3 Budget Gifts for a Baby Shower
When you have been invited to a baby shower, your initial thought may be excitement for your friend or family member. However, when you don’t have money to work with, this can make you feel apprehensive. Rather than feeling like you shouldn’t go, or worrying about trying to purchase something you simply can’t afford, you may instead want to consider cheaper, or completely inexpensive, gifts that your pregnant friend may appreciate. Realistically, if she is a true friend, she may not even be concerned about the cost of the gift, but about the thought and love you put into it.
Your friend may be eagerly awaiting the arrival of her baby and has discussed the various aspects of her pregnancy with you. It may even be possible that she has sent you some of her scan images, or uploaded them onto her social media. If this is the case, you may want to turn those simple pictures into the most unique and the best photo prints that you can find. You could opt to go one step further, especially if she has had several scans so far, by collaging each one to create a timeline of the pregnancy. This may be something that she loves to look back at, and eventually show her child once they are old enough to understand what it is.
Having a baby can be a really exciting time, but it can also mean a serious upheaval to your current way of living. Not all gifts need to be something physical. Instead of buying them more nappies or outfits, your friend may appreciate an offer for babysitting in the future. This could allow her to make time for herself, or even to go on date night with her partner. You may want to create a certificate or voucher book that she can use or leave it open-ended, such as saying once per month for the foreseeable future. Your friend might be incredibly grateful to know that, while she is looking forward to her new role as a mother, she can still retain some of her previous identity or practice self-care.
If the baby shower is set to take place shortly before her due date, you may also want to gift some food. From the exhaustion that comes from giving birth to the sleepless nights with a new baby, there may be several reasons why your friend doesn’t have the time, energy, or motivation to cook within those first few weeks. Having some frozen homemade food could allow her to still eat an array of delicious, healthy meals to still get those nutrients without having to try and make them herself using depleted resources.
Giving gifts doesn’t always have to be about spending money. There may be a number of things that your friend might genuinely appreciate, especially if they will make her life as a new mum easier or more enjoyable. At the same time, spending less on a gift that shows how much you care can also mean more than an expensive, generic gift.
