket Ideas

You can use any basket you’d like for these, I really liked getting this plastic one from Walmart because we now store all of her bath toys in it. If you’re looking for something a little fancier, I put together a post with some basket ideas.

Bath Time Basket
This one is so fun. You can include washcloths, a cute gender-specific hooded towel, soap, bath toys, diapers (always diapers) jammies, and lotion. If you want some inspo, check out this post.

Essentials Basket
This is fun because if you’re a mom, “essential” means something different to everyone. Some ideas would be burp rags, gas drops, Tylenol, a cute personalized necklace for mama, some pacifiers, always diapers, swaddles, a baby carrier, some fun toys, etc. Here’s some inspo if you need it!

Book Basket
Ah, so many book options out there. Why not gather a few of your faves and give them as a starter pack for the new nugget? I’ve found you cannot have enough books, and Corrie is only 1! Here are some ideas if you need them.

First Foods Basket
While I wouldn’t recommend including any actual food in this basket since it’ll be a while before the new babe needs it, you could include things like baby spoons, bibs (we LOVE these), bowls that suction to the high chair, a high chair if you’re feeling crazy, containers to hold formula on the go or small containers for Cheerios. You could even add a gift card with a note saying it’s for baby’s first foods!

If you’re looking for a high chair, this one is on the spendy side but it’s great quality, completely washable, and it can transition as the baby gets older. We love ours.

Diaper Changing Station
Your new mama friend is going to be spending a LOT of time changing diapers. Why not help her do it in style? Include a cute basket to hold everything on the changing table, butt paste, this handy butt paste applier, a pack or three of diapers, and anything else you think would come in handy!

Clothing Necessities
Just based on my own experience, I’d recommend buying clothes for the new baby in sizes above 6 months. I went a little crazy buying newborn clothes and found I already had more than I needed, whereas I could’ve used some ahead of time in bigger sizes.

Gifts for the baby mama

I had an awesome conversation with some moms and I wanted to share a few ideas I think could really bless the baby mamas in your life.

• Money towards a postpartum doula

• Gift cards to her favorite take-out restaurant or coffee shop

• A deep-clean of her home before baby comes (or while she’s in the hospital)

• Babysitting services for the other children

• A pre-natal massage

• Mani-pedi

• Freezer meals

• A set time to come after the baby is born so she can take a nap or a shower or both

• Surprise her with a bouquet of flowers after baby is born

• This sleeping course. Pure gold. It helped us get Corrie sleeping through the night by about 12 weeks and she’s still such a good sleeper.

What other ideas do you have? What was your favorite baby shower gift you ever received?