The Top 5 Worst Baby Shower Gifts

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I've been trying to steer you toward awesome choices for baby shower presents for expecting friends (aside from Rockabye Baby! CDs) for a very good reason— I've been on the other side of the coin. Here are five of the absolute worst things that you can get expecting parents.
  1. Age 0-3 Month Onesies. Yes, these are the smallest size clothes available for kids. No, your kid will never wear them. Ever. Why? Because they're too damned small. Doting relatives will purchase them because they are just so cute and tiny, and they will sit, gathering dust, in the back of your closet until you throw them away.
  2. Baby High Heels. Okay, this is just demented. These are soft-bottomed baby shoes with little fake plush stiletto heels stuck on the back. How many bad messages do these things broadcast? And why would you buy something that would make it even harder for a baby to stand up?
  3. Pee-Pee Teepees. Yes, baby boys make urine, and yes, it sprays all over Creation. But this gag gift, a small cone that rests atop the willy when you're changing the diaper to catch the splash before it hits your face, actually does more harm than good - instead of arcing in a spray that you can catch with a diaper (which you should have handy), it ricochets off of the nosecone and drenches everything in its vicinity. Poor trade-off.
  4. Baby Wipe Warmer. Seriously, people? You can just hold them in between your hands and warm them up in a minute or so. Instead, some idiots buy (or gift) a device that uses electricity to heat your wipes so they won't shock a tender bum. Unsurprisingly, many of them were recalled for safety reasons.
  5. Soft Toys. Every little one needs a cuddle buddy, but to be quite frank, what they pick is going to be absolutely inscrutable to even the most plugged-in parent. By filling a young baby's room with stuffed animals and other soft toys, you just clutter up your living space with stuff that they probably won't form any kind of emotional bond with. And without that bond, they're just funny-smelling, ungainly pillows.

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Comments

  • A lot of response in re: the wee onesies. I have to say, not one parent we know (and we know a LOT of parents) used them, but I guess you’re out there.

    K. Thor Jensen on

  • heated baby wipe warmer.. thats just dumb.. hell 90% of the stuff people are convinced they need * for a baby, they really dont. I feel bad for the parents that insist on carrying everything they own over to Gramma’s house for a half hour visit, convinced their kid might need it. give them a peice of paper from an old newspaper and they can be happy for hours. My son just turned 1 year on the 10th, and we didnt get hardly any of the so-called *must haves. and he it a super happy kid who has been walking and talking for a few months now.Heck, I dont even own a real diaper bag. I found my old whinne the pooh back pack in the attic, and washed it :D Oh… and if your little hiney was wrapped up in a thick layer of cotton batting then had 2 layers of clothes on it..and was sometimes wet… wouldnt a nice cool cleansing cloth feel pretty nice?

    Lydia on

  • I don’t agree with number one. My 7lb 6oz baby had to be in preemie stuff the first month or so of her life… all the 0-3 month onesies were WAY Too big.

    Michelle on

  • I really do agree with you. I’d also recommend adding “Anything the couple has asked you NOT to get”. It sounds silly to remind people of that, but here’s my story:

    Sad to say when we were expecting our first, a friend of ours had the whole nursery ready (they had been trying for a while so they searched everywhere for things on sale), including clothes for the first year, and not only did she miscarry she had to have a hysterectomy as well. So she had a lot of clothes just sitting around and she gave them to us. In addition to things we had already got on sale or came with a few maternity outfits, we were set on clothes but needed things like a diaper pail, baby brush and comb, etc., and we explained to our friends and family that we do not need any clothes (and we did have a registry set up and we let people know how to find it). What did we get at the shower? A ton of clothes. And a rocking chair from my mother-in-law who watched us put together a rocking chair months before the shower. Keep in mind I was giving birth the next week one way or another, so having to run around getting things exchanged in hopes we are given atleast credit to get the practical things we NEEDED (the Cracker Barrel rocker was a massive pain to haul around in winter in our tiny Accord), then as people asked about their gifts having to either lie or explain why we took it back wasn’t fun either. (We were barely making ends meet due to all the bills and medication that can come with a high-risk pregnancy, so in order to be sure we were prepared for our child, the money to get necessary things had to come from somewhere.) Guess who got hospitalized just days after the shower stressed from trying to get everything together (high blood pressure just added to the complications of my pregnancy)?

    I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but if you are going to give a gift, make sure it is something they need, and if you’re not sure, a gift card is great – it doesn’t clutter and they don’t have to hunt you down for a receipt and stand in line at 8.5 months pregnant waiting for customer service to make a return.

    Thanks for letting me rant.

    Mama C on

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    I Own All of These Things | DADWAGON on

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