3 Original Easter Baby Gift Ideas You'll Find Nowhere Else... Guaranteed
Choose an Easter baby gift that will last forever.
How can I guarantee these Easter baby gift ideas are original? Because they came directly from the depths of my mom-sized cranium.
I didn't find them in an article of Parents.
I didn't hear
someone sharing it at Kindermusik class.
They came to me in the shower...and isn't that where all the really great ideas always come from? Out of the blue, while you're massaging your scalp with foaming happiness?
Besides, let's admit it. As mothers, the shower has a unique draw to it.
THERE ARE NO CHILDREN INSIDE. Usually.
And that's exactly what my brain needs in order to pump out whatever tiny drops of brilliance are still in there.
So here's what I've come up with. Three ideas for the ideal Easter baby gift.
Who said Easter baskets for infants have to be bunny-shaped teething toys and stuffed chicks? It's time to think
outside the basket, and create something your baby can appreciate later, since, honestly, right now he is completely clueless.
My Easter Philosophy
For me, Easter is a time of deep contemplation and re-dedication. Usually, people try to do that at Christmas. However, my Christmases are pretty darn busy. (How 'bout yours?)
My brain is frazzled and working in crisis-management, trying to get the list all checked through.
Easter, on the other hand, has a slow warm-up. Weeks of normalcy allow me to really anticipate the holiday in a unique way. Besides reflecting on Christ (I'm a Christian),
Cameron and I try to take some time to consider what we want the end result of our parenting to look like.
What are we trying to do with our kids? When they're twenty, what do we hope they look like, on the inside? What kind of character do we want to instill in them when they fly away and start
their own lives.
They're young now...but that won't last. Besides, now always ends up becoming then faster than we'd like.
With that in mind, every year we try to balance fun baskets of chocolate with deeper gifts of lifelong meaning. Yes, we hide eggs and enjoy chocolate.
But don't let Easter fade into yet-another over-commercialized holiday. It's more
than that.
These Easter baby gift ideas will help you capture something deeply meaningful in this first Easter, an anchor for the years to come.
Easter Baby Gift Idea #1: A Statement of Dedication
Have you heard the saying, "Begin with the end in mind"? It's applicable to almost everything. Want to get out of bed early and rock out to Just Dance on the Wii?
Just think about how
wonderful you'll feel in a smaller jean size. You'll sleep in your gym shoes in anticipation.
Cameron and I believe raising children requires the same foresight and vision.
It's so easy, in the day-to-day, to forget that someday this little person will be on her own someday. Am I doing everything now to help her then?
As I'm dealing with temper-tantrums, and other girlish hysterics, (yes, they happen in my house too), it's infinitly helpful to have a vision of the future, something to look towards...
like a lighthouse to help us get through the storms of parenting.
For us, that involves choosing a specific Bible verse for each child. A dedication verse. One that we pray, set aside as special for our little Lauren, Elena, or Isabella.
A verse that she can learn to cling onto as she grows up and experiences the rough edges of life.
Side Note: For those who are interested, Lauren's verse is Proverbs 16:3, Elena's is Ephesians 3:16-17a, and Isabella's is Zephaniah 3:17.
This idea is easily translated to those of you who do not claim the Christian faith. What are the things you want to pass on to your children? The things
you want to become ingrained in who they are?
Then get it in writing. You could type the verse in Word with a beautiful font, print, and frame it. You could cross-stitch it. This year, we chose to get them printed on keepsake tiles.
We had each girl's verse etched into a decorative stone tile and placed them on tiny easels next to their beds.
The older girls (14 month Bella is clueless) love having "their verse" on "their stone". A special word of God just for them, with a message just for them.
An heirloom I'll be thrilled to pass along when they fly the coop to set up their own home someday.
The point here is to choose something that your child can internalize and display it prominently in their room as a constant reminder: This is who you are.
Easter Baby Gift Idea #2: A Long-Lasting Portrait
They're only young once... Why not immortalize this first Easter by turning one of your favorite pictures into a hand-drawn portrait to hang on the wall? We are so gosh-darn lucky.
We don't have to pay thousands and try to force our squirrly wobbler to sit still for three days to get a decent portrait. Enter the Internet.
All we have to do is send in a photo. And it get back a miraculous baby Easter gift that's a drawing, oil painting, watercolor, cartoon...even an Anne Geddes look-alike.
I spent some time wandering around online, reading forum posts, visiting websites, browsing reviews, and I think I've found the diamond hidden the coal pile.
Here are several examples of the kind of art you could choose to immortalize these fleeting few months.
Easter Baby Gift Idea #3: Love Notes Across Time
When my oldest Lauren was two, I started keeping a little journal for her. It's nothing fancy, really. Just a little spiral-bound journal book I picked up at Barnes and Noble. I have since
repeated this for the other girls.
Every now and then I'll jot down a memory, an occasion, or just a simple prayer for each girl. They are oblivious, of course. But can you imagine their joy and amazment when I present the notebooks
to them years from now when they are going into the wide world all alone?
It's a tiny window into my life with them now, when they're clueless. I want it to encourage them later - reminding each that when she feels lonely out there in the world, that she has a home
with us, that we loved her more than life...unconditionally.
And when I pass from this earth, I want my grandchildren to see my daily little legacy, written down years and years ago. A piece of my soul here on earth, for them to remember "from whence they came".
If you don't already have a journal, let me encourage you to pick one up as an Easter baby gift and start jotting down little things as you go. I don't write in it every day. I don't scrapbook it (although you could,
if you're amazing like that). I just write notes from my heart to theirs.
You can choose any journal you want, but I really like this embossed blue dragonfly leather journal
for boys, and this embossed lavender Celtic knot leather journal for girls.
Well...did I pass with flying colors? Are you inspired to go out there and make this year's Easter baby gift more than just stuffed bunnies and chocolates?
I hope so. Next year your baby will be nearly unrecognizable from his infant self.
Trust me, they change so fast it's hard to keep up. Sit and really think about your infant this Easter. What vision do you want to cast for him? What type of woman do you hope she'll become?
You can't make that happen, but you can certainly help it to happen...and it all starts with now.
Fancy Easter Dresses... The 2011 Fantastics
When Fancy Nancy grows up, she'll select one of these Easter gowns to parade her bebe around.
Baby Easter Dresses for Stylish Egg Hunting Endeavors
The problem: find gorgeous Easter dresses that can handle a few grass-stains and muddy handprints. The solution.
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for boys, and this embossed lavender Celtic knot leather journal
for girls.
I just subscribed to the site, and I'm very happy I did. I have worked in the medical field for several years and love to have good resources for when things come up...
