When looking for unique baby gifts how much should you spend?  There are no easy answers to this but in this article we hope to give you some things to consider when making the decision on how much to spend on a gift for a baby or newborn.

First, probably the absolute minimum is twenty dollars.  This is an amount that might be appropriate for say a co-worker who you are friendly with.  There really is no maximum amount but you should base your decision on many factors.

your relationship:

what is your relationship to the recipient?  You will spend less if this person is a casual friend and more if the person is a close friend.  Is the mother or father to be a family member or sibling or even your own child?  In any of these cases, you should be thinking of spending more than you would for a friend, even one who could be considered close.

your financial situation:

If you are strapped for cash, you really shouldn't over-do the gift buying even if it is for a close family member.  In these cases, you might be better off giving gifts of your own time.  For example, volunteer to watch the infant when the parents eventually want to take an evening away.  Or, you could volunteer to take care of some of the domestic chores around the house during this stressful time. Gifts like these are often appreciated as much or more than material things.

needs of the new mother:

If the new mother seems to have all of her and her baby's needs met for material things, then you might consider spending less money.  Don't bother spending huge sums of money for things that won't be remembered and aren't needed.

By taking all of these things into consideration we hope that some of the mystery of how much to spend when looking for unique baby gifts has been removed.