YouMightBeNext.com
Articles
Home | Articles Page | Link Exchange | Contact Me
Etiquette Surrounding Baby Gifts
My wacky cousin, he knew for a many months that he was about to become a father. Yet he did not share that news with me until almost one month before the baby’s expected due date. I do not think he would have let me in on his “secret” if I had not seen him over there at that club in Santa Monica.
However, I guess I will not need to rush around and get a gift in a hurry. I do not believe that I can find a way to plan a baby shower. Thus I will probably not be buying a baby shower gift, unless I can think of a reason to have a baby shower after the baby is born.
Is that proper? I doubt it, but I am sure that the rules of etiquette allow me many reasons for buying a baby gift for the baby girl that is eagerly awaited by my cousin and his family members. I am sure that I will find many reasons to buy baby gift wrapping paper, and to use it to wrap some sort of baby gift.
Maybe I will give that baby a whole string of baby gifts, one for every month of the baby’s first year. In one of my psychology classes we learned a little bit about child development. I remember learning about the different skills acquired by a baby during that first year. It would be fun to give the baby a different toy every month--one that required the use of some newly-acquired skill.
For example, I could start out by obtaining one of those special baby mirrors on a soft pillow. I know that in the first month a baby likes to look at faces, including its own face. I have to think more about a gift for that second month, but I know what I want to get during that third month—a rattle. If I go back and review my notes, I should have no trouble thinking-up baby gifts for the other nine months.
What I really want to find is something that is unmistakably a personalized baby gift. Maybe I can find some piece of clothing that expresses my view of the world. It would be fun to give that baby a tiny T-shirt that said “One Planet, One People, Please.” I will have to drop by the Los Angeles Baha’i Center and see what sizes they have. Maybe I can order a shirt for a small baby.
Now that I began thinking about a personalized baby gift, I am getting more and more ideas. I would enjoy having that baby and me able to wear matching outfits. I would like to see both of us in some type of workout suit. Maybe I could find something with a clever saying on it, something like, “To catch a man.” We could both show that we wanted to keep fit in order to attract members of the opposite sex.
I think my brother and my cousins would get a real kick out of that gift. My father and uncle would like it too. If I could find matching outfits like that, and if I could give one such outfit as a gift, then we could all laugh about it’s personalized touch. That gift would help all of us to add to our enjoyment of the little baby girl who is going to be joining our extended family.
written by Sue Cher