More Great Gifts for Babies! (That are Not Toys!)

More great gift ideas for the babies in your life! (Note: This isn’t a list of practical essentials – just fun, decorative, or sentimental things to make mommy and baby happy!)

Mealtime Fun! For those adventurous days of early eating, the best dishes are those that make mealtime more fun for everyone involved. These “magical” talking bowls make fun sounds, like woof or moo, depending on the design, every time the spoon hits the bowl! $27.95 from YoungExplorers.com. I also love the clever, colorful designs on the melamine plates from Company Kids, $9 each, although I do wish they were microwave-safe, and I also think the Food Face plates, $12.95, from Land of Nod are amusing. Little boys (and their handy daddies) will love this construction plate and tool utensils, But my favorites, by far, are the sweet, collectible little plates from French Bull: princess for girls, robot for boys. They also have matching bowls, cups… Sigh.

Room Decor! It’s tricky to find something for a child’s room that won’t interfere with the existing decor. This sweet little pewter “room blessing”, $25, from artist Cynthia Webb works with any decor, and I love the the wording: “Bless this room and the child who dwells here… growing and playing sleeping and dreaming.” I also love this plaque, with Christopher Robin’s words: “Promise me you’ll always remember you’re braver than you believe…” $29.95. I also love these vintage-y, functional animal lamps from Anthropologie, $88. I spotted similar ones in Paris and lacked the luggage space to bring them back! And these adorable bird nightlights are made of wax and give off a soft, lovely glow, $16.95. My girls have these smooth, silicone nightlights from Target, $12.99, and they are amazing! Lola has been sleeping with the mushroom one for more than a year now, and we just got the little bluebird one for Eva, and she started using it a couple of nights ago. Finally, I adore these thoughtful, gorgeous personalized stork prints from Alexander + Co., which are nice enough to take center stage in any nursery, $300.

Cute Clothes!: The lists and lists of baby clothes I could come up with are too long for this particular post, though I might do it someday. For now, I am sticking to a few sweet, gifty items that are sure to make a splash at a shower or as a new baby gift. The Baby Bunch makes unbleached, undyed cotton baby clothes in highly giftable packaging, like a “Flower” Bouquet containing a bib, a t-shirt, a onesie, socks and a hat, $78, and Cupcake Onesies, $45, features four, felt-strawberry adorned onesies presented to look like cupcakes in a bakery box. Too sweet! My doctor brother and his pharmacist wife are having a baby boy, Ethan, in March, and I think he should get the Baby MD Layette Set, a soft sleeper in surgical green designed to look like scrubs, $29.95. And every baby deserves this beautiful angel onesie, $68! For little girls, the crocheted angel mary jane booties are so adorable they deserve a permanent place on a shelf somewhere, $48. (I bought crocheted mary janes for Eva and crocheted ice skates for Lola and used them for photo shoots – and now they decorate their rooms!) Trumpette socks, shaped like mary janes or little sneakers or ballet shoes, $24/set, are also an essential, as are these from Dimples.