Eventually it happens… our friends start having babies. For me, it happened AFTER I had mine which was a bonus on the gifting front as I had the benefit of knowing what was useful and what wasn’t. But this post isn’t about baby showers… that’s a whole other story. These are gift ideas for the mommy-to-be who has just announced her pregnancy. Inevitably you will see her for brunch, or dinner or something just after and want to give her a little something as a token to celebrate this special moment.

But you don’t want to go overboard! There will be many, many events to come: showers, visits to the hospital, christenings and baby namings where you will also need some gifting mo-jo.

1. Baby Name Book – This is a fun gift, especially for first time parents, that both mommies and daddies to be will enjoy and will be useful even if they have first names picked out (middle names can be tricky). Just make sure you find a comprehensive tome that also gives the various meanings, spellings and variations so it can be extra useful no matter how far the recipients may be in their quest.

2. Baby Book – What the kid-free ( and new-to parenting) set may not know is most baby books start documenting in the pregnancy stage. If you pick this gift, just make sure yours has a “Pregnancy” section. There are also Pregnancy Planners, the What to Expect ($11.95, Amazon.com) series has one in fact.

3. Shadow Box – So you know your friend is not the baby book type. A shadow box might be just the thing, kind of the alternative-archivist type who wants to put special things aside (photos from their sonogram, invites from the shower, maybe even their pregnancy test) and deal with them later. Papyrus ($26.95) has some really nice ones.

4. Scrapbook Starter Set – If your bud is crafty, chances are that trait will amplify once nesting sets in. There are lots of options to match her style.

Don’t worry… later on you’ll have registries to help guide you. Hope this helped get you started. Have other ideas? Love to hear them.

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