Great gifts for new moms

This feels like a frequent question floating around… what should I get a new mom?! It’s easy and relatively low-stress to shower a new baby with cute, fun things, but gifting a new mom feels trickier. In my own experience, I of course appreciated anything and everything I was given, but I was blown away by anything particularly thoughtful, practical, or helpful. I put together this gift guide with that in mind—many of these items I was thrilled to receive after Grace was born, and others I’d be sure to give to new moms in my life, based on my own experience in new motherhood.

Monogrammed jewelry

My friend gifted me a little gold diamond pave G stud for my second earring hole, and I don’t think I will ever take it out. It’s so sweet, subtle, and pretty. Mine is from The Last Line, but I also recommend lots of other ideas, like my thin gold thumb ring from Catbird that is engraved with my married name (with the baby’s name or initials or birthday), this tiny cygnet pinky ring, or maybe a thin monogrammed gold layering necklace.

A mini polaroid-style film camera

There’s just something about a Polaroid style picture in all its imperfect, grainy glory—I love having a bunch from when Grace was first born that Jon and I or our little nephews would take. I am using them in her baby book. I think this would make a great gift for a new mom. We all have a zillion pictures on our phones, but a mini film camera makes taking photos feel a little more intentional and unfiltered. Along those same lines, I treasure my newborn photo shoot pictures that I have from a quick shoot with a friend and professional photographer when Grace was just 10 days old. Perhaps a gift card to a mini session, even at a mom’s home, would be a great gift, as well.

A great robe or loungewear

I kind of lived in a robe the first month or so with Grace—putting real clothes on felt cumbersome when I had to be breastfeeding every couple of hours and it was still really uncomfortable. And while sometimes I wanted to feel like a hundred year old in my big giant cozy robe, sometimes I didn’t—so I loved having a few to choose from, such as a jersey one or a silkier one, as well as some button down (nursing-friendly) pajama sets that made me feel put together but cozy and comfortable. Target has pretty, soft robes and nightgowns the softest sets like these light gray and white notch collar ones. These classics are the softest and come in a million different prints. I’d likely never take this upgraded sweatsuit off. Also—a cozy cardigan for layering! This warm one in neutral colors, this long cashmere and wool one, or this lighter linen blend one. I seriously lived in this stuff. Just make sure everything is comfortable and machine-washable.

Ember temperature-controlled coffee mug

It is unfortunately true that drinking my morning coffee looks a bit different than it did pre-baby, but really the only difference is that it gets interrupted now by diaper changes or playing or naps on my chest. I’m kind of a psycho about hot coffee (I regularly microwave my coffee to keep it that way), and I am really partial to drinking out of a regular mug, not a travel mug, so this one has quite literally changed my life by keeping my coffee hot for 90 minutes at a time. I use it every single morning, and just place it back on its charger when I’m done. I love that it’s sleek and minimal and white, too. Perfect gift for a coffee drinking new mom!

Birthstone jewelry

Jon gifted me this ring for my birthday when I was pregnant and we weren’t sure whether Grace would be born in April or May (her due date was April 29th so it was a toss up). The diamonds represented May, while the emerald-shaped green tsavorite stone was for April. To say I cherish this ring is an understatement. I love the idea of this chic birthstone ear cuff (that I now want for myself), this tiny solitaire stone ring, or this cool arc ombre necklace.

A small backpack

Sometimes you just don’t want to bring a full blown diaper bag places. Whenever I’ve gone out to dinner or to sit at the bar with my friends, my diaper bag feels like a little too much to deal with, so I’ve loved having this backpack from a friend (which comes in cream and black, too). It’s still hands free, which is critical, but just big enough to fit the necessities. I love this mini leather one too (in brown and black, and it can be monogrammed in gold leaf!), this snakeskin one, and this vegan leather one that comes in a great olive and lilac.

