A baby's first Christmas on a budget

Whether you're looