Building My Own Shower Gift Basket

I love the baskets you can get at Michaels they are usually 40% off. I like the ones with handles. You can carry them easier. I always enjoyed the hooded towels the best. My kids still LOVE them and they can use them for years! It sounds like you have some great useful ideas. Please be very careful when buying baby skin care products. 98% of them are full of mineral oil and petroleum and chemicals. All of these are very harmful. I am a mom of 2 and I am a cosmetologist. I am sure you will do a great job! Jenn K

M.,

I think baskets are a great idea. The most useful gifts I got were packages of cloth diapers, to be used as burp cloths and travel packages of baby wipes. My kids are much older now, but I still carry those.

I received a few as well at my shower (loved them) my girlfriend gave me a bottle of Dreft laundry detergent, burb cloths, a blanket, a little dress and many small things. I think if you go to Walmart you can get a cute outfit real inexpensive or if live near Ikea they have real cute toys. I would put the large items (diapers,wipes) on the bottom and build the small cute things on top. With all the items you bought I really don't think it could look cheap!!

PIZZA CUTTER!! Works great for cutting up toddle size bites, and double for all those lazy new mom frozen pizza nights. I have at least 4 in my house. I use it on grilled cheese, pizza, pancakes, strips of lunch meat, you get the idea.
One more thing I found usefull was a dryerase board, to keep track of what time you did what, lets face it when you only get 4 hours sleep a night you need some help remembering things, it is also great for when dad askes when did you feed her last, you can say go look at the board, and when you have well baby visits you will have a better idea of how much and how often the baby eats and poo's.

Hi M. - For my shower I received a baby tub filled with all the bath things I needed - sounds like you have thought of a lot of those things already - just put them in a little baby tub with some baby wash, lotion, etc. and you have a very nice theme gift which is neat. You can get the tub, lay out a hooded towel to sort of make a "nest" for the items, add nicely rolled washclothes, bath items, toys, etc. L. W.

A feeder bottle would be a great gift. I know you can get them at Babys R Us and I know you use to be able to get them at KMart and Meijer. They are made by Sassy and you put baby food in them and the baby sucks it out. VERY useful. I loved them when I had my triplets. Here is the link for them on the Sassy website.
http://www.sassybaby.com/category?cattype=category&ca...

Oh yeah, and a pack of cloth diapers for spit up rags. I went thru those like you wouldnt believe with 3.

I like to go buy flannel and make my own burp clothes. You can pick much cuter designs and they are very soft after a few washes. Also, don't forget to pamper mom! You could put in a few of their favorite things as well as some lotions, etc. Everyone always thinks of baby and it's nice to have a few things back for mommy to pmper herself too.
C.

M., the best idea I ever saw at a shower was either using a basket or a gift bag, buying a few outfits and attaching them to clothes pins on a rope so she pulls them out on the string one at a time, it was really cool i thought, but other baby products that you could get would be maybe some socks, oneies, thermometer, pack of newborn diapers, spoons, baby food in jars, also they now make formula in little single serving pouches those are great for on the go, pacifiers, a cute stuffed animal, maybe something with the baby's name on it if they have a name picked out, a trinket to put baby's first hair cut and tooth into, hope these are helpful

One thing I suggest is diaper wipes rather than diapers to keep the cost down....and instead of Dreft laundry detergent..ALL makes a soap for babies that is just as good and A LOT cheaper than Dreft..I use it and it smells great and keeps my daughters clothes soft as can be...also bowls with lids...if she will be formula feeding a container that you can use to put it in premeasured in the diaper bag (I have one by munchkins and its great)...also if shes bottle feeding bottles and extra nipples....

How about a gift certificate for a free night of babysitting or a cooked meal?

I had gotten one of these at my babyshower and she used a laundry basket and filled it with stuff. One of the things in there was a little white hamper for the babys room. I loved that gift, she had lots of goodies in there!! Have fun!!