View Full Version : Handmade baby & mama gifts
A good friend of mine will be having her first baby in May.
I'd like to make her and/or the baby something, but I'm not sure what! It needs to be genuinely useful. I can't knit, but I am becoming better with a sewing machine. I've made my own 'cosmetics' for a few years now out of beeswax and jojoba/olive/coconut/almond oil, so I was thinking of making cream or something for the baby. I'd really like to sew her something as well though, but the only thing I can think of is bibs... boring, huh??
Any ideas? Thank you!
I made a diaper salve of almond oil infused with calendula, and beeswax. You have to play with the proportions but I find 1T of beeswax to 4-6T of oil to be a firmish consistency. I wanted to use the simplest ingredients possible to avoid potential allergic reactions (or at least to easily pinpoint the suspect ingredient in case there was a reaction).
Originally posted by Mira.
the only thing I can think of is bibs... boring, huhAwww... not at all. (Don't think that). When it comes to all things baby, I have yet to meet a simple, frugal, down-to-earth mom, who doesn't appreciate traditional baby basics, bibs included! :)
A few ideas for you.
Tea Tree Oil spray/mist. (You can jazz-up the outside of the bottle you choose as fancy as you like)! Great for disinfecting, deodorizing, etc. A wonderful gift!
Using existing store bought purchases, you can add cute little baby saying to the items with embroidery.
Saves, lotions, soaps. All can be made easily and cheaply right at home. (Do a search for recipes).
Pincushion. Even if the mom doesn't have plans on using cloth diapers, having a place for a few spare diaper/safety pins will come in super handy for when emergency or alternative fastening is needed. (I babysat for a mom that used diaper pins for fastening disposable diapers when the sticky fastening tapes lost their stick).
Baby bottle cozy. (So cute and adorable).
Crib mobile.
Here is that baby bottle cozy I mentioned, Mira. (Isn't it adorable)!!!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_D4eiuytfgvU/SxXN4NH6kfI/AAAAAAAAAXM/XY-aP4aqmCE/s1600/bottlecozy.jpg
And check out this cute hot air balloon (hang from the ceiling) ornament/mobile and blocks. I don't even have babies and I want them!
http://www.favecraftsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/baby-mobile.jpg
So easy to make using pre-formed styrofoam shapes, then covered with decorative fabric. Design, limited strictly to whatever your imagination holds! Aren't they darling!
flowerseverywhere
2-23-12, 1:51pm
burp cloths and bibs are something my dil uses daily with her little ones. Burp cloths can be made in various small sizes to go over the shoulder, to wipe babies chin etc.
another thing she uses are quilts to go on a couch or floor before laying the baby on them. If you are a beginning sewer you could use that pre-quilted fabric and put a binding on it. They sell pre-packaged binding or you could search the web how to make it.
To add, baby wash cloths. No need to go overboard, six, would serve as being more than enough to start. Comfortable for baby, cheap on the pocketbook, environmentally friendly.
Bastelmutti
2-23-12, 2:23pm
I used to take washcloths and cloth diapers along with some small toys and accessories (spoons, etc.) and make a diaper "cake" something like this:
http://www.nellsnaturalbaby.com/Cloth-Diaper-Cake--Unbleached-Indian-Prefolds_p_529.html
or this
http://www.amazon.com/Ducky-Diaper-Cake-2-Tier/dp/B00194CMB6
Another thing I would have loved to have for my daughters when they were babies, is a pair or two of those cute little ruffled panties that go over diapers. (The ones with the ruffles on the bum/seat). For cloth, the panties would have to be waterproof (or lined to make them waterproof), but with disposables, basic panties/short-bloomers could be turned out. So cute!!!
P.S. One thing you'd have to take into consideration, is the bulk of the diapers, and crotch width. Regular store bought panties would not work, because they wouldn't provide proper/ample coverage, which, esthetically speaking, wouldn't look nice.
Someone made me a hooded baby towel out of an adult-sized bath towel and a hand towel (or maybe a wash cloth?). Anyway, I love it! It is really absorbent and it goes all the way around my baby (keeps her warm). Her store-bought baby towels are thin and flimsy. They are also square and barely fit around her. Poor little thing is freezing until I can get her dressed!
