what gets used, what gets read, and what gets kept
Sorted the way a first year actually goes, rather than by what shelf it came off.
Most of what arrives for a new baby is bought against a list, and the list is organized by category. Sleep. Feeding. Gear. It's a useful way to stock a nursery and a useless way to choose a gift.
You aren't filling a gap in her supplies. You're sending one thing, and it has to be the right one. So here it is by moment instead.
wear
Almost nothing from the first months gets kept, because almost all of it gets worn until it's outgrown. A gown and hat, knit booties, a beanie and a footie. Send the pieces that get pulled out of the drawer first.
All layette
wrap
A swaddle is washed every other day and back in use before anyone notices it was gone, so it's the rare baby gift there's never too many of. Hot air balloons, plain bamboo, a sky of stars and a pink blossom print.
All blankets & swaddles
read
The books arrive before the baby can hold them, which is the point. They sit on the shelf through the year of being chewed and the years of being read, and one of them ends up on a bed in a different house entirely.
All books
hold
Somewhere in the first months a baby starts reaching, and whatever is closest gets held, shaken and chewed. So make the closest thing a good one: a knit bear, a duck in a merino beanie, a teether shaped like a star, and one that goes in the freezer.
All teethers & rattles
bathe
Bath is the routine that comes around again and again, so the pieces for it earn their place quickly. An oil for after, a bamboo brush and comb, four animals that squeeze and spray, and a hooded towel to wrap up in.
All bath
keep
The things that stop being baby things somewhere along the way. A linen box for the bracelet and the lock of hair, a book filled in slowly by hand, a car that moves from the floor to a shelf and stays there.
Everything for baby
or send it composed
An Edit brings several pieces together as one gift, composed to order and wrapped in tissue, with your message written out by hand.
The Edits