baby love

i mean, let's be real, baby gifts don't need much dressing up to be utterly adorable, but i think that like most gifts, proper presentation just adds loveliness and value to what you're giving.

when i'm shopping for a baby gift, i usually like to go the route of an ensemble of items in a general color story that i know can be worn/used together or with other things the baby is likely to receive. i also make sure to carefully select the vessel i'm giving it in, so that it can be used as well. also, i find that the more coordinated each piece is with the others, the more appealing the whole package is.

when it comes to choosing a color scheme, if i know the colors of the nursery or layette, i go that way with all my purchases, but if not, i choose classic colors with a fresh twist. the basket pictured above was for a family's first baby girl, so i went pink-crazy. though you can't get more classic than pink for a girl, i chose some more updated pieces like the peace sign onesie so it would still feel current. when doing a basket like this, i also try to use one item that is fancy and special that new parents might be unlikely to splurge on. in this case, it was the cream jacket with the faux-fur and embroidered collar. everyone that saw it was moved to say "do they make it in my size?"


no, they don't. it's a baby jacket.


for this basket, i started with about 20 items and a large plastic basket in green and yellow, which were the registry colors, as they didn't know whether they were having a boy or girl. most of the items i used came in multi-packs which i unwrapped and disassembled so that i could stretch them to look like the most they could. this is a great trick when making baskets and giftbags - for example, 6 onesies individually rolled and placed look like a lot more than one tiny package with six onesies stuffed in. you can see this concept demonstrated by seeing everything packaged here.


doesn't look like much when you look at it this way, but then i laid out some yellow raffia and clipped each item on with a clothespin, which required re-placing each one a few times to get the weight distribution right.


there were a few larger items that were too heavy or bulky for the clothesline, so i made those the base of the basket on top of the tissue paper.


once that was done, i just coiled the whole string into the basket and placed a clip with a note that said "lift" on top of the teddy bear so the mom knew how to "unwrap" it. then i stuffed the top of the basket so it was overflowing with yellow tissue paper, packed it into a jumbo green and yellow gift bag and showered the mommy-to-be with onesies!