What to Buy for Baby’s First Christmas

We know how important baby’s first Christmas is, and that finding the right gift, whether buying for your own child or the child of a loved one, is a crucial task. To help you celebrate this festive milestone, we’ve compiled this guide to buying that all-important present, ensuring you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

Consider Baby Clothes

It’s a classic gift option, but kids are never too young to dress their best for Christmas! Baby clothes also come in a wide variety of styles ideal for the festive season, including specially designed items which allow you to really go the extra mile. Look for Santa hats, elf suits and miniature baby Christmas jumpers, to name just a few options which are widely available for sale. These gifts will make for some great festive snaps, whether they're for your own child, or for the children of family or friends.

Purchase A Keepsake Box

Items which can be added to later, such as a keepsake box, are a lovely gift for new babies. This provides parents with a wonderful place to store items which are significant as their child grows up, and also gives the baby something to discover in the years to come. Another fantastic benefit of this kind of personalised gifts for kids is that it keeps lots of sentimental items in one safe place – and helps prevent them from being lost or misplaced as the years go by.

Look For Bright Colours

Babies love bright colours, and respond well to gifts which offer them a glimpse at something vibrant! Lots of baby toys and gifts use mixed colours and patterns to help respond to this need. Textures are another key element to consider, as babies need to ‘feel’ their way through life at this early stage, and learn a lot about the world around them through touch. Again, many popular baby gifts feature a selection of materials, and also include elements that make a noise, to engage all of baby's senses.

Add A Personal Message

There’s lots of ways to personalise baby’s first gift, but one of the simplest is to add a personal message to the item. This way, when the child is a little older they’ll be able to look back fondly at their gift and the things you wrote at the time. This message could be written, or could be recorded to allow them to hear your voice. This is another way of engaging baby's senses and helping them to recognise you more frequently. A personalised message is also more likely to be kept as the child grows.

Make It Memorable

It probably goes without saying that the first Christmas with a new baby will be a highly memorable one, so you should look for gifts which are every bit as memorable as the event. This gives you plenty of scope to adapt the gift to your own budget, as there are lots of incredible items specifically designed for gifting to babies. It's also a good idea to try and get plenty of pictures and souvenirs from baby's first Christmas to look back on as they grow.

Gift Christmas Decorations

Babies might not be able to decorate the tree as well as their parents or older siblings, but they can still help out! A Christmas bauble or Christmas decoration is a delightful way to get them involved in this integral part of the festive season, and can be kept as a keepsake or simply re-used, year after year. When the baby is old enough to play a more active role in Christmas, you’ll be able to tell them all about the decoration and why you chose it for them.

Ensure It’s Safe

There are lots of gifts which look incredible on paper, but are unsafe for newborns and children under twelve months of age. Be sure you’ve checked – and double-checked – that your gift is age-appropriate, as an age-inappropriate item could present a real hazard. This also includes ensuring that the packaging is baby-friendly, and that they are fully supervised at all times on Christmas morning. Even if the gift itself is baby-safe, there are still plenty of hazards to be aware of, including other gifts and decorations.

Personalise The Gift

The arrival of a new baby is always cause for celebration, and it’s the ideal time to gift something personal and tailored to the child. This is where customising and personalising gifts can be extremely helpful, whether you decide to leave a special message or simply use the baby’s name. A huge number of different gift ideas are well suited to being personalised, and here at GiftPup, we are experts in personalised gifting, so we know that the range of gifts that can be personalised are simply endless.

Look For Timeless Items

As the event is such an important one, a good rule of thumb is to opt for a timeless gift – think in terms of keepsakes and things which will allow the child to grow with them. As with some of the best gifts for babies, there’s lots of scope to be creative, and to give timelessness your own unique spin. Items which are built to last are also more likely to follow the baby into their adult life, and could even be later passed on to future children and be kept for generations.

Add An Advent Calendar

This gift is fun for all ages, and babies will love helping to open the doors on their first ever advent calendar. If you’re feeling creative, you could even make one yourself, and add it as a supplementary gift perfect so baby can count down the days to Christmas. The popularity of alternative advent calendars continues to grow, and there are also a wide variety of fill-your-own calendars out there to choose from as well. A fill-your-own calendar can also be reused in the future with the gifts changing as the child grows.

GiftPup Gift Suggestions:

At GiftPup, we stock a wide range of gift ideas, perfect for baby’s first Christmas. Here are a few of our favourites for you to discover...

Sterling Silver Baby Bangle

This stunning personalised silver bangle will grow with your child, making it a fantastic gift for baby’s first ever Christmas. The item can be engraved with a name or a message, up to eight characters, and is sure to be cherished for years to come.

‘Moon & Stars’ Caramel Charlie Bear

A beautiful teddy bear which baby will love for many years to come, this is a wonderful gift available in three different sizes. As with all items at GiftPup, the bear can be customised – in this case, with the child’s name, making it extra-special as a first Christmas present.

Baby Boy/Girl Photo Memory Box

To help create and store special memories, this beautiful photo memory box is the ideal gift. Personalised with baby’s name and date of birth, there’s also room for four photographs, and plenty of space inside for small mementos, making it a gift to treasure.