Monday

The Perfect Gift

OPINION
I need 1st birthday ideas for a little boy. I have never gone to a baby's birthday party before. I am the youngest in my family, my friends and I are all young and don't have kids, and I am a new nanny and this is my first invite to a party. What would make a good gift? I want to give something nice, but not over step my bounds as a nanny. - Anonymous

9 comments:

♥ Amy Darling ♥ said...

Keep in mind not to overspend a lot of money on the little boy's present OP. ~

It would look like you are trying waaay too hard to impress his parents. However, do not buy him a cheap toy at the 99Cents Only store either. I would spend about $20-30 at most for his gift.

If you have any crafty talents, a homemade gift would be even better.

I also think the parents would prefer you give him something w/educational value that you can play w/him when you watch him.
I know as a parent, I totally appreciated educational + fun toys as opposed to toys that are only meant to play w/, not learn from.

Fun reading books that are made of cardboard so he cannot tear the pages out would be wonderful. Or something LeapFrog, etc.

Nanny2twins said...

For both the first set of twins, and the set of twins I work for now I gave the fisher price singing pot Potsy,
and the leap frog picnic basket. They were big hits with both sets of kids and they still love them. I also gave them a cute outfit. I don't know if that's the kind of thing you were looking for or you were looking for something more personalized.

Nanny2twins said...

For both the first set of twins, and the set of twins I work for now I gave the fisher price singing pot Potsy,
and the leap frog picnic basket. They were big hits with both sets of kids and they still love them. I also gave them a cute outfit. I don't know if that's the kind of thing you were looking for or you were looking for something more personalized.

Blythe said...

I love giving young children books, like Amy mentioned. For a one year old, Sandra Boynton's books are great! Fun pictures, rhyme, repetition, etc. I also like contributing to the child's library as s/he grows-- so maybe a couple of board books for now, and a children's book you love that you guys can enjoy together?

MissMannah said...

My charge is turning one in a couple of weeks and I bought her this on a Black Friday sale:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4407961&CAWELAID=596862383&pla=plat&cagpspn=pla

Megan said...

My youngest charge is turning one this week, and I finally decided on a nice gift for him. I personally love to crochet and sew, so I originally thought I would craft something for him. However, that did not end up happening as the kids and I all recently were sick.

I ended up finding the cutest wooden toys at a local store, and bought a couple for him (wooden toys are great if you practice Montessori). They are really adorable, fun, and educational. I also found the cutest "Little Brother" onesie on sale at a children's boutique, and HAD to buy it!

I would definitely recommend spending somewhere in the $20-$30 range, as you don't want to be cheap, but you also do not want to overspend. My charge isn't going to have a big party, so I am just leaving the gift with MB and DB to open with him on his birthday. :-)

Ann O'Neemus said...

Books, books, books!

Don't go wild, two or three books makes a great gift for a one-year-old.

Chunky lift-the-flap, and touch-and-feel books are good. You can't go wrong with classics such as The Little Red Barn. Sandra Boynton's books are wonderful too, rhyming and silly :-)

Nay The Nanny said...

If you want to do something creative but haven't bee with the family long enough to make a scrap book, I discovered this site (thanks to a friend of mine) called collage.com. Incredible! I was able to put a poster collage of the family I work for together for Christmas. I'm not artsy, but I was able to get the downloads and the site put it together for me. It turned out so nice! Maybe you can make a collage of his first year. :)

Teacher in a Combat Zone said...

Books are always a great idea, but I would also recommend anything that gets kids to use their imagination. The best gifts my kids ever received were the "timeless" gifts: wooden train tracks (we are still going strong using those!), wooden blocks, a play tent/ crawl tube (the kind that you can just unsnap the clasp and it unfolds), a kitchen set/ play food, large cardboard building blocks or matchbox cars (when age appropriate). Perhaps you can do a combination (a $10-$15 toy and $10-$15 in books)?

Also, Sandra Boynton has four different book and CD combos and all of them are absolutely HILARIOUS! I would definitely recommend either Dog Train or Philadelphia Chickens to start with!