How much do you spend on baby gifts? I pose this question because I am curious what most people spend on baby gifts.
We have been overjoyed with the new addition to our family. Thankfully, we haven’t had to spend very much money to prepare for the arrival of baby GYM at all because my sister-in-law has basically saved everything up from her young family for us to use. Clothing, a changing pad, two baby carriers…you name it, she saved it for us.
Since we had everything that we could possibly need for the baby, I didn’t want a baby shower. We didn’t have a registry. I don’t like to be the centre of attention because I tend to feel quite uncomfortable. Usually I am a nervous, sweating mess when I am the focus of attention. That being said, I did have a very small get-together prior to leaving on maternity leave and I asked specifically for no gifts, but just the gift of meals.
We asked for food instead of gifts because we had everything that we needed already. We embrace baby minimalism and asked for gifts of food instead of baby gear/paraphernalia. This is because we are in 450 square feet and there really isn’t much more room for extra stuff. Food was so essential and so appreciated by myself and my husband especially in the first few weeks post part when we were so sleep deprived. We had chicken pot pie, cabbage rolls, and chilli, among other food. We appreciated just being able to heat up food without having to prepare food- it was probably the best gift of all when you barely have time to shower or go to the bathroom let alone cooking for yourselves. Basically the gift of food was the gift of time, which is what many personal finance bloggers aspire to have, freedom and time.
Anyway despite asking for meals/food we have received gifts for baby GYM as well.
Which brings me to the title of this post, how much do you spend on baby gifts?
We Received some Generous Baby Gifts
As mentioned, we received a lot of lovely, generous gifts despite asking for meals and food or being firm about no gifts at all for baby GYM. Some of the things we received were wash cloths (which do come in handy I must say), a few memory books, onesies, and other baby clothes. We also received monetary gifts and gift cards for baby GYM.
Related: Financial Checklist for New Parents in Canada
One of my friends (she isn’t my best friend but I do see her once a month for dinners) gave baby GYM a $200 monetary gift, saying it was for his Registered Education Savings Plan, or (RESP).
$200!
That’s a lot of money. I was shocked.
I couldn’t refuse the gift as I opened the card after the visit. It also felt weird to refuse a gift on behalf of my child I suppose. We were certainly very appreciative of the generous gift.
Another friend, a close friend, bought about $100 worth of gifts. It was a package of Aden and Anais swaddle blankets, a pacifier that was $35, and something else which I forgot. We returned it and got baby wash and shampoo instead. We already had swaddles blankets and intended not to use a pacifier.
I would say on average, the gifts we received probably cost around $30 to $50.
Related: How to Give a Stock as a Gift
How Much Gifting Baby Center Recommends
According to Baby Center (the guru of parenting advice) for a baby shower:
- If it is for a colleague or an acquaintance, you should spend about $20 to $25
- For a close friend, $50
- In the case of a best friend or a family member, $100
How Much Do I Usually Spend on Baby Gifts
Looking back, I usually spend around $40 to $50 on a baby gift. Compared to my generous friends, I feel pretty cheap. I am still shocked by our friends and family’s generosity for our baby. I feel very grateful our baby is loved by so many of our family and friends already.
Although we much would have preferred not accumulating more stuff, we were appreciative nonetheless for all the love and attention our friends and family were giving us and our new family of three.
If you’re interested in giving a gift that won’t detract from your minimalist friend’s values and beliefs, Nourishing Minimalism has a great list of 18 Clutter Free Gifts for Baby Showers.
Related: Family RESP vs Individual RESP Which One is Better?
How much do you usually spend for a baby shower gift?
What do you usually get for the parents to be or the new addition to the family?
GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates, a free dividend yield spreadsheet, and the free Young Money Bootcamp eCourse.
A friend of mine in the UK had a baby in this past October and since then I’ve been gently proding her to open a JISA account (similar to an RESP) for her newborn. I was so thrilled when she finally got back to me about three weeks and asked for my recommendation. After some research I was able to guide her through setting up the account and choosing a global etf to invest in. Now she has monthly direct debit going into the account, just in time to catch the coming market crash (one can only hope!). I also bought the baby one share which was around $100 CAD. So stoked to know I helped my friend get her baby off to a good financial start. It’s going to be exciting watching how that one share I gifted her daughter appreciates over the next 18 years…. Merry Christmas!
@alana- That’s so nice that you were able to help your friend out, especially overseas! That’s also great to hear that the UK has something similar to the RESP and you were able to buy one share. In 18 years that $100CAD will be an even greater baby gift, one towards your friends’ baby’s education!
We generally give about $50 when a friend has a kid: a book, an outfit, and something else. We don’t plan to have kids so we will likely give a decent amount to our siblings when they have kids for RESPs. If they are maxing out the CESG on their own, we might just invest ourselves for the kid and evaluate later. Could do a target retirement date for when the kid turns 18 or so, like $1000/year or something.
@T- Books are the best baby gifts. $50 can go a long way depending on what you get. I went to a baby shower and on the registery, I bought $25 diaper rash balm. It was painful that was a lot for rash cream. What a nice auntie and uncle to help your future nephew and niece invest!
We generally gift 25-50$. However, I would really like to gift stocks or ETFs. Need to figure out how it can be done. But, going forward we want all our gifts to be stocks 🙂
@dividendgeek- Thanks for sharing your baby gift amount. You’ve come to the right place to figure out how to gift stocks! 😉 I wrote something about this recently:
https://genymoney.ca/how-to-gift-a-share-of-stock/
However, instead of an ETF or stocks, we gifted one physical share of BRK.B to our kid for his first birthday.
We just came from my cousin’s baby shower this past weekend and didn’t have time to get a gift. We simply wrote a $50 check to them and it sounds like a good amount especially for family member. I grew up with my cousin and since this is their first baby we thought that amount was the just about right. Maybe for a friend or another family member I don’t know that well I would spend a lower amount on them like $40 or under. I think it depends on the relationship you have with the person who is going to have a baby.
Whenever we buy gifts for a baby shower, it usually is clothes,a baby tub and/or some diapers. Nothing out of the ordinary.
@Kris- Thanks for sharing what you usually spend. I think there has been gift inflation or maybe i am just a cheapo haha. For some I’ve been spending $25 especially with a group gift but I think $40-50 sounds about right.
We usually spend around $50 unless I get a little excited when shopping. Haha. Although I do try to stick to the registry and not get a lot of clothes because I figure that’s what other people will do. It seems like $50 is the magic number!
@Kim- I appreciate everyone’s input!! I need to up my game. I think I was still thinking it’s 10 years ago when $30 is the $50 now haha. Darn inflation! If it’s a gift card I definitely get $50 though.