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A personalised baby shower gift that is not another babygrow

Baby showers produce a lot of clothes in the 0-3 month size and a lot of things that will be outgrown before the thank-you cards go out.

A book with the baby’s name in it is the present that is still in the house in six years, which is a strange and rather nice thing to be able to give.

Why it works as a present

It cannot be outgrown

Clothes last weeks. A named book gets read from the first months and keeps being read until the child is reading it themselves.

It stands out on the table

Among twelve soft toys and a stack of muslins, a printed book with the baby’s name on the cover is the one people pick up.

It is a keepsake by default

Parents keep first books. This one has their child’s name printed inside it, so it tends to end up in the memory box rather than the charity bag.

When to order

You need the baby’s name, so this works best for a shower where the name has been decided and shared, or as a gift shortly after the birth. If the name is still a secret, wait — the name is the whole gift.

Getting it right

→Choose a gentle theme. Ocean and forest stories read best to a very small child; superhero stories land better a few years later.
→Pick “family love and belonging” as the lesson. It is the one that suits a new arrival.
→If the name has not been announced, give it after the birth instead. A book with the wrong name is worse than a late present.

Questions people ask

What if the parents have not chosen a name yet?

Then wait. The name is what makes the book, and it cannot be changed once printed. Giving it a few weeks after the birth works just as well and is often more memorable.

Is a storybook any use to a newborn?

Not for a while, and that is rather the point. It goes on the shelf and comes into use at around eighteen months, by which time most shower presents have gone.