An Open Letter to Baby Gifters

Dear Baby Gifter,

Thank you so very much for the gift you sent to my baby. It is very much appreciated and I'm sure she'll wear it well/enjoy using it/love playing with it.

That said, please take my advice for future baby-gift giving. Having three children, I have definitely had the opportunity to be surprised by gifts. Some have left me speechless.

• Think about the baby you are about to gift. If the baby was born in July, a newborn sized winter coat will not fit her in December.
• Stores offer gift receipts for a reason. It is helpful for the giftee to receive them with the gift.
• Do not cut off the tags.
• It is not rude of a giftee to want to return a gift. It is often a necessity. Double gifts and wrong sizes happen. Be honored that the giftee opened your gift and showed appreciation with a "thank you" note.

• If the baby is a girl, do not give a gift that is blue, green, red or gender neutral. The baby likely doesn't have hair. She's having enough trouble with her masculine looks already. Give her pink or lavendar. The opposite is true for a boy. A brand-new-daddy won't dress his mini-macho-man in pink.
• Regifts aren't usually a problem. But if you gift your son's unwanted blue seersucker pants to a baby girl, expect odd looks.
• Consider the parents of the baby you are gifting. If the parent is a prep, its not likely she'll appreciate a punk-rock-skull anything. The baby doesn't get to choose the clothes at this age.
• Do not cut off the tags.
• Clean a used toy before gifting as if its new.  Really. The dried drool left on that stuffed turtle is a tell-tale sign that you are giving something used.
• If you must question the gift you are giving by asking a million times if its "a good gift", it probably isn't.
• Personalized gifts are wonderful. Please make sure you spell the name correctly. A mom won't dress her baby Aaron in a sweater that says Andrew.
• Back to NB size, just don't gift it. Especially in the incorrect season.
• Please don't launder before gifting. Its the tag thing. And the laundry thing. You are not making life easier for the parent.
• Socks may be socks, but they are still gender-specific. A baby girl will not wear baby blue socks.
• All babies need bibs, yes. All babies do not need twenty 2-inch drool catchers. They don't catch.
• When you gift a toy, please understand that, eventually, the baby will probably love it. But not today. And not tomorrow. It may take months. Newborn babies are only interested in one toy. Its called a nipple.
• We look forward to the baby meeting you. However, please note that the baby may not be wearing/using/reading/playing with the gift you gave. Its in the laundry, we promise. She just wore it 2 days ago.
• Why do people cut off tags?

Again, many, many thanks for thinking of our baby at this exciting time.

This is an original Philly Moms Blog Post.

Julie promises that if you are reading this and you gave one of her babies a gift, your gift was absolutely perfect. She loves every gift her babies received. She researched this post, none of it is directly from her. Really. Read more from Julie at her blog, Just Precious .