Five Unique Handmade Baby Gifts to Make for Baby Shower

If you’re looking for baby gifts to make, but bored with the standard blanket and baby booties, here are five unique and unusual (but still functional!) Gifts to create that would make the perfect baby shower gifts.

• Time capsule – Don’t you wish someone had made you a time capsule of things from the year you were born? Gather newspaper and magazine clippings of current events, trends, and fashion, a little toy from the hottest children’s movie, and last but not least, take photos of your home and city! Document your neighborhood, take snapshots at the local grocery store, post office, cars on the street, local school, in front of your house, your parents, and your family! Include notes from family members and a special letter from you to present to the world. Collect it all and place it in a decorative wooden keepsake box, leaving some room for parents to add a few things of their own. Think what a treasure this will be when they are your age!
• Padded floor mat – No, it’s not just another boring blanket! This time, create an extra thick, padded blanket, a fluffy surface that will be perfect for tummy time, even on hardwood floors. Get creative with it and add “activity” toys to it, such as detachable squishy toys, flaps that hide bright pictures, and little ribbon labels. You can even line the bottom with waterproof PUL fabric which will make it the perfect outdoor over a wet grass park blanket.
• Name blocks – Buy enough blank wooden blocks from a craft store to spell out the baby’s name. Decorate each block with the letter and / or pictures that begin with that letter. You could paint with non-toxic acrylic paint, decoupage with paper or fabric, or burn your design on wood. For design ideas, look at the crib bedding set parents signed up for and use the same theme or color scheme on your blocks.
• Mix CD – Make the baby a mix CD? Yes! Create a relaxing music mix CD – classical music is an obvious choice, but get creative with the music in your collection or check out iTunes for lullaby ideas. Alternatively, a fun and upbeat mix of baby music might be ideal! Face it, most of the music that is marketed for babies is terrible and many parents would love to have a CD of “normal music” to listen to that is still baby friendly.
• Handmade books – You can buy blank board books that are the perfect canvas for your own stories! If the baby is going to live away from the extended family, create a story with real photos of family members so that the baby can get to know them. Or, create a fun story about the family pet, your own version of an alphabet book, a picture book with different types of cars or butterflies, etc. Draw your own or create collages from real photos or magazine images.

Have fun creating some unique handmade baby gifts for your next baby shower! These fun projects will be appreciated by both parents and baby, which is exactly what a handmade baby gift should be all about.