Babies are so spoilt, aren’t they? They’re not even hours old and they get balloons, clothes, even cookies – and they’re too little to eat solids anyway. What about the people who have arguably done most (if not all) of the hard work: the parents?
They’re the ones who will exist in a haze of sleep-deprivation for the next few weeks, months (or possibly, years). They don’t even have names anymore – it’s just Mummy or Daddy, now.
Here are ten of the best gifts for new parents. Who knows, they might even make up for all the baby sick.
Mother’s Bath Oil, Neal’s Yard, £15.50
For the love of all that is holy, run a new mother a bath. Add candles and some of this lovely bath oil, containing organic bergamot and ylang ylang essential oils, and DO NOT DISTURB HER. I repeat, not for anything. Not until her skin is wrinkled, she looks like a prune and the water is absolutely freezing.
This is cute. And a lot easier than getting the whole family to smile nicely for the camera. The artist uses photographs to capture the essence of each family member. They’ll love it.
Something with baby’s name on it is bound to make a new mother go starry-eyed, and if it’s pretty jewellery for her too, that’s a double-win. If she’s got more than one child, you can add rings to this cute personalised name necklace, so she can wear them close to her heart at all times. Awww.
Beauty subscription, Birchbox, £31.08 For Three Months
New mums deserve a treat. And what better treat than a box filled with luxury make-up and beauty products, every single month? Trust me, she’ll love it. She might not have much time to use it, but she’ll love looking at the pretty packaging, at least.
There’s no tiredness quite like the tiredness of being a new parent. It feels like your eyes are burning, all the time. You can’t focus, you feel dizzy, you struggle to maintain conversation.
If you have these Walking Dead zombies in your life, give them caffeine. And if you can’t give it to them intravenously, try intoxicating scent of fresh coffee, delivered to their door each month. It’ll help them stagger less.
This is a bit of a cheat, this one – because baby gets a present, too. But it’s so cute, we can see new parents everywhere clutching the adorable soft toy to them while stuffing the entire box of truffles into their mouths and burying their noses in these beautiful flowers.
At some point in the first year of becoming a parent, every mother (or father) dreams of running away. And if you can make that dream come true - on a temporary basis - you’ll be their best friend. Forever. They need a break and you can make it happen. Just don’t forget to arrange a babysitter.
Knackered sounds about right. But feeling clean and smooth makes it all okay again. Everyone likes posh smellies - and with this indulgent body lotion, new parents will be able to pretend they’re away at a posh spa hotel, even if they’re just hiding in the bathroom at home to get out of the next nappy change.
New Parents Meal Boxes, COOK, from £41
If there’s one thing that suddenly becomes impossible when you have a new baby, it’s cooking - and there’s only so long you can survive on takeaways before your insides begin to hurt.
With that in mind, ‘COOK’ vouchers are a truly brilliant idea. The home-style frozen food company offers ‘New Parents Meal Boxes’ for £61 (seven nights of meals for two people), £119 (14 nights of meals for two), a ‘New Mums Survival Box’ for £41 (10 nights of meals for one) or ‘New Dads Survival Box’ for the same price. New parents can even get 10% off the entire ‘COOK’ range for six whole months.
Gift Card, Netflix, from £15
For the first two weeks after bringing home a newborn, there’s not much to do except collapse on the sofa with them sleeping softly on your chest. In that time, you can watch entire box sets – such as seven series of Gilmore Girls (so I’ve heard), and all of House of Cards. You can help your new parent friends binge until they’re satisfied with the help of a Netflix Gift Card. You can even choose the amount you ‘gift’ them - from a minimum of £15, to a maximum of £100.