Practical Gifts for New Parents They'll Actually Use

The most useful gifts for new parents are the ones that take a job off their list. In the first weeks they have less time than they have ever had, and every chore that disappears is time back with the baby, or asleep.

The most practical gifts for new parents are meals, cleaning, help at night, diapers in the next size up, and thank-you cards that are written once and mailed for them. Each one removes a job they would otherwise do themselves. Things for the baby are well covered by the registry; things that save the parents time usually aren't.

Below: eleven practical gifts, why each one helps, and how to give the one most guests never think of.

Contents

• What do new parents actually need?
• 11 practical gifts for new parents
• Why do thank-you cards make a practical gift?
• How to give a pack of thank-you cards
• What gifts should you skip?
• Frequently asked questions

What do new parents actually need?

Time, sleep and fewer jobs. The registry takes care of the crib, the car seat and the bottles. What it rarely covers is the work around the baby: cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, and the thank-you notes for every gift that arrived.

A good test for a practical gift: does it remove a job, or add one? A meal removes one. A cleaning visit removes one. A box of blank thank-you cards adds forty.

11 practical gifts for new parents

1. Thank-you cards, mailed for them

New parents get gifts from the shower, the registry, the office and the family, and every one deserves a thank-you. It is one of the jobs that waits longest, because it lands in the weeks with the least time.

A ShipNote thank-you card pack pays for that job. You buy the cards; they paste their gift list, write one message, and ShipNote prints a card for each guest, stamps it and mails it. More on how it works below.

2. Meals

Cooked meals, a meal-delivery gift card, or a meal train you set up for friends to sign up for. Freezer-friendly food is best: it keeps until the night they need it.

3. A cleaning visit

One professional deep clean in the first month is a gift almost everyone wants and few people buy for themselves. It works well as a group gift.

4. Night help

A night nurse or postpartum doula for a night or two is a large gift, best split among family or a group. If you live nearby, offering to take a shift yourself is the same gift for free.

5. Diapers and wipes in the next size

Newborn diapers are the most-gifted size and the first one outgrown. Size 1 and size 2 diapers, and plenty of wipes, will all get used.

6. Grocery delivery credit

A credit with a grocery delivery service they already use saves a trip with a newborn, which is a bigger job than it sounds.

7. Laundry help

Babies make a surprising amount of laundry. A wash-and-fold service, or a friend who comes over and folds, takes a daily job away.

8. A night-feed basket

A basket by the feeding chair: a big water bottle, one-handed snacks, lip balm, a phone charger with a long cord, and a soft blanket. Small, cheap, and used every night.

9. Help with older siblings

If there are older children, a school run, an afternoon at the park or a sleepover gives the parents time with the baby and gives the older child some attention of their own.

10. Things for the parent

A good robe, nursing-friendly pajamas, a refillable water bottle or postpartum recovery supplies. Gifts for the person who just gave birth are often forgotten among gifts for the baby.

11. Your time, scheduled

"Let me know if you need anything" is kind and rarely taken up. "I'm bringing dinner Thursday and I'll fold laundry while you shower" is a gift.

Why do thank-you cards make a practical gift?

Thank-you cards pass the test above: they take a job away. After a baby shower and a registry, most parents have dozens of cards to write, address and stamp, often while feeding a newborn.

A ShipNote pack is a set number of thank-you cards, paid for by you and used by them. They paste the gift list from their registry, choose a design and write one message. Each card names its guest and the gift that guest gave, and ShipNote prints it, stamps it with First-Class postage and mails it. When their list fits inside the pack, they press Send my cards and pay nothing.

Every pack is $1.99 a card, the same price the parents would pay ordering 10 or more cards themselves. If their list is longer than the pack, they pay only for the extra cards. Nothing asks them to drop a name.

For the parents, it's the gift that pays for the thank-you notes for every other gift. For a group of friends, it's an easy gift to split.

How to give a pack of thank-you cards

1. Pick a pack. On the card pack page, choose 25, 50 or 100 cards. Pick the one closest to the number of people who gave them a gift: shower guests, registry buyers, family and coworkers. If they need more, they pay only for the extra cards.
2. Tell us who it's for. Type their names, and their email if you want us to send them the gift. You can add a short note, which shows on their gift page and is not printed on the cards.
3. Pay. No account needed. You get a receipt and the gift link by email.
4. Send them the link. Forward the email, put the link in a card, or let us email it to them once. They open it when they're ready to do the thank-yous.

Want it on their registry instead? Each pack page has an Add to Babylist button, and registries that take items from other stores, such as Zola, The Knot, Amazon, MyRegistry or Joy, can add the pack page. Parents doing this themselves can follow how to add thank-you cards to your registry.

What gifts should you skip?

Practical gifts are about less work. A few common gifts quietly add some:

• Blank thank-you cards and stamps. Kind, but they hand over the chore rather than taking it away.
• Lots of newborn-size clothes. Babies outgrow them in weeks, and they arrive from every direction.
• Anything that needs assembling or storing. Unless it was on the registry, a large item is a job and a space problem.
• A surprise visit. Visits are a gift when they are planned around the baby's day and come with food.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most practical gift for new parents?

A gift that takes a job off their list. Meals, a cleaning visit, a night of help and paid-for thank-you cards all remove work they would otherwise do themselves in the first weeks, which is when they have the least time.

Is it rude to give thank-you cards as a gift?

Not when the cards are done for them. A box of blank cards hands them a chore. A ShipNote pack is the opposite: they paste their gift list and write one message, and every card is printed, stamped and mailed to each guest.

How much should you spend on a gift for new parents?

There is no set amount. Most guests spend about what they would on a shower or registry gift. A practical gift can be small, like diapers in the next size, or a larger shared gift from a group, like a cleaning service or a pack of mailed thank-you cards.

Can you put a practical gift on a baby registry?

Yes. Babylist, Amazon, MyRegistry and similar registries let parents add items from any store. A ShipNote card pack has an Add to Babylist button, and the other registries can add its page through their add-from-another-store option.

Related reading

• How to add thank-you cards to your registry: the same pack, from the parents' side.
• Baby shower thank-you wording: what the cards can say, by gift and by guest.
• Baby shower thank-you cards: how a batch of shower thank-yous is printed and mailed.