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Baby shower gift boxes for the parents as well as the baby

Some of these are for the baby and some are for the people who'll be up with the baby, which is the part most shower gifts skip. I pack every box myself, by hand, here in Canada, and I write your card out in your own words. Shipping anywhere in Canada is on me.

I pack every box by hand here in Canada, and some of them are for the parents.

Four baby shower boxes from $99 to $119, shipped free, each with a card written by hand.

The Sweet Parent-to-Be Box, a baby shower gift box packed by hand in Canada
An example of the card, written in your words

Hannah. This one's for you two, not the baby.

Love, Rachel

The Sweet Parent-to-Be BoxAbout three things, and about two more at $119.From$99Buy now, $99: The Sweet Parent-to-Be Box, $99

Four boxes I pack for a baby shower

Four boxes, split by who they are actually for. Some are for the baby and some are for the people who'll be looking after it, because by the time the shower comes round the baby already has more clothes than it can wear and the parents have had nothing. Three of the four come in two sizes, and the larger one is the same box with about two more things in it. The same handwritten card goes in all four, and shipping is free on every one.

Would you rather choose what goes in? Build your own box instead: you choose the box, you choose what goes in it, and it ships free the same way these do.

Not on the registry

Baby registries work, and they work by being a list of equipment. That is the whole strength of them and the whole hole in them: there is no line on a baby registry for the parents, because nobody puts their own coffee on a list they are asking other people to buy from.

If the registry is picked clean, or everything left on it costs more than you meant to spend, this is the honest alternative rather than a substitute for it. Send the box for the two of them and let the registry cover the cot.

There's no price on anything inside the box, so at a table where the gifts get compared it opens as a gift and not as a number.

When to send it, and where

I can't promise an exact arrival date, so don't plan on a box landing on the morning of the shower. Send it to the parents' own address a good few days ahead, or to whoever is hosting if the gifts are being collected in one place.

Plenty of these go out because somebody couldn't be at the shower at all, which is what free shipping anywhere in Canada is for. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will arrive.

More boxes for the baby, and for the parents

Each of these is sold here for another reason too, so nothing on this page calls them anything else. Every price includes free shipping anywhere in Canada and a card written out by hand.

Showing all 6

If you want to spend more than this

Three of the four come in two sizes, and together they stop at $119, which is what these boxes cost, and I'm not going to pad one out to reach a bigger number. If it's your sister, or the office is going in together, the larger size of one of these is the easy answer, and past that a different box rather than one of them padded out.

Neither of the two below is a baby shower box, so it would land as a gift for a parent rather than for the baby, which for some people is exactly right. Nothing on this page is a smaller gift for costing less.

Or start from every box I make, sorted by priceThe whole ladder, $70 to $299, including the sizes between these boxes and those.

Write to the parents, not the baby.

You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters. I write it out in pen on a real card and set it on top. Every other card at that shower is addressed to somebody who can't read yet. Yours can say something to the two people who are actually going to open it.

Stuck on what to write? You could start with one of these:

"This one's for you two, not the baby.""You're going to be good at this.""Sleep while you can."

There are more lines you can borrow in my guide to writing a gift card message.

An example of the card, written in your words

This one's for you two, not the baby. You'll need it more than she will.

Love, Rachel

How to choose a baby shower gift

The baby will be fine. The baby is about to be given more small clothes than it can wear before it grows out of them, and a shower table is mostly that. The people who need something are the two adults, who are being congratulated all afternoon and are quietly terrified. So the first question isn't how much to spend, it's who the gift is actually for. If you're close to them, buy for the parents and let the aunts handle the sleepsuits. If you don't know them well, or it's a shower for someone at work, something for the baby is the safer answer and a perfectly correct one. My guide to how much to spend on a gift in Canada goes relationship by relationship.

For the parents

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Sweet Parent-to-Be Box and the Ultimate Parent & Baby Box. At a shower, almost everything on the table is for somebody who hasn't turned up yet. These are for the two people who have, and the Sweet Parent-to-Be Box at $99 or $119 is the one I'd send.

For the baby

Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Baby Comfort Box, the Nursery Scent Box and the Ultimate Parent & Baby Box. The plain, useful end of it, including the things they'll go through faster than anyone warned them about. If you don't know the parents well, this is the correct answer and nobody will think twice about it.

Not their first

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Sweet Parent-to-Be Box and the Nursery Scent Box. A second baby gets a fraction of the fuss and the parents already own the gear, so what lands is the thing for the house and the thing for them. It's worth sending precisely because fewer people send one.

If you would rather send something for the baby alone

There are four newborn boxes on the rest of the site, at $119, and they're in the grid below. One of them is made for a shower where nobody has said which it is, and one of them has everything in it made closer to home. None of them is a shower box, so the card says what it's for.

The shelves either side of this one

Engagement, bridal shower, wedding, first anniversary: four occasions, the same couple, about eighteen months. A baby shower usually lands a couple of years past the end of that, and plenty of the people at one were at the wedding. If you're in the group where all of this is happening at once, here's the rest of it.

If you were at the wedding, the wedding boxes are the shelf you were reading two or three years ago, for a couple starting a house. This one is for the same house with a spare room being cleared out.

First anniversaries go past unmarked in almost every case, so if you know a couple whose year is coming up, a box on that date arrives completely on its own. The anniversary shelf is where those are.

And for whoever in the group is next, the engagement boxes are the easiest on this site to send, because nothing is expected of you at that stage and there is no list to buy off yet.

A baby shower is the shelf after those three rather than one of them, and it is the only one where half of what I pack is for the two adults in the room.

Questions people ask me

What is a good baby shower gift for the parents rather than the baby?

Something they'd never buy for themselves while they're buying everything for the baby. By the shower the baby has more clothes than it can wear and the two adults have had nothing, so a box aimed at them is the one thing on that table nobody else thought of. The Sweet Parent-to-Be Box at $99 or $119 is the one I'd send.

I've already bought something off the registry. Do I need a box as well?

No. One gift is one gift and nobody at that table is keeping score. The reason people end up sending both is that everything on a registry gets used up or grown out of within the year, and a box is the part of the afternoon that was chosen rather than requested. If you send one thing, send whichever of the two you would rather be remembered for.

How much should I spend on a baby shower gift?

Go by how close you are. A friend, a cousin or somebody at work sends one box and that's a whole gift. A sister or a closest friend tends to go higher, and often buys off the registry as well. My baby shower boxes run from $99 to $119 and every one of them ships free anywhere in Canada.

What is inside a baby shower gift box?

It depends on the box. Some hold the plain things a new baby goes through quickly, one is built around the nursery itself, and the others are for the parents. What goes in shifts with what's good this season, so I describe each one by how full it is and who it's for rather than listing it. There's no price on anything inside the box.

Can I send a baby shower gift if I can't be at the shower?

Yes, and it's what a lot of these go out for. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. Put the parents' address in at checkout, or the host's if the gifts are being collected, and type your message. I copy it onto the card by hand before the box goes out. I can't promise an exact arrival date, so order with room rather than aiming at the day.

What do you send for a second baby?

Something for the parents or for the house. By a second baby they already own the gear and a second shower gets a fraction of the fuss, which is exactly why a box that turns up at all is worth sending. Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Sweet Parent-to-Be Box and the Nursery Scent Box.

Can I return a baby shower gift box?

All sales are final. Every box is food, skincare and other things that can't be resold once they've left here, and each one is packed by hand to order. If you have a question before you buy, email me at team@swipegifts.com.

While you are here

Thanks for reading this far. If you have a question about any box, write to me at team@swipegifts.com. I read every email, and I write back.