A brand new baby! So small and sweet, you can’t help wanting to go out and buy a gift that is more special than all the other gifts the new parents will surely receive. Then you realize that most gifts geared for newborns and small babies on store shelves are pretty much the same; sleepers, outfits, bedding, teethers, toys with batteries required, and health care items. You ‘can’ overcome the hurdle of your gift being just another one of this or that; Handcraft a unique gift that displays your true sentiments of celebration on the birth!
Ready to Fill Scrapbook
New parents often have good intentions of documenting their newborn’s milestones, and are even good about snapping numerous pictures. Whether those photographs ever make it from the camera to page, or into more than a box stuffed to overflow with pictures of all sorts of subjects, is another thing. Help the new parents avoid this catastrophe by providing an outlet ready-made for them to place the ‘milestone’ photos in. The parents will appreciate it now, and the newborn will be thrilled when he or she is older to have a well-organized document of firsts!
Materials
Scrapbook
Baby and toddler suitable scrapbook papers and paraphernalia
This is actually a simple to assemble project for a beginning scrapbook enthusiast or a seasoned veteran.
Make one page for each of the most common baby milestones, minus pictures; First time meeting parents, grandparents, siblings, first smile, first tooth, first haircut, first time feeding themselves, etc. Make sure to incorporate items such as small zip bags or vellum envelopes on pages where they will come in handy, such as on the first haircut page. Include a page for the baby shower photos and ultrasound pictures if appropriate.
Words to Grow On
This gift is almost as much fun to assemble, as it is to give!
Materials
Scissors
Assorted colors of cardstock
Scrap piece of cardboard big enough to use as a stencil
Paper punch
Ribbon
Cut baby feet out of assorted colors of cardstock, approximately 5” x 2 ½” each. (To save time and to make sure the shapes match, cut one shape out of a heavier piece of cardboard to use as a stencil) Punch a corresponding hole, in each heal area, making sure that all the wholes are in the same spot. Pass these foot shapes out to family and friends of the mother and father, asking them to write a few words of wisdom to the baby as he or she grows. Assemble them back together; tie ribbon through the pre-punched wholes. The parents will get a thrill out of reading it now and the child will grow up knowing how many loved ones were there at the start of their life.
No Sew Fleece Blanket
This project, made in nearly any size, from crib, all the way down to a 12” x 12” ‘soother’ blanket, is a quick, but thoughtfully unique gift for baby. An added benefit of this project is that even a younger child can help make this, allowing them to say proudly to the gift recipient that they helped make it!
Materials
Two like-sized pieces of pre-washed fleece fabric
Scissors
Really, that is all the materials required! Lay the two pieces together, right sides facing outwards. With the scissors, cut strips through both layers around the complete outer edge. On a larger blanket, strips would be about six inches deep; by 2” wide, and on a smaller soother style blanket, make each cut about 2” deep by ¾” wide, with the key to cutting being to keep all of them approximately the same width and depth. Once all cutting is finished, tie the top and bottom pieces together via the strips.
