The wife and I are off to a baby’s first birthday party in a few hours, and we need a gift. These folks, not two weeks ago, just handed-down to us a lot of toys for our newborn, as they’re trying to downsize. So I think buying a new toy is probably tone-deaf in this situation.
What should we bring, then?
Wine
Books, with a gift receipt. Target has children’s books.
Or, just get a Target gift card.
Bunch of flowers? Houseplant?
Books.
Box of Kleenex. The pop up kind. Perfect gift for this age of kiddo, as they pull one out and toss it and - holy cow, would you look at that?! There’s another one! Pull, toss, giggle, repeat.
Good parents will get a kick out of it. Uptight parents will think you’re a weirdo. So maybe bring a book as well, but I guarantee the Box of Kleenex will be the kiddo’s favorite gift today.
Minecraft
That’s exactly what I was thinking. One-year-olds like Kleenex, they like empty boxes they can climb into, and wrapping paper that they can tear up. Since none of these exactly scream “gift” you can also add an age-appropriate stuffed animal or a board book.
savings bond or a piggy bank with a baggie of loose change
If the kid is still crawling, edible paper. Rice paper or that stuff for wrapping sushi.
IME, what crawlers really really want is to find random pieces of paper on the floor and put them in their mouths. And nobody ever lets them. Sushi paper absolutely made Thing 2’s first Christmas.
New bath toys. Pretty much all little kids have duckies and whatnot for the bath and the companies insist on putting holes in them so they get mildewy insanely fast. Having some spares in the house is a very good thing.
Gift certificate for the parents for a night out. Include dinner, show, and babysitting.
Also cant go wrong with another box of diapers. Those suckers get expensive.
Subscription to baby magazine, such as Babybug Cricket Media or Highlights Hello https://store.highlights.com/highlights-hello-magazine-for-kids.
This. They’re probably interested in ‘reading’, but don’t quite have the attention span just yet.
So board books by Byron Barton are good ones for kids who are just now one, and the Sandra Boynton ones will be good for kids a few months older through probably 3 or so.
One time use/Disposable cameras and maybe a scrapbook to go with it. I also like to use these as baby shower gifts.
My reasoning - one of my good friends had an absolutely adorable picture of her son that she had taken with her cell phone. He had a blanket over his head, peeking out, and looked like a baby in a cave. I told her how cute it was, urged her to print it for his scrapbook, and asked her to please print me a copy. She agreed to give me a copy. She agreed the picture was “way too cute,” and she’d make a copy for him to have later. Two months later, I asked about it again, and she had taken so many pictures, she had deleted it to make room for the new ones! :eek:
She never printed it. 
The first picture he gave me of him was the kindergarten picture taken by the school.
It seems to me that a lot of people don’t print pictures anymore. If someone shows me pictures of their vacation, it’s on a computer screen. I have pictures of vacations I’ve taken that I’ve had blown up and framed on my wall. (I’ve always liked pictures.)
The cameras have always been a hit with expectant mothers at a baby shower. They always tell me they’ll put it in the diaper bag, so when someone babysits, they can take pictures if the baby does anything cute. That way they don’t have to miss it.
I don’t know, maybe I’m getting too old, but I think a kid ought to have a scrapbook. :o
A kitten.
Yep.
Whatever you get her, it should be loud & noisy, with flashing lights.
Oh, and books. Obviously. Get her some of those to read while she listens to her noisemaker.
Bubbles. Bubble making toys.
Theses are good for the first several years.
And a dog. And a pony. Boy, will THAT kid be happy!