It’s pretty easy to get carried away when shopping for a gift, especially if the recipient is a baby. As our friends and family begin to have their first, second, and then third baby, it’s simply impossible to keep up with a high standard, expensive gift.

The good news is that you can still get quality gifts at an affordable price, so let’s get into this guide to baby gift buying on a budget. 

  1. Re-gift and recycle with love

Any mother will tell you that there are so many things that never get used. Whether it is not your child’s style, or that they develop beyond it too quick – you are left with a lot of new and barely used kit. This is also great for the environment and pairs nicely with other sustainable baby brands. Unused baby items are where you should be looking for your gifts, and you can even put them aside when you recognise you won’t use them so you are ready to go when there is a little baby boy or little girl on the way. If you feel bad about re-gifting or recycling, you can disclose this to your friends and family, although I doubt your loved ones will mind.

  1. Choose sentimental over expensive

No child needs to receive a Tiffany’s rattle. Parents are going to love a sentimental gift more, especially one that captures memories that they can reflect on later in life. Scrapbooks, photo albums, and other gifts like these are always affordable and so special. You can even gift your gift early and bring it to the baby shower so that friends and family can write nice messages and immortalise this moment forever. If you don’t know where to start, reflect on some of the most thoughtful gifts you have received before, and see if you can incorporate those elements into your own gift. 

  1. Create a time capsule

Time capsules are really making a comeback as a gift and they don’t cost too much money at all to create. All you need are messages from special people in the baby‘s life and some classic items that mum and dad resonate with at that moment in time. If you intend on having the child dig up the time capsule when they are 18, ensure that you write messages that are right for an 18-year-old, complete with jokes and funny anecdotes. You can add another bit of intrigue and have the time capsule come with a map so that mum, dad and the grown-up baby have to take the map and find the location themselves. 

  1. Do a group gift

A group gift allows you to contribute to a bigger and more important gift, and often it means that you will have to spend less on a gift just from you. This is a great result for all involved. Find out what the new parents want and see if you have friends who would like to also contribute to that desired gift. You will also benefit from more heads together and a greater choice of gifts might be available when there is more money in the pot! If your friend or family has a gift registry, then you should absolutely go in on a group gift, as the alternative can be quite expensive. 

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We hope you have got some ideas on how you can buy gifts on a budget, without compromising your love and kind gestures. These ideas are not necessarily groundbreaking, but they are often forgotten when we fall into wanting to impress everyone with a gift. Stick to your budget and get creative!