Awww... so cute, Kat! With my kids I used the biggest towels I had on hand, then wrapped the kid up like a mummy! Round and round went the towel, sometimes three times around depending on the size of the child! :laff:
Another idea I was thinking of this morning, baby animal pillows. Playful ones, the kind little ones love to hug and hold and carry around with them everywhere!
My favourite baby gift (and thankfully it's really all people give me at this point) is a meal after the baby is born. With baby #4 I don't think I had to cook for two solid weeks after giving birth. Someone brought a meal every night. Lovely!
I made many baby quilts for family and friends when we were in that stage of life. Now, most of my friends have school-aged kids and are not adding to their families. Anyway, I usually asked the parents-to-be if they had particular colors they wanted, and then I worked with what I found in gender-neutral or gender-appropriate (depending on the situation) fabrics that I really loved. (My favorite part of sewing is picking out the fabrics.)
Baby quilts are very doable, compared to say, a queen-sized quilt, which I have only once tackled (and did not finish). I generally made them slightly larger than baby blankets you would buy, so that they would be usable as a throw for many years.
Miss Cellane
2-24-12, 10:48pm
Another idea I was thinking of this morning, baby animal pillows. Playful ones, the kind little ones love to hug and hold and carry around with them everywhere!
Oh, that reminds me of a pattern I found when my niece was just a baby. It was a pillow cover for a regular standard size sleeping pillow, but you could make a ladybug or a frog or a couple of other animals. Easy to make, easy to wash and when the inevitable happens and the pillow gets soaked or thrown up on or whatever, easy to replace the stuffing.
But I have to admit my standard new mom gift is a meal for the freezer (even though I think a lot of them get eaten the day I bring them over).
How cute, Miss Cellane! Ease and simplicity, are definitely the two most important things when it comes to raising little ones. If it can't be stripped and run through the washing machine, it isn't worth having.
Rosemary. The homemade baby quilt gift idea is wonderful, but wow, that's a lot of work. I'm always amazed over the generous and giving and energetic side of so many here.
Stella. It's funny, with my first two, I was thrilled getting traditional, economical things (from family and friends) for baby, but knowing what I know now, I'd be happy to get a few meals made for me, and someone to hold and rock the new baby for me during those times when that washed-out, worn-out, and exhausted feeling takes over.
In the uber-frugal department, how about making up a few "free-cards" (same size as playing cards), and on each card offer something different. Like, "two free nights babysitting", or, "three free diaper changes", that sort of thing. Keep it fun, and make sure you add the word "free" to whatever you are offering.
You could decorate the cards with coloured markers, and if you want to get ultra creative, punch two small holes near the top of each card and bind all the cards together using a diaper pin! What a fun and unique gift it would be!
I've always made quilts also. Baby quilts are nice because I can just use up some of my scraps to make them since they aren't very big. People seem to ooh and ahh over them too. There's a big wow factor and they don't take that much time to make.
Blackdog Lin
2-29-12, 9:04pm
28 years ago (my gosh, it's been that long?!!!) my absolute favorite baby gift I was given was from a artsy-craftsy friend who purchased a common photo album (are photo albums too quaint or old-fashioned these days?) and made a quilted gingham (in blue, for the boy) cover for it, outlined in cotton lace. I thought it was so perfect and adorable that into it went only our "best" photos from our first year, because to me it was too precious and adorable a photo album to put anything but the best photos into it.
Today, all these years later, if I get in the mood to look at the old baby pictures that album is still the one I pull down first. Might this be an idea?
Many many thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions!! I will let you know what I eventually decide to do. I'd better make a start though... not long to go!
I really wish she lived closer to me (various convoluted bus routes to get to her house) so I could help out more if she needed it. It's times like this that I wish I were a more experienced/confident driver.
So antsy and excited I am, just thinking about what you might make, Mira!
^ Hehe I like this transatlantic virtual empathy! ;)
I just saw her tonight and I think she's definitely in need of some gifts for HER and not just the baba, so I'm certainly going to include some freezable meals and and 'coupons' like you mentioned Mrs-M! Still contemplating baby gifts... need to get practising on that sewing machine...
It's refreshing coming across someone like yourself, Mira, who is looking at breathing new life back into traditional giving. No matter what you end up deciding on, I'm sure it will be a hit.
I was also thinking of a pair of cute and colourful baby socks, with potpourri inside. Pretty ribbon could be used to decorate. In addition, pipe-cleaners could be used to shape the socks to provide more of a dramatic effect.
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