When you know someone who is pregnant or has recently had a baby, one of the most popular gifts to give to the Mom-to-be is often clothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving clothing as a gift, but I have learned some interesting things about baby clothes since recently having a baby. Here are some of the things I have learned and that I will abide by in the future...
1. Take it easy on holiday-themed clothing.
We had McKenna on November 20, five days before Thanksgiving. One of my friends had purchased us an absolutely adorable Thanksgiving outfit of a onesie that said "Thankful for Mommy", a pair of pants with a turkey on the butt, and a matching turkey bib. It was a newborn outfit, perfect for when she was only five days old. We also received several different "My First Christmas" outfits, onesies, pajamas, etc. The poor child could only wear so many "My First Christmas" outfits and now these outfits have been relegated to their respective storage totes, many after only one wearing. In the future I will try to stay away from holiday-themed clothing unless it or they are so cute that I just HAVE to buy it for them.
2. Keep in mind the age of the child and what size they will be wearing in what season.
Once again, many people will see some baby clothing when out shopping and just HAVE to buy it. This is fine, but if you find a totally adorable snowman sweater with matching fleece pants and you buy it in size 6 to 9 months, the poor child will probably not have a chance to wear said outfit if he or she was born in November/December/even into January. Same goes for when you see that adorable two-piece swimsuit in Gymboree and buy it in size 12 months when the child was born in the aforementioned months. She is probably NOT going to be wearing a two-piece swimsuit in the dead of winter unless her parents are wealthy and they can afford to take beach vacations in the winter months. This definitely does not apply to us. In the future I will take into account clothing sizes and seasons when purchasing clothing for family members or friends who are expecting.
3. Try not to purchase onesies as a gift unless the expectant parent(s) have specifically requested them on their registry or registries.
Oh, onesies. They are so darn cute and usually pretty inexpensive, making a perfect gift in themselves or as an additional little gift to a gift that has already been purchased. The issue with this is that the expectant parent(s) then end up with several renegade onesies that are very cute but then don't have any matching pants/bottoms to go with them. We put several plain white onesies, both long and short sleeved on our registries, and we did receive some of them. We also did put a few on the registries that had prints on them or were different colors. We ended up with WAY more onesies than we will probably ever use. We tend to use the white onesies most often under McKenna's daily outfits and at night under her PJs. I suppose we could use the colored/printed ones we got as well but then you can't see how adorable they really are. :)
I resolve in the future to not purchase onesies for people unless they have a pair of pants/appropriate bottom to go with them or unless they are really cute and/or appropriate (or sometimes inappropriate, like the "Little Fucker" onesie I bought for a friend's child ;) and I just can't help myself.
4. Buy clothing in larger sizes for the child.
We received a few newborn sized clothing items for McKenna and thought to ourselves, "Oh, she'll never wear these, they're way too small." She ended up being in newborn sized clothing for the first 4 and a half to 5 weeks of her life and we actually had to go out and purchase her some additional clothing in newborn sizes because we didn't have enough. On the other hand, we have TONS of 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothing. We also have some 6-9 month clothing and some 12 month and up clothing. However, most people seem to buy in the 0-6 month category and before you know it, the child is moving up to the 9 month size and hasn't even worn half the clothing in the other sizes. Also refer back to number 2 above, as this is important for sizing of clothing as well. In the future I will purchase clothing for expectant parent(s) in sizes 6 months and older.
6. Stay away from pajamas.
Once again, pajamas are just so fuzzy and adorable and are usually inexpensive. We have so many pajamas (especially in sizes 0-3 and 3-6 months) that McKenna probably won't have to wear the same pajamas more than one night while she is in these clothing sizes. On the flip side, sleep sacks and gowns are highly useful, especially the first few weeks the baby is at home. They allow for very easy diaper changes. I resolve in the future to not buy pajamas for gifts for expectant parents, unless they are sleep sacks or gowns or if they are so darn cute that I just can't help buying them.
7. If you do buy pajamas for a gift, we have found that pajamas with snaps are easier than pajamas with zippers (if they are the sleep and play type, NOT the sleep sacks).
This one is more of a personal opinion (as are numbers 1-6 above, but who's worried about that right now). It may seem totally contrary, unzipping a zipper should be way easier than undoing and then redoing all of those snaps, but we like the pajamas that snap way better. I don't have a resolution for this particular comment because this is up to the individual choice or preference of the parent(s) to be.
In conclusion, clothing is a wonderful baby gift. For anyone who purchased clothing for McKenna, we are very grateful and happy that you purchased said clothing for her. I am not trying to be nasty or snarky. Just making some general comments on things I've learned over the past 9 months of being pregnant and 7 weeks of McKenna's life. If you agree with any of the above, you can always go along with my final recommendations/suggestions or you can always purchase something else from the registry or registries. Don't forget that you can NEVER go wrong with gift cards for the store or stores where the parent(s) to be are registered either. Justin and I had some of our hottest date nights going to Babies R Us and out to dinner afterwards and those gift cards that people so generously gave were the gifts that kept on giving. We were able to purchase all of the big-ticket items off our registry with those gift cards.
Well, time to get going now. Until next time, I remain,
Jenuinely Yours
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