Go green at all times of the year and with nearly any item – including baby gifts for Christmas or Chanukah. Yet, finding green baby gifts can be a challenge, as most retailers don’t carry them. Standard baby products, from mattresses and sheets to toys, tend to contain chemicals, be it PVC, phthalates, or BPA, and these leach out and enter a child’s environment. For doing something good for the environment and reducing your own or someone else’s carbon footprint, here are some suggestions for green baby gifts:

• Eco-friendly diaper cakes from Rattlecake put a mundane yet necessary item in an attractive package. A typical Rattlecake diaper cake has 80 to 150 diapers and various baby toys attached to the outside. Eco-friendly diaper cakes have Seventh Generation diapers and assorted organic cotton and corn fiber-filled toys on the outside.

• Baby Planet Zoey Strollers are environmentally friendly and safe – two qualities any parent enjoys. Each Zoey stroller can be used with timi & leslie diaper bags and is equipped with all-terrain wheels and a five-point harness.

• Naturepedic mattresses come in sizes for babies and children. Regardless of the size, however, all Naturepedic mattresses are made out of organic cotton, without harmful chemicals and allergens, and are waterproof.

• On the same subject as bedding, consider a Moses basket stand for a parent who has one of these temporary baby beds. Each is made out of organic wood with no paint, stains, or toxic finishes.

• Yellow Label Pink Cuddle Dolls are all handmade – no machines or child labor is involved. Each soft toy, which can be given to a baby or toddler, is made by hand in accordance with Fair Trade practices.

• Surprise a new mother with a Lassig Vintage Metro diaper bag. With a colorful print, each diaper bag is made without PVC, nickel, AZO dyes, or phthalates.

Christmas and Chanukah are only a few weeks away, and if you’re looking for a baby gift, for your own child, a friend’s, or family member’s, you might be stuck on what to get. Toy stores are no help; the options are endless, and you might not be able to discern what is useful and what’s not. In general, follow guidelines for purchasing a holiday baby gift as you would for a shower: fun yet practical. Consider the following suggestions:

• Toys, toys, toys. A kid can’t ever have too many toys; yet, parents find that some activities are more useful than others. While play appears to be for fun, it’s educational for babies and toddlers but not in the ways you may think. Rather than reaching for Your Baby Can Read, find toys that stimulate a child’s senses, assist with building motor skills, or encourage creative or critical-thinking skills. For babies, these toys are often black, white, and red or have various colors and textures. For toddlers, on the other hand, soft toys that keep them active, such as blocks, dolls, or play sets, are your best bet.

• Be practical. Parents can never have too many onesies or diapers. But rather than going a mundane route, dress up your present. Holiday diaper cakes have a fun appearance and include 80 to 150 diapers. For clothing, consider the child’s age or size and go with basics: onesies, t-shirts, footies, or pants. Also, if parents prefer pink or blue, make sure to keep colors in mind.

• Think about parents’ wants or needs. Is a new mother carrying around an ordinary diaper bag? Surprise her with one that looks like a designer handbag on the outside but is equipped with all the features a parent needs inside. Or, if parents are in need of a new stroller, car seat, or crib, consider purchasing one, but ask about their preferences beforehand.

Fathers should be included in baby showers, too. After all, having a baby and parenting are two-person jobs. The mother shouldn’t be expected to do it all on her own, yet the mother-centric culture of parenting often alienates fathers. Perhaps these reasons are behind the rise in co-ed baby showers and diaper parties. According to a piece in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, diaper parties are great opportunities for fathers-to-be to get ready for parenthood.

In concept, a diaper party and baby shower are essentially the same type of event. At both, a group of family members and friends join a parent-to-be for a few hours and bring gifts; the group spends the afternoon playing some games and eating. A diaper party differs in that, aside from all guests being men, diapers are the only gifts given and traditional baby shower games are eschewed in favor of more grown-up activities, such as poker or a barbecue.

Parents will spend $70 a month for diapers, on average, and a diaper party is great for amassing a starting supply. Nevertheless, the event signifies to the father-to-be that he’s being included as a parent, and prepares him for fatherhood.

Diaper parties haven’t been around long enough for a strict code of etiquette to develop. Because these events are so casual, a guest can show up with a basic pack of diapers. If you want to dress up your gift and still be practical, however, consider a diaper cake. High-quality diaper cakes have 80 to 150 diapers and are designed with baby products on the outside. Although attractive in appearance, a diaper cake is practical for new parents, providing them with a large starting supply of diapers (these will be added to the rest of all of the guests) and a few necessary baby products.

Going green has gone beyond turning the light off when you leave a room or recycling. In the present, being green is all about reducing your carbon footprint and limiting exposure and use of harmful chemicals. If you have been asked to plan a baby shower, you might have been instructed to make it as green as possible. This appears to be the case for one woman who wrote to Mother Nature Network about how to plan a green baby shower.

Morieka Johnson wrote in response some suggestions for putting together a green baby shower, and many of her suggestions overlap with ours for being economical with a new baby:

• Send all guests digital invitations
• Stick with a simple theme instead of games
• Go with practical decorations (See our diaper cake suggestion below)
• Make the event a potluck and ask guests to bring some food
• Suggest bringing lightly-worn baby products, such as bedding, clothing, and toys. Used furniture, strollers, and car seats are questionable.

While all of Johnson’s suggestions are helpful for planning a baby shower – any, not just a green party – we have some of our own. Eco baby products are now as attractive as ordinary baby items and are affordable. To add some color to the event, consider:

• Eco-friendly diaper cakes by Rattlecake. A diaper cake is both an attractive centerpiece at a baby shower and a practical gift, providing parents with a large starting supply of diapers. Eco-friendly diaper cakes take this a step further by being made out of organic and environmentally-friendly products. Each diaper cake is made out of Seventh Generation diapers and includes Burt’s Bees products and Dandelion baby toys, which are made out of organic cotton and corn filling.
• Choose an eco-friendly baby gift. Stores like Dada Baby Boutique have a large selection of green items, such as furniture, clothing, bedding, and toys.

You’d think that, with all of the coverage surrounding celebrity babies even before they leave the womb, Victoria Beckham’s baby shower would have been covered in the news sooner. Yet, news of her May 7 baby shower didn’t hit the tabloids until May 16 – even in the U.K., where Beckham and her soccer player husband are far larger celebrities than they are in the U.S. Perhaps the paparazzi are far more concerned with Mariah Carey’s twins than they are with the Beckham’s fourth spawn.

Nevertheless, as reported in celebrity gossip blog Hollywood Life, Beckham was thrown a pink-themed baby shower at the Hotel Le Petit Ermitage in Hollywood. A-list guests, including Selma Blair, Eva Longoria, and Nichole Richie, were invited. Source Beginnings, a Hollywood baby boutique, claims that, even with Beckham’s insistence that all gifts be pink, guests chose presents in other colors.

Baby products used by celebrities are not as far removed as, say, fashion choices. A Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag is closer to the average woman’s budget than a pair of Louboutins or a Hermes bag. If you are curious about the gifts given to Beckham, the following items have been mentioned by Hollywood Life and the Daily Mail:
• A Quinny Buzz Special Edition Stroller in pink
• A mamaRoo baby swing
• A Hoppop bath tub
• A Little Giraffe Luxe Blanket
• A Timi + Leslie diaper bag
• A custom-made stuffed giraffe by Melissa & Doug
• A Bonpoint clothing set
• An Orbit Baby Infant Stroller in red
• A Bloom Alma crib; and
• A Bloom Fresco high chair

Surprising a friend at a baby shower with a gift like one Victoria Beckham received isn’t out of the question. In fact, many of these brands can be found through ordinary baby boutiques. Baby and Me Boutique, for instance, carries Quinny Buzz strollers and Timi + Leslie diaper bags. Brands Melissa and Doug and Little Giraffe are sold through Hunky Dory.

You’ve been invited to the baby shower for a friend of a friend, and when you go to choose a baby gift, you essentially have two options – pink or blue. No matter if the toy or item is a set of blocks, onesies, a blanket, or stuffed animal, these two colors practically predominate. Unisex or gender-neutral items are only a small percentage of the baby products on the shelf. So, what do you choose?

If the shower is for a girl, you’re in luck and have a plethora of options. For a boy, however, you’re stuck. Although blue, to a certain extent, is appropriate for girls (assuming you don’t give her an action figure), pink appears to exclusively be a girls’ color. When there are no blue baby gifts, should you settle on pink – it is only a toy, after all – or look for another option?

Writer Rachel Kramer Bussel seems trapped in the same type of dilemma, which she details in a piece for the Huffington Post. She decided to give a baby gift, a similar and favorite item she had for her child, but could only find it in pink. Rather than looking for another gift in blue, she sent the pink baby toy instead.

Bussel, although still waiting for a response about the toy, still questions her decision. While the child likely will not remember the toy, the parents, however, may be put off or taken aback. Pink, socially, is not considered an appropriate color for boys, and a pink baby toy, as a result, appears like a feminist agenda in a box. Will the parents use it, put it in a closet, or think that Bussel is making a political statement out of a baby toy?

There is no concrete answer to Bussel’s dilemma. Ideally, the use of the toy would trump its color. Blue, as a masculine shade, is considered empowering for girls, but pink does the reverse for boys – debasing or feminizing. In such an instance, going with the unisex option appears to cause the least commotion and confusion.

Creativity and practicality need to meet whenever you choose a baby gift. Although an item can be attractive in appearance, it is useless if a parent can’t use it regularly. Even though a red and green bootie set and hat might be perfect for the holidays, a parent has no use for it after December 25. Clothing, however, is not out of the question, and neither are toys, blankets, and other baby products. Even if ordinary in appearance, a baby product can be dressed up for the occasion and used for a few months after.

If you’re looking for holiday baby gifts for a friend, consider some of these items:

• Baby Clothes. Children, and babies in particular, can never have too many clothes. Items get soiled, they become small, or they just become worn after a few uses. Parents, as a result, are always in need of new baby clothes — onesies, t-shirts, and other items. But with a wardrobe consisting nearly entirely of solid color cotton clothing, a special occasion outfit – one that can be worn at least a few times – adds a little variation.
• Baby Toys. Is there a toy that a child won’t refuse? For babies, a new toy is more than a source of a new play item; a toy is often an item that he or she has never seen. Although baby toys for the first six months consist of items involving sight and hearing senses, those designed for six-month-olds and older encourage touch and gross motor skills, such as rolling, crawling, and touching. Play mats, for example, have enough space for rolling and offer many items for touching. Various soft baby toys are also designed with a varied surface, multiple colors, and noises.
• Diaper cakes. Typically a baby shower item, diaper cakes are useful to parents all year round. Each diaper cake is made with 80 to 150 diapers arranged in two to four tiers. Various baby products are attached to the outside. As parents always need diapers, a diaper cake gives them a large supply. Designers like Rattlecake, as well, make specific holiday cakes.

Have you been invited to a baby shower recently? For some women, especially those in their mid- to late-twenties, this might be the first time they’ve been invited to a shower. Although much like any other party, baby showers have their own set of rules regarding gift-giving, spending, and replying to invitations. If you’ve been invited but aren’t sure what to give, here are some baby shower etiquette tips.

When it comes to picking out a gift, $20 to $70 is an acceptable range for baby shower gifts. Coworkers and acquaintances should aim for the lower range — $20 to $40 – while family and close friends should go higher. If you’ve been sent an invitation but aren’t able to attend, still reply and, much like a wedding, send a small gift to the parents-to-be.

Also similar to weddings is the use of a gift registry. Parents, especially those needing specific items for their child, don’t want to sift through a large amount of useless baby products. Instead, guests in this case are advised to check their gift registry and find items that new parents could use.

Aside from these tips, a general word of advice is to consider the needs of the parents, gift registry or not. Most parents, by the time the shower rolls around, already have many of the larger items for their child, such as a stroller, crib, and other furniture. Mainly, at this point, they need the basics – and lots of them. Baby clothing and toys are perfect, but considering a child will outgrow these two aspects every three months, think about the long-term needs of the parents.

Even though parents need as much clothing and toys as possible for their child, still ask about what they have ahead of time. Especially where second children are concerned, parents may already have a large amount of baby products on hand.

Are you planning a baby shower for a friend? And, are you struggling to come up with a unique concept for the party? A few articles regarding baby showers were published over the past week. One focuses on diaper cakes, a practical centerpiece for showers, and another presents a nearly-unheard-of concept: a gift-less baby shower.

The former, published in Parent Dish, presents diaper cakes as a practical and colorful gift. The article gives some tips on choosing diaper cakes, including considering the mother’s tastes, such as her favorite colors and sports team. On the practical side, the cakes also give new parents a starting supply of diapers, and, in this case, a larger cake starts new parents off with a bigger supply.

Nevertheless, the current economic climate shows that, perhaps, traditional baby showers simply aren’t feasible. An article in the Green Bay Press Gazette presents another idea for such events: gift-less baby showers. In these instances, parents aren’t obligated to bring baby gifts, but, ultimately, the decision should be up to the mother.

The article discusses the concerns of a mother having her second child. She would like a shower for the gathering atmosphere but, rather, doesn’t want the presents because she has several baby products already. Instead, the author presents a few ideas. A luncheon is one, but more specifically geared toward a new baby is an “advice” party about parenting, a book shower, hand-me-down parties, and a literal “birth day” party after the baby is born. In many of these instances, gifts are optional.

Nevertheless, this article brings up a common issue concerning baby showers: will the parents already have enough or will they have this specific item? Although parents expecting their first child will need more, ask the expecting parents what they already have and, in general, stick with smaller and necessary items.

Going to a baby shower? If it’s your first time at such an event, knowing which baby gift to choose is hard. Baby Aspen, one of the leaders in baby gifts, recently announced a new line of gifts – nearly all appropriate for a baby shower – in a press release. Many of their new baby gifts are animal themed, with several patterns of sea and safari creatures, and many of these can be personalized. While the Welcome to the World gift set is one of the most sought-after products by this brand, the new gifts and sets by Baby Aspen use this same concept to combine toys with baby clothes, blankets, and other necessary products.

Baby Aspen is popular at many mid-range to upscale baby boutiques. The brand can be found at Designer Baby, Dada Baby Boutique, and Baby and Me Boutique. Each store carries a combination of gift sets and individual toys, blankets, and baby clothes.

In terms of finding a baby shower gift, Baby Aspen is a brand that many look for. Several of their gift sets combine style with practicality. Generally made with an animal theme in mind, their various gift sets have several basic baby items put together in an attractive package.

Practicality is an important factor when choosing a baby gift. A baby shower is a time for parents to acquire several basic items for their new baby, and, while they may have some of the larger items like strollers and a crib, smaller items, such as clothing and toys, are often appropriate. If you can’t pick just one item, gift baskets or sets, such as those by Baby Aspen, put several of these necessary items together in a package. Individual items often given at a shower, however, range from sets of clothing, especially t-shirts and onesies, to blankets and baby toys.