Crazy, cool baby gift

A photoshoot with an incredibly talented professional?

how about one of those motorola androids you hear so much about these days

Great minds heading the same way.

I was thinking a photo shoot for mom and dad during the pregnancy.

Of course, a lot of this is culturally-dependant. You can't give gifts pre-baby in some cultures - and some types of gifts are inappropriate in others.

I still like the photo shoot plan, either by Boomer - or arranged by Boomer if distance is a problem.

Is that too predictable boomer?

It would be crazy cool though.

My nephew and his wife have a new baby girl. Folks are SO generous when it comes to babies - hard to concieve of just how generous, really.

But I think some of the best gifts especially in the first month or two involved people's time. A clean house, help with the laundry, food. Especially home cooked meals. Now that's crazy cool, too.

If that's not practical for you to give and/or you'd do that anyway and want something they can use, or a keepsake maybe, have you seen Tai Chi's College Guy thread? I might vote for a gorgeous silver baby spoon.

Yes! That idea. Though it's a lot more than $75.00 I think if Boomer's not the photographer.

I like the photo shoot idea too, very much. I can say this as possibly the most overphoto'd baby on earth in the early forties. just the snaps.

My dad made a little booklet out of peach-pinkish art paper, perhaps a dozen pages, with black and white photos of me, probably 3" x 4", haven't looked lately, with short poems beneath each photo/on each page, all the pages tied together with a ribbon through two punched holes at the "binding". All this a half century before all the 'make your own calendar' type things we can do now. Booklet was probably 4" x 6". I think he made several of them, for family members. A treasure now to me, not least for the poems.

There were presents of the expensive sort, from family friends, that we had in our living room cabinet when I was growing up. The one I liked as I got older was a silver piggy bank that could be opened.

Oh, I like that, great idea, Joeblow.

front page of the New York Times for the babys birthdate. or their local newspaper. framed

The baby is due any day now.

And how lovely of you to think of a photo shoot but they are a long way away.... still, I do know a few photographers in their neck of the woods. I will most likely see her this summer when her baby has neck control and is ready for photos and I will, of course, be able and willing to photo this surely beautiful child.

She's an nutritionist -- a professional nutritionist -- one who makes close to $100,000k a year telling people what to eat. I pity the fool that tries to prepare her food. (I do know that she has a periodic weakness for moon pies though (shhhhh!))

Seriously, this is a difficult baby to buy for.

I've seen those baby spoons from Tiffany. I'll bet she already has one.

I want something like that, that isn't so predictable.

There is a woman here in Portland who makes amazingly lovely (hand knitted) stick horses. They're really beautiful. I've bought those for a few people but it is really a gift for the 3 and up set. I would love to come up with something equally wacky and lovely.

And she has a housekeeper.

First baby? What they're really going to need is "sleep".

Thinking though...

Other moms always used to ask us about this:

http://www.hotslings.com/baby_slings/designer_collection/black_ecru_floral

http://www.hotslings.com/baby_slings/designer_collection/zoie

This is embarrassing, but you're also talking to someone who had an oil painting done of her (nothing like me) by the guy who made the AAF seal. I still have and still hate that painting.

However, do you know any good, ah, non traditional, painters who might be coaxed to react off of one of your photos? I'd suggest that, but I just can't, from my own background. But I can see a work of art re the baby, if an artist is in the mood. Alternately, that could be the very most hated gift.

The baby isn't going to know much about this gift stuff for a long time. Symbology..

but, what about a mobile?

OH those slings are cool!

But, yikes, there's been all that stuff in the paper about the kid who suffocated in one of those (perhaps not that particular brand) recently.

Still, those are very cool and look like something Niece would like. I'm going to read further. Thanks, DrewDad!

A personalized name plate could be nice too.

http://www.onceuponaname.com/plate.html

Here are some ideas that caught my attention while doing a Google search for "baby shower gift ideas for the mom who has everything."


This one would be cool - you could add your own photos of her if you have some, and then replace them with baby photos later when you are there for a visit:

http://www.everything4mom.com/mothersbracelets/photo-bracelets.html


Here's something similar to the sling idea except it is a sleeve to aid mom while nursing.

http://www.bamababiesandbirthdays.com/Baby-Slanket-p/bg-slanket.htm

This page is full of a variety of slings, carriers, etc.

http://www.babyearth.com/baby-carriers.html



If you like the idea of helping out with cooking, etc., this might be something to look into. I can vouch for the quality and service. BBB ordered food from them for several years when she was unable to cook for herself before I moved here. There was a bunch of it stocked up in the freezer and I can say that the food is excellent. They do gift certificates.

http://www.impromptugourmet.com/

I would love to give or receive a hand made quilt, or a commercially made one if it’s well done.

Wonder how expensive a crib sized (or lap sized) quilt would be.

Sometimes it seems like baby gifts are designed more to appeal to the parents. You're a gifted photographer -- do you have something that would appeal to a baby now (black and white is apparently a good choice), that would be appropriate for a baby's room, that could "grow" with them and become a cherished example of Auntie Boomer's work when they set off on their own?

Oh yeah. Love it. A signed boomer.

or maybe a cute frog face baby spoon

! Great idea! (The froggie spoon, just saw the pics, it's awesome.)

A friend of mine (well, friend of a friend) makes these and I've given them as baby presents to cooler types -- might not be expensive enough or to your niece's taste, but they're unique and I really like 'em:

(This image shows two different posters next to each other, in different colors):



(Framing it nicely could up the total value/ expense.)

onesies:





From here:

http://burlesquedesign.com/store.htm

(Check out Gargamel!)


Tai Chi's great idea leads me to another: One of sozlet's absolute favorite things for the first year of her life or so was a bugmobile I made her. Very strong black-and-white graphics of four bugs (butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, spider) that I then ironed on to white canvas and made into small pillows, that I hung from an existing mobile we had. I could see you doing an amazing version of that with B&W photographs.