Skip the Registry! (A Baby Shower Gift Idea)

Somehow, by the time I got to shop for my niece's baby shower, almost all of her registry items had been purchased!  She has 15 siblings, and a rather large extended family, so I shouldn't have been surprised, I guess. Anyway, I went all "renegade" and bought stuff that wasn't on the registry.  Dangerous, you say?

Well, there are two things that I KNOW:

• In big part, a new mom-to-be doesn't have a clue about HALF of the stuff she will need.  How do I know this?  From personal experience!  I was a new mom-to-be once.  Suffice it to say that not all of the "needs" make it to the registry!
• A new mommy can ALWAYS use basic personal hygiene items for the baby.

And so, I took that route.

I loved the idea of presenting the gift in some kind of box/basket that will be useful, so I started my shopping in the plastic box and drawer aisle.  I found this really neat pink [yes, it's a girl] plastic tote that could be used for a million different things: laundry, toys, books... you name it.   Then, I made my way to the baby section of the store.  I decided to be really practical.  Here's what I selected:

• tub of baby wipes
• large refill pack of baby wipes
• baby wash (hair & body)
• baby wash (nighttime calming)
• baby lotion
• baby lotion (nighttime calming)
• baby oil
• cotton swabs
• A+D diaper ointment
• set of bath scoops/strainers (this WAS on the registry, I confess!)

It's worth mentioning that I chose all store-brand products.  Each of the items that I picked out had a national brand item sitting right next to it, but the store-brand was much cheaper, which meant I could buy more within my budgeted dollar amount!!

While I was at the store, I grabbed two packs of pink/white tissue paper, and a big pink curly bow.  I knew that once these gift items started getting opened, the mystery of what the rest was... well, wouldn't be much of a mystery any more.  So, I decided not to wrap up each item.  Instead, I just folded a pink and white piece of tissue paper around each item, and stood it up in the tote.  I remember having leaking boxes of wipes at my shower -- so I was more careful with them, and did not stand them on end, but rather on top of one another.  As for the ribbon, I pealed the paper off the sticky area, and folded that sticky square over the edge of the tote.  TaaDaa!

I love that the whole thing is self-contained, and that my niece will have an easy way to transport these goodies home.

Practical and pretty!

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner