That's why it can be tough to get an invitation to a new baby shower, or to be included in a christening, and feel like you are forced to go out and drop a bundle on someone else's new little bundle.
Thankfully, there are great sites out there that package together beautiful and/or much needed items in cute baskets, with personalized messages or adorable packaging.
Instead of paying for the gift and then shelling out more money for cards and wrapping-then finding time to get to the post office and pay to mail the present, if the recipient isn't local-these sites make it easy.
With unique baby gifts, fresh ideas, and items targeted as "baby girl gifts", "baby boy gifts", and then gender-neutral ideas, they are perfect to peruse for wonderful bargains and ideas-they've done the legwork for you.
I recently found myself five months behind in getting a gift for a girl who had worked for me.
Making me feel even worse, her new baby was in the hospital for two months prior to coming home; this little blessing was doing much better, and home healthy with mom and dad, but "Get baby gift" had remained top of my to-do list for some time without it actually getting checked off! I wanted to find something truly special, something to mark the momentous occasion of his special birth and to recognize what both he and his parents had gone through.
I couldn't commit to anything I saw in stores, and I was so happy to find a site that offered a variety of choices that seemed quite "grand"-but for prices I found extremely reasonable.
Because the site pulled together a number of items in one basket, they took the hard work out and made a new baby gift that I felt was really special.
One more idea for a great gift on a budget, especially if the baby is local, is to consider a small keepsake item like a favorite book that was special to you or your child, and give it accompanied with a coupon (or set of coupons) for babysitting.
For laundry sorting.
For a grocery store run.
And those coupons should have no expiration date! Especially for new moms, these offers to help-especially if they are "enforced"-can make all the difference once she's two months in, exhausted, and needing a few minutes of her own! Girlfriends can even team up to have one spend several hours with the baby while another takes the new mom for a manicure, for a coffee, or for a glass of wine.
This time, donated by friends, is "cheap" to provide but can make all the difference to new parents...
or even to old parents.