Baby shower gifts that outlast the newborn phase

Newborn clothes are outgrown in eight weeks. Most baby shower gifts are chosen for the first month and forgotten by the fourth. The ones that get remembered are either used daily for two years, or kept forever.

What makes a good baby shower gift?

Something in one of three categories: used constantly (blankets, muslins, bibs), kept forever (a personalized keepsake), or for the parents rather than the baby (which almost nobody buys, and which almost every new parent needs).

Gifts that last longer than the newborn phase

A cotton blanket. Not the tiny one that fits a moses basket for six weeks, but something around 75 x 90 cm. That size goes in the pram, over the car seat, on the floor for tummy time, and later becomes the thing that goes to nursery. Cotton, so it can be machine washed repeatedly, which it absolutely will be.

A soft toy with embroidered features. Embroidered eyes rather than buttons, so it is safe from the start, and one that can be washed. Many children choose their attachment object in the first year, and if it happens to be the one you gave, you have given the most important object in the house.

A personalized keepsake. A blanket or plush with the name embroidered. This is the gift that is photographed, kept in a box, and handed over again in twenty years.

Something for the parents. A candle, a bath soak, decent coffee, a meal. The mother receives forty gifts for the baby and none for herself. This one lands harder than anything else on the list.

Practical things to check before you buy

• Washable at 40 degrees, because everything will need washing more often than you expect.
• Embroidered features, not buttons or beads, on anything the baby will hold.
• Natural fibres next to skin: cotton for blankets and toys.
• Nothing that needs a plug or an app. New parents have enough to learn.
• Avoid newborn sizes. Everyone buys those. Buy 6 to 12 months and you will be the gift that arrives just when everything else has been outgrown.

How much to spend

$25 to $50 for a friend or colleague, more for a sibling or a close friend. A group gift is the right answer for a pram or a chair. On your own, a smaller handmade thing beats a bigger mass-made thing every time in a room full of gift bags.

If you have left it late, or the baby has arrived

Skip the shower gift entirely and send something in month three, when the visitors have stopped and the help has dried up. A blanket, a candle and a note saying you are thinking of them will be remembered far longer than anything that arrived in the first fortnight.

A note on personalization

If you want the name embroidered, order early. Personalized pieces are made once you order and take 1 to 2 weeks here, and babies are famously indifferent to schedules. If the name is not settled yet, choose initials, a due-date year, or skip it and give the keepsake plain.

Browse new baby gifts, the personalized pieces, or the gift boxes if you would rather it arrived wrapped and ready.