A birth gift is for the baby, but it speaks to the parents first. Here is how to choose well.
A baby's first weeks often look like one long unwrapping: piles of clothes, a large family of plush animals, plenty of tenderness and a few duplicates. Among all this, some gifts stand out. Not necessarily the most useful ones on day one, but those you find again years later, on the bedroom wall or tucked into the bed.
Every week in the shop, we help grandparents, godmothers and colleagues choose that particular gift. Here is what we tell them.
Three questions before you choose
- Will it last? A birth calls for a gift that stays, not a passing object.
- Is it truly for this child? A name, an initial, a date: personalisation turns a nice gift into a keepsake.
- Does it fit the first months? Softness, sleep, gentle discovery: a newborn's real needs are simple.
An initial on the wall: the personalised gift
It is our favourite answer to the duplicate problem: a framed letter, the initial of the child's name. The alphabet A Spell On You was hand-drawn by the artist Mary Clerté, who describes it as imagining Alice's journey from Wonderland to Burning Man: leopards, suns, hearts and creatures inhabit each letter, reproduced on art paper in 18 x 24 cm.
Given at birth, the frame becomes the first picture in the bedroom, the one that stays on the wall while toys come and go. All 26 letters of the alphabet are available in the shop and online.
Letter B Frame - Mary Clerté
The first soft toy
There will be many plush animals; there is only one first teddy. Maileg's comes in an illustrated box where you write the baby's name, date, length and weight: the gift becomes a dated keepsake. Simple, soft and light, it is suitable from birth.
My First Teddy Bear - Powder Pink
For something extra soft, Jellycat's Oat bunny plays on fluffy fur and long floppy ears. A soft toy lovely to look at and to hold, which delights parents as much as the child.
Oat Fluffy Bunny
A nod to book-loving parents
With parents who grew up reading Tintin, the Snowy plush never misses. This 20 cm version comes in its own orange gift box bearing the fox terrier's face: nothing to wrap, everything to give. A playmate by day and a comforter at night, it links the parents' bookshelf to the child's bed.
Snowy Plush 20 cm - Gift Box
Sweetness at bedtime
The music box is a classic birth gift, and this one shows why. On its wooden case decorated with bamboo, magnetic pandas turn to the melody; the bedtime ritual finds its marker there, and the object then stays on the shelf. Made by Trousselier, a French house that specialises in music boxes, it is suitable from birth.
Wooden Panda Music Box
Our checkpoints before giving
- Safety first: for anything that shares a newborn's bed, favour washable materials and no small parts. When in doubt, the 0+ label settles it.
- Think a few months ahead: an early-learning toy given at birth will come into its own around 6 to 12 months, as long as you say so to the parents. To aim at the right stage, our guide to a child's real age can help.
- The memory matters as much as the use: the frame will stay on the wall and the music box on the shelf long after the rattles have been put away.
A beautiful birth gift is not the one that is useful on day one. It is the one you find years later, still in its place, and that reminds everyone who gave it.
About the author: This article was written by the team of L'Oiseau de Paradis, a Parisian toy shop founded in 1932. Four generations in the service of childhood and authentic play.
Our selections for a birth
- All our birth gifts, from newborn to 12 months
- Mary Clerté's illustrated alphabet
- Our plush toys, lifelong companions
- Jellycat plush toys
