Yahoo Finance 5 Gifts for New Parents That Don't Cost a Dime
My husband and I welcomed our first child to the world six weeks ago, and every day since then has been a balancing act of getting to know our son while beginning to establish some semblance of a routine. While I love our family time, one of my favorite aspects of being a new parent is introducing our baby to friends and family members.
With our recent influx of visitors, I have noticed that almost everyone will bring small gifts with them when they first meet the baby. I love that our friends and family think enough of us to not only visit but to also to bring gifts and am incredibly grateful for what we have received. However, gifts are also unnecessary as just seeing my baby interact with our loved ones is gift enough!
That said, many consider it standard practice to bring a gift to welcome the baby to the world, so if you are looking for something small yet meaningful, here are five gifts for new parents that will not cost you a dime but are sure to make their day:
Hold the baby:
Offering to hold the baby seems like a no-brainer, right? Pretty much everyone visiting a new baby wants to hold the baby so the new parents will probably be ready to hand the baby over for a few minutes. Next time though, why not suggest that you will hold the baby while mom (or dad) takes a shower or runs some quick errands?
I work from home and have worked hard to establish a schedule with my baby, but one of the things that often goes by the wayside is showering. If the baby is napping I can usually find 200 things that need to be done in the free 20 minutes to three hours I have until he wakes up and showering usually is not very high on the list. When my aunt visited in the very early weeks and offered to hold the baby while I showered, it was a game-changer. Anytime I visit new parents from here on out, I plan on making this offer to them!
Take a family photo:
We have no shortage of photos of our new baby, nor of the baby with me or the baby with his father. We do not, however, have many photos of the three of us together. In fact, in six weeks we have all only managed to get our picture taken together three times! Selfies aside, it can be difficult for a new family to take photos together, so while you are taking photos of the new baby be sure to offer to snap a few of the new family together!
Send a text message or email:
I prepared as well as I could for life with a new baby, but the one thing nothing could have prepared me for was how cut-off from the world I would occasionally feel during those first few weeks, especially after my husband returned to work. Between holding the baby, feeding the baby and trying to get the baby to sleep, I didn't have much time to think about the world outside my little home. For that reason, I was extremely grateful anytime I received a text message or email or even snail mail from friends and family members because it pulled me back into the world at-large and also let me know that there were people out there who were thinking of us. I was rarely timely, but re-reading and responding to those messages also gave me something to do in the middle of the night when I was up feeding the baby!
Arrange a playdate with an older child:
If the couple has an older child, you might consider offering to take the older child on a play date. Even a trip to the local park will make the older child feel special and provide him or her with an opportunity to play and burn off some energy. It will also provide the new parents some alone time to bond with their little one without making the other child feel left out.
Show some love to the pets:
If the new parents have pets, there is a good chance that the pets have received a little less attention since the new baby arrived. My husband and I have two dogs and I feel bad on a near daily basis that I just don't have the time or energy to spend time with the dogs like I did pre-baby. If you are stopping by to visit, spending a few minutes loving on the fur babies will likely bring a smile to the face of the new parents and also make you their pets' new best friend.
Lisa Koivu is the founder of ShopGirlDaily.com, a budget fashion and shopping blog for women who want to have the best for less.
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