Monogrammed canvas tote bag

I was gifted this large tote bag with Grace’s initials on it, and I’ve gotten so much use out of it already for weekends away or nights at my parents’. This bag is the best—it’s actually huge, has a zipper top so nothing can fall out, and allows for lots of separation inside, making locating diapers or socks or onesies really easy. I have a newfound appreciation for things with many pockets and compartments now that life is tinier :) The canvas is durable, and in my case, I love the sweet rose gold accents for Grace. Such a great gift!

A flower delivery subscription

…that doesn’t look like it’s a flower delivery subscription. Farmgirl Flowers are beautiful and unique and the furthest thing from a typical online flower order (plus, if you’re local to San Francisco, your fresh flowers are delivered by bicycle, soooooo, I’m dead.) I’m someone who used to buy flowers at least weekly, but it’s really fallen by the wayside since having Grace now that I almost exclusively use a grocery delivery service (I used to pick out flowers in person when I shopped). I would be so touched and thrilled to have been gifted a flower subscription

Spa or Salon gift card

Some new moms struggle to actually get away from the baby and do something for themselves, so I love that this gift kind of makes them do it! It’s relaxing, indulgent, and therapeutic—whether a massage, manicure, facial, hair highlight, etc. It also helps you feel like your old self for a couple of hours which goes a long way.

… and a couple hours of babysitting during the appointment!

It’s sometimes hard to take people up on the offer when they just say “I’m free to babysit anytime!” but I love the idea of: Here’s a gift card to get your nails done, and here’s ME to babysit! So thoughtful, and so, so appreciated.

Home Spa package

Anything goes: essential oils diffuser, ice roller, jade roller, clean beauty (no retinol or salicylic acid) face masks and under eye masks, bath salts, body wash, tea—even just nipple cream or gel soothie pads (!!!). Just not nail polish. The true one task I don’t think I’ll be able to do until Grace is about 8 years old is paint my nails. How does one possibly have the time to let them dry entirely?!

Wireless Earbuds and an Audible subscription or gift card

I had Grace in late April, so from basically three days old, she and I would go for strolls together. I’d always listen to Spotify, audio books on Audible, and podcasts as she slept in her stroller, but would only want one earbud in to make sure I could still hear her and cars, etc. Wired headphones always made this trickier, especially when I didn’t have a pocket to hold my phone, because the headphones wouldn’t reach from the stroller. (More detail and backstory than you ever needed to know). Suffice it to say, I think these or an Audible giftcard or membership would make such an unexpected, practical gift, just given allllll the quiet downtime with a newborn, whether outside or cooped up at home.

Lactation cookies

Essentially every time my sister-in-law came over, she brought a fresh batch of lactation cookies with her. The story on these is that they supposedly help boost and maintain good milk supply for breastfeeding moms, but whether that’s true or not—they’re calorie-dense, nutrition packed, and just sweet enough to be the perfect snack. I was basically sustained by lactation cookies alone for the first three weeks when my appetite was funky and yet it was so important to make sure I was getting enough calories. I’d eat them 24 hours a day, even when I was up in the middle of the night nursing Grace. I don’t have a go-to recipe, but I’d just google some and try your hand at one that sounds good!

‘The Story of You’ baby book

I talked about this here, too, but I have so loved working on this baby book over the past 8 months. In my experience, getting a baby book was a total afterthought post-registry and all of that, and I think many others are in the same boat. This one by Artifact Uprising doesn’t look like a typical baby book at all by its classic, clean cover, and the prompts on each page are interesting and sweet. I’ve always dabbled with crafts, and this feels like the perfect mix of a little project to chip away at, while also being completely non-cumbersome.

A Dutch oven and a great cookbook

I enjoyed cooking when I was home on maternity leave with Grace. Newborns do so much sleeping that you realize you have quite a bit of downtime if you want to use it to be productive. That being said—it’s not exactly the same as downtime pre-baby—everything gets interrupted, and the downtime comes in spurts. Therefore, I haven’t liked cooking things with a million time-sensitive steps. But I have used things like my Dutch ovens (all of which I’ve scored from HomeGoods at basically half-price) more than ever. I think this would be such a nice gift! Or if that’s more than you’re looking to pay, what about a great cookbook with simple, unfussy everyday favorites like that of Smitten Kitchen?