Good To Go Baby Gifts

It seems like this time of the year should be a happy time but it people expect too much of the holidays and then become unhappy.

WebMD says the 5 Things That Make People Happy are when:

   They find their most golden self “striving toward excellence based on one’s unique talents and potential.”  If you are the candy maker, make candy.  Don’t try to be the bread baker.

   They design their lives to bring in joy–so many people spend time on things they don’t like.  If wrapping gifts is not your “bag,” buy gift bags or small garbage bags and “call it good.”  They want what is inside anyway.

   They avoid “if only” fantasies–we are bad about predicting what makes us happy.  Accept what you bought for gifts or what you made for the meals and don’t “if only.”

   They put best friends first–social engagement is one of the most important contributors to happiness and longer periods with a friend rather than dashing around chatting with acquaintances is essential.  Spend more time with the ones you like the most and make you the most comfortable and you will be happier.

   They allow themselves to be happy–many of us are convinced that it’s wrong to be happy (or too happy)–we feel that we can’t take care of our happiness until we have made others happy.  Enjoy the holidays and don’t worry so much if the others are enjoying it.  Don’t let them bring down your happiness.

So one of the best baby gifts you can give your child is to be HAPPY and enjoy the holidays.

Some of you are in a warm climate, but where I live the weather is setting records for low temperatures and for the amount of snow.  I was just reading the pointers from the South Dakota Office of Emergency Management for travel over the holidays.  All of these apply to those of us who are in cold climates but some can apply to those of you in warm climates.

The article states:

     Watch out for others. 

     Slow down. 

     Move over when people are on the shoulder. 

     Pay attention to how you are driving. 

     Be aware of the vehicles around you.

The article says to plan ahead:

     Keep an eye on the weather and check travel conditions before hitting the road.

     Be prepared to change travel plans as weather conditions warrant.

     Call 511 or visit the website TravelUSA.com for road conditions.

     Travel during the day.

     Use highly traveled roads and highways.

     Keep family and friends informed of your travel schedule and path.

     Dress in layers and make sure you have a hat, gloves or mittens, and boots on you or in the car.  A monogrammed baby gift like a baby sweatsuit is ideal for a baby to wear, as things can be worn under it and a coat can be worn over it.  The hood can be snuggly tied over the head.

Take a survival kit:

     A cell phone that is fully charged.

     Blankets, water, nonperishable food, a flashlight with new or fully charged batteries, a distress flag, a shovel.

     Sand bags are helpful if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle.

You young mothers are having a time finishing up your shopping with all of this ice, snow, and cold.  According to the calendar, it is not winter until December 21 but “Old Man Winter” doesn’t care about calendars.

When it is below zero the news said to stay out only 10 minutes at a time.  I’m not sure that a baby’s skin can even stand 10 minutes.  I was out shoveling snow when it was 14 below zero and came in to warm up after 10 minutes.

Today the temperatures are 14 above here and I will see young mothers out with their babies before the snow and wind starts again.  They need to remember to cover the baby with a baby blanket like the monogrammed baby blanket.  They need to move along quickly when outside but not so quickly that they slip on the ice.  They need to make sure that they do NOT get stuck in the snow as a baby could not be in a cold car very long.  Stay safe and keep your baby safe!

My grandmother was born on Christmas Day and, when I was little, I thought that her birthday was overshadowed by everyone celebrating Christmas.  She explained to me that it was just the opposite.  She had Christmas Eve at her tiny home and everyone was there to celebrate Christmas AND her birthday.  Her husband had died on December 19 the year before I was born and he made sure that she promised to ALWAYS celebrate Christmas Eve and her birthday, even if he wasn’t there. 

I just talked to a mother who is scheduled to have her baby on Christmas Day.  She had the same feelings about making the birthday special, even though it would be Christmas also.  When I told her about my grandmother, she said she felt much better.  What unique baby gifts babies are to be born on the same birthday as Jesus!

By the way, I also have a niece who was born on December 24, and it is a great time to be born because we are all together.  She always gets her birthday celebrated more than the rest of us do! 

I know what you are saying—-She is the only person in the world who loves Christmas cards.  Actually I’m not.  Those of us who love Christmas cards keep ours simple and send them out early.  I did mine on the computer this year by putting on 4 pictures and writing a short message.  By pushing “send” they were off and I didn’t have to leave my computer chair.  In 3 days I had them ( I also got 2 discounts for doing them early.).

Oh, did I tell you how much I love getting picture Christmas cards?  I received one today where the smart mother combined her thank you for the shower baby gifts with her Christmas card.  It was just great to be able to see the new baby. 

Where I live the temperature is around zero or below zero every day and night.  It really is frightful for our little ones.  However, it is next to impossible to to keep them in at all times.  I went shopping today in a large discount store and I saw a young mother with her two children. 

First of all, she parked close to the shopping cart corral.  She put a shopping cart next to her car and put the children in the shopping cart.  She covered them with two baby blankets (not their faces) and went quickly into the store.  She happened to be coming out at the same time I was.  She parked the shopping cart right next to her car and put both children in their car seats and strapped them in.  She again covered them with a blanket (NOT their faces!), put the shopping cart in the corral (which was right by her car), and was on her way.

This smart mother got her errands run, kept her children safe, and kept her children warm.  She had been using the washable personalized baby blanket.  It is just the right size to wrap around them without being in the way.  It is so soft and so warm and so washable. 

I remember when I was little and when our children were little and we received a new robe for Christmas.  We loved the feel of it, because in December it is cold here.  It was a gift that didn’t have to be a perfect size.  The robe was always purchased to be a little big and then was worn for several years.  I remember seeing pictures of me in a robe when it was to the floor and then pictures where it was to my knees.

The same can go for a baby bath robe.  A little one can wear the robe for a long time.  It can be used after a bath when they are very little and then just as a comfy robe as they are toddling around.  With no buttons, they can put it on and off by themselves.  Of course, the monogrammed baby bathrobe feels like luxury as the washable terry cloth is so soft.

I have a young mother who is purchasing a personalized baby bag for each of her three pre-school children.  She is using them to put the clothing, bibs, diapers, food, etc. that she takes to daycare.  It will be so easy to pack them the night before and grab all three of the bags (and all three of the children) and head to daycare before she heads to work. 

Each child has his/her own personalized baby bag and they will know which one is their own!  Even at an early age the little ones want to claim their own things.  The young mother is putting their first names on the bags and they will be able to use the personalized baby bag for many years to come.

I got an e-mail from a mother asking me what a swarovski crystal was as I have a swarovski crystal baby bracelet on my website.  I had to research the internet to find a definite answer.

The definition given was “Swarovski Crystal was first created by Daniel Swarovski in 1892 and is manufactured in Austria.  It is not a natural crystal, rather it is a glass containing about 32% lead oxide and is cut into very precise and beautiful shapes.  Swarovski Crystal….has great cutting techniques and, therefore, many consider them to be the highest quality.

I knew the swarovski crystal looked beautiful, but now I know why.

I don’t know about you, but I like my gifts to be wrapped for free, since I would rather spend the money on the gift and not on the wrappings.  I read an article in my local paper on how to wrap your gifts for free.  Just take your holiday baby gifts or holiday children gifts (or adult gifts) and use things in your house to wrap them.

The bottom line of the article was to use your creativity in your wrapping.  If you still have brown paper bags or any paper bags around, use them for the paper around the gift.  Using the comic pages of newspapers for the children (the sports pages for the dad and the Christmas ads for the mom) also works well for the wrapping paper.  Look around the house.  Do you have wallpaper, old sheet music, old maps, or old mismatched napkins?  Wrapping gifts is a better way to use them up (and very green). 

If your paper is plain, the article says that you can use your stamping and scrapbooking supplies to decorate the paper.  The article said to look in your sewing and craft supplies for ribbons, rick rack, braid, burlap cord, or other string that you already have on hand.  Buttons or costume jewelry could be used ONLY on the adult gifts.

They also suggested to tear material that you have on hand (It could be holiday material.)into strips and use them for ribbon.  If you have a lot of fabric laying around, they said to wrap the gift with it.  How about the tablecloth or runner that you don’t use any more?  Cut them up and wrap with them.  They suggested that you could use pine cones or evergreen from your yard for the adults.  (You will want to keep this away from babies.)

You all reuse the gift bags that you get from others, but the article said to remember to reuse the tissue paper too.  If the tissue paper gets wrinkled, iron it (on low)!  Cut off any ends that may have gotten torn since there is no law about what size the tissue paper should be. Actually, I wrap small gifts for little ones in tissue paper because they love to be able to get into it by themselves. 

Now for the tags—the article said to use parts of old Christmas cards or other cards, the small pieces of wrapping paper left from wrapping gifts, or parts of a recycled bag that didn’t fit any of the gifts.

Spend your money on the baby gifts, children gifts, or adult gifts and wrap your gifts for FREE!