You have been invited to some mom-to-be’s baby shower and you decide that you want to buy her a gift that she will not already have, that no-one else will be getting her and that she would not get herself. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a personalized baby gift.
Personalized gifts are in the same category as any other gift you would buy but they are customizable. Usually it involves embroidery, etching or some form of permanent marking and you choosing what you want it to say. The common items that are sold as personalized baby gifts are:
- Pillows
- Clothing
- Bracelets
- Blankets
- Teddy bears
- Cups
- Dishes
- Photo frames
- Books
Anything is able to be personalized with the right amount of work, effort and price. You can even have their name etched onto their crib if you really wanted to. The old saying about how it is not the gift that counts but the thought that went into it. This will show that you really did think about the gift and did not just pick something up off the shelf, wrap it and hope that is was right. This shows that you thought about who it was for, what they may like, and that you wanted to make it special for them.
Depending on what kind of gift you get, you may only have a name put on it or you may have room for more details. Commonly seen personalization for gifts which have a larger surface to customize are:
- Name
- Birthdate
- Time of Birth
- Birth weight
- Poems
- Quotes
- Pictures of the child
- Pictures of the child’s hand/foot print
Depending again on the size you may or may not have room for all of that or any of it save for the name. With larger items such as personalized plates, blankets, pillows and wall hangings, you can put a lot of data onto the item and you can have quite a bit of fun with all the options that are available in that.
The other reason for personalizing items is a more practical reason. When the child starts daycare, the daycare will usually request a personal item be sent with the child and to mark it clearly. If the child has a favorite blanket, taking a permanent marker to that blanket will not only ruin the look of it, but the child may become very upset for you damaging their precious comfort item. By having the name embroidered on the item, it states very clearly who it belongs to.
By personalizing an item, it has a much higher chance of becoming a keepsake for that child. A piece of their childhood they can look back on once they are older and perhaps have families of their own to share with.
Parents to be will love these gifts as well because it shows how, like them, you recognize their child as being special and unique and worth the extra time and thought. If the child has not already been born and you do not know all the details you are wanting put on the gift you can try one of these options:
- Give them the gift with the information that you will be collecting it to be personalized.
- Give them the gift and let them know where they can take it to be personalized when they know what they want on it. Have arrangements with the store so that it is either prepaid or that they will bill you for it once the parents bring it in.
- Show them the gift and explain it needs to be personalized still and you will return it once it has been done.
- Show them a picture of the gift you are going to get, you can even let them choose from teddy bear A or teddy bear B if they would like.
Buying a personalized gift is fairly easy. Usually it is easiest to find a specialty store that both carries the item and will personalize on site. Another option would be to purchase the item and take it to an embroidery shop; this option may be the most cost effective yet make sure that they know how to work with the material of the gift as there is nothing worse than a poor embroidery job.
The most convenient place to buy a personalized baby gift is specialty stores on the internet. There are hundreds of these stores and they can do it all and have it shipped directly to your door eliminating the crowds, walking and searching for that perfect gift.
Regardless of what gift you end up getting, it will be loved and cherished by the parents and the child for years to come making it an ideal baby gift for the shower.