It's Spring!
Everywhere I Look, Folks Are Announcing Pregnancies!
Babies, Babies, Everywhere!
Here Are Some Of My Ideas For Frugal and Maybe Untraditional But Awesome Gifts
*Especially Good Ideas For When It Is Not a First Child.. What do You Gift When There are Plenty of Hand Me Downs?
It seems like every time I turn around these days, a friend or family member is announcing a bundle of joy on the way! Guess Spring is that time of year! The time for babies. On a budget? Want to give thoughtful gifts that might not be what you would view as a traditional baby gift? I have a few ideas!
1. Drugstore deals for Diapers can be plentiful. You can get a pack of diapers for $6 pretty easily if you clip a coupon and find a sale. BUT! Don't buy Newborn. Some babies wont finish a full pack of Newborn sized diapers before they outgrow them, and the hospital might provide enough of this size.
2. Give a Pizza or other deliverable food Certificate. The new parents will LOVE not having to worry about a meal or two!
3. This sounds odd, but gift paper plates. I find these on clearance all the time (usually after a holiday or season) for about 35c a pack. (I love Target!) I have a cabinet full of paper plates and napkins of various designs, styles, etc. No one wants to do dishes when they have a newborn to cuddle! I never accepted offers of friends who wanted to come clean my house for me when I had a newborn. I am not sure why, but I didn't. A few packs of paper plates to keep the sink clean from the start? That I accepted!
4. Does the new baby have older siblings? Gift the parents with things that will keep these kids busy! Cheap Dvds $5 or under, activity sets, books, etc.
5. CALL the new parents and offer to pick up siblings for a special outing.. library time, trip to the park or movies, whatever.
6. Drop off food. Don't stay, just drop off food and leave. (Unless profusely invited in...) Call and ask if they have freezer space. Then you can make meals and freeze them. Now, the parents have easy to defrost and heat up meals that are more nutritional than microwave meals!
7. Gift the new parents with a gift certificate for a lawn service. Even being able to call in just once to get the yard mowed could really be a big help!
8. Consider paying for a month of Netflix or such for the new parents. They will be tired and enjoy a diversion where they can stay in jammies!
9. Always scope out the clearance areas in baby sections of stores. (yes, you can use coupons too!)
10. Dry Cleaning Certificate.. again, not having to do laundry would be nice.
11. Maid Service Certificate... ditto.
12. Are you good friends with the parents? Why not make them a mix cd/mp3 album of their favorite music that might be baby friendly too? They can play soothing music for the baby, and enjoy their favorite groups at the same time. This is much easier to listen to when you are sleep deprived than the standard baby music fare. Just pick their favorite groups and find the "calm" songs and put them all on one album. Even Mike Doughty has some soothing music!
13. Gift them with a Shutterfly.com certificate or some other Portrait Studio certificate.
14. Start a mail campaign. Send the new parents a card (anonymously or otherwise) every week. Make it funny. Or cute. Stuff about new parenthood and babies and sleep deprivation, whatever. Give their spirits a lift, make them chuckle, or be inspirational. Having a new baby is wonderful and difficult at the same time.
15. Gift a Diaper Wreath, or a a lovely flower wreath for the hospital door. Or, instead of flowers, consider sending a baby sock rose bouquet! This is lovely and practical! Diaper cakes rock, too! Full of useful items. You can find items like this on a budget going through Ebay, or checking out La Petite Pidge on Facebook. La Petite Pidge will custom make items according to budget needs. (lapetitepidge@gmail.com also)
Keep an eye on Groupon and Living Social for deals where you can get service certificates cheaply.
Consider going in with another friend or two to buy the couple something they really might want or need for the new baby.
The main thing is to be creative and frugal. That $20 outfit might be just adorable.. but the baby might wear it once, spit up on it, and ruin it. Plus, I kind of loved picking out most of my kids' clothes. Mainly because as soon as I knew what I was having, I would start looking for sales and stock up. Baby clothes as gifst are lovely, don't get me wrong. But if you already have 20 onesies in that size, and your baby hits a growth spurt, you might not get $20 worth of wear out of the thoughtful and lovely gift. $20 on a gift card to Starbucks? That is a thoughtful gift that keeps on giving! New parents need coffee and might not splurge on Starbucks for themselves if they are knee deep in paying for other needs like Pampers, etc.
If someone would have brought me a pack of paper plates, juice boxes, fruit snacks, crayons, coloring books, a Dvd or two, and a certificate for a FREE PIZZA, I would have flipped my lid and been soo excited. My kids would have been entertained, I would not have had to worry about dishes, snacks or dinner! THAT is a frugal and AWESOME gift you can coupon for. You could easily put together something like this for less than $25! Actually, this is a great idea for my next birthday, too! :)
