There’s one at every baby shower: a gift that makes all the moms in the room say, “Aw, man! Why didn’t they have that around when my kids were little babies?”
Want to be the one who brings the show-stopping baby gift? Here are three baby shower gift ideas that are perfect for today’s hip and health-conscious mama-to-be.
1. Basket of body care
Confession: the first baby products I purchased were full of sulfates, dyes and chemicals. It was 2003; I was buying pastel bottles I remembered seeing in the bathrooms of the children I babysat back in middle school! Since then I’ve been converted to the Church of Calendula””which, before you think I’m about to start talking about salvation, is actually just the scientific name for the flower marigold. The reason why I have a near-religious reverence for this plant is because it is healing to babies, body and soul. The aromatherapy benefits are amazing, and the light, fluffy, whipped texture is soothing to delicate skin. I’m crazy about California Baby’s Calendula Cream, their Everyday Lotion and Bubble Bath. California Baby also makes a French Lavender shampoo and body wash that smells divine. Package all of these items up in a wicker basket with a pretty towel/washcloth set, and you’ve got a clear baby shower winner!
2. High-tech sterilizer
You don’t have to be a germophobe to be mortally petrified of exposing your infant to bacteria””that’s just called being a “new mom.” For generations, after all, we women have been boiling bottles and performing gymnastic feats to catch pacifiers mid-air before they hit the ground. It’s also why the baby product sterilizer market is so crowded. Unfortunately, most of these products are just a hot mess, and the last thing you want to deal with during that 3 a.m. Feeding. Enter the new Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Electric Steam Sterilizer, which is just light years better than any of its predecessors. It can hold a day’s worth of bottles at a time, stays sterile all day and night and kills 99.9% of all germs. The sterilization process is chemical-free. And it only takes 5 minutes to blast germs to oblivion. It works on pacifiers, breast pump parts and bottles.
3. Spill-proof, untossable feeding items
It’s an exciting day when your baby discovers cause-and-effect. Look, if I toss this bowl of sweet potato puree off my highchair tray, it will fall on the floor, splatter everywhere and make mommy wail and grunt! The contemporary baby, however, will have to learn about gravity (and how to upset mommy) using non-food items, now that Munchkin makes Stay-Put Suction Bowls that adhere to a tray or tabletop. You can even keep cereal and crackers from being thrown about with the Snack Catcher, which I really wish I knew about way back when; I’m pretty sure my minivan still contains loose Cheerios from an incident back in 2007. These products are both made from BPA-free plastic.
None of these fit the bill? Well, you won’t win any glamour awards, but you’ll be sure to win the mom-to-be’s heart, if you gift a large supply of Seventh Generation diapers!
Jorie Mark is Vitacost.com’s Director of Marketing Communications and mom to three kids, ages 2 to 10.