We live in the age of great baby clothing choices – today’s parents are lucky enough to have tons of fun choosing from a huge variety of great and often fun outfits for their new baby. Whether you’re a parent, family member, or friend of someone who’s had a baby, there’s a real sense of fun and excitement when it comes to choosing newborn baby clothes and gear. It can almost seem like a bit of a competitive activity, seeing who can find the most unusual, outrageous, hilarious or adorable baby outfit, costume or accessory for a newborn.
Chances are, if you’re old enough to read this article, your own baby photos will involve you wearing a variety of outfits, from beige to blue if you’re a man, and probably cream to pink if you’re a girl. Emblazoned on the front of it could have been a boat, a flower, or perhaps one of the few children’s television characters of the day. Words that don’t come to mind when you think back to your previous outfits were almost certainly memorable, eye-catching, and remarkable. Frankly, if they were notable, it was more than likely for the wrong reasons, in which case, most of said photos were probably thrown away or hidden long before then.
A brief look at the baby clothing items available in malls, mail order catalogs, or online sources reveals a plethora of options, and often with outfits, costumes, and slogans that make you stop, laugh, and reminisce. Why should our newest family members dress up in neutral colors, with simple outfits, helping them blend into the background? A proud new parent, relative, or friend will want her child to be noticed, remembered, and appreciated for being an individual part of the family unit. In many ways, baby clothes gifts help give your little one the chance to do anything but take a back seat to a gala of creams and beiges.
There are relatively few times in a child’s life when they can get away with wearing the most outrageous outfits and costumes, embellished with absurd, even risqué, slogans, and yet get away with it completely. They are completely innocent, and that innocence is their gift, as well as their escape from any guilt for the slogans that adorn their little bodies. Little boys wearing slogans like “I’m a boob man” will elicit cries of hilarity and adoration from just about everyone who sees it.
‘Party in my crib’ is another catchphrase that seems in a sense taken straight from the adult world, but with a twist that directly appeals to anyone who has seen the smallest member of the family in the smallest hours of the morning. Sometimes laughing at the situation is the only route through the first few weeks and months that gives a new parent any chance to hang on to a few shreds of sanity.
For many new parents, the smallest addition to the family can have an unnerving effect. Suddenly, it feels as if their previous identities have been folded, packed in a suitcase, and slid under the bed, ready for an indeterminate date sometime in the next decade or two. It would certainly be true to say that baby clothes gifts can help cement the family, who you are, your beliefs and weaknesses, by actively involving the new baby in some way. For example, a couple heavily into rock music, who now don’t bang their heads so much under the stars, but instead nod their heads to ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, might start to feel like their identity is slipping away. with every mouthful regurgitated as a baby. food. It’s amazing what a difference having your precious cargo in a romper suit with ‘Daddy Rocks’ or ‘Mommy Rocks’ written in heavy gothic lettering with a guitar running through the slogan can make.
You need to laugh at many aspects of raising a baby to stay sane. By the time you’ve changed your thousandth diaper, you start to feel not just like an expert, but like you’ve been doing it since you were born. Stopping and thinking about what’s actually spending so much of your time can be a bit frustrating, especially in the early days when everything is new and rather a shock. Having your bundle of joy lightly powdered by wearing a sleepsuit with ‘If you can read this, you’re close enough to change my diaper’ can help you and those around you have a good laugh at the situation.
Shopping for baby clothes gifts for new parents that come with a smile is about more than just helping to dress your kids—it’s mental health insurance.
