A co-worker left today to pick up his child from Korea. He and his wife have been on this journey for over a year, and it’s great to see the end finally arrive.
Our group was wondering what we should get them for a gift - I know they want to raise him with knowledge of his Korean heritage, but would something that specific be presumptuous? Would we be better off just buying a Baby Gap gift card?
This site has some good ideas. I especially like the idea of giving an adoption baby book in which they can chronicle the journey they took.
Yeah, I’d say play it safe. Would you buy a biological parent of a baby something about their ethnicity/heritage?
A baby shower is a baby shower is a baby shower. Get them a stroller or a diaper genie or a gift card.
Anything you would get a biological baby would be fine.
I do recommend reading this article about emphasis of the adopted child’s birth country.
Embrace of home culture can have its costs
I will pick up my daughter from Korea in a couple months or so. 
As someone who was adopted (by wonderful, loving parents who are a different racial background than myself) I second this 100%
Any gift you would get any other family with a new arrival is what I would go with…
(I might also throw in a cold 6-pack of Korean beer for the new parents; after the brutal 12 hour flight, it may hit the spot!!!)
ETA—Congrats Mahaloth!!!
On the other hand, a Korean-English dictionary will be handy when the baby starts talking.
The baby is now almost a year old, and Mom and Dad have been learning some Korean as it’s all he has heard.
I guess I wondered since they are placing emphasis on his heritage, should we do the same?
Guess not. Baby Gap it is, then.
My Korean son (about to turn 11) cares for nothing about his birth culture. He is interested in being Hmong (being in Minnesota, his Asian friends are overwhelmingly Hmong). When asked if he wanted to go to the Concordia Language Villages, his answer is no - when pressed on what village he’d choose if his mom made him go - he wants to go the the German village - or maybe Spanish.
We’ve tried. Korean school on Saturdays for a year (everyone - kids and I - hated it). Tae Kwon Do (rather play soccer and baseball or skateboard). Dinners out for Korean food (note to self, next time adopt from India - food is at least edible). His hanbok, Korea flag, Korean bamboo kite, and every book ever written that I bought in those early years are on the top of my bedroom shelf.
I’d go with a Target gift certificate myself. Always handy. Doesn’t take any special effort to use for new parents who are overwhelmed (my baby books sit unused a decade later). Showers when the baby is a year old are bittersweet - too many idiots forget that its not an infant and bring you things that remind you that you really adopted an almost toddler and didn’t give birth to an infant - which a lot of people are still healing from.
(They won’t need the Korean language books - at a year he won’t speak it, and they won’t have an accent good enough to be understood by a one year old. But its given them something to do during the long wait.)
A big stuffed teddy bear and a cuddly blanket always make wonderful gifts.
Just don’t let the baby see “Hello Kitty.” Hello Kitty turned me gay
Go practical. As a mother of 4, I can tell you that the cute outfits and teddy bears are a nice idea. But if you really want to make a meaningful gift, pay for a cleaning service to come over once or twice. Or a yard service to pull their weeds. I guarantee you they won’t have the time for cleaning or yard beautification that they used to.
Heh - absolutely! Several people brought us casseroles when Moon Unit was born and they were godsends (we already had a cleaning service). I have fond memories of a lasagna brought by one co-worker. She couldn’t find a regular-sized foil pan so wound up buying a quite large, catering-sized pan, and just kept cooking noodles and adding them and layering… we ate off that lasagna for a full week.
Gift cards are always welcome for places like Baby Gap / Gap Kids / Target wherever.
Or a savings bond is always a nice, if unexciting gift (oddly, we got quite a few of those from the family when Dweezil was born, and none when Moon Unit came along).
I’d suggest you throw in one outfit, doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just something to play in, or pants and a shirt, in a somewhat bigger size. Maybe a 2T or thereabouts. Most of the clothes they get will fit him now, and he’ll probably have more than the average one-year-old can use. Or get them diapers, one size up from what he’s using now. Then when he unexpectedly needs the bigger ones, they’ll have something until they can shop. Backup is always a good idea for new parents. I like the gift card idea, but I always loved seeing my kids in things that other people gave them. It was a nice reminder of the people who gave the gift, and fun to see what they chose for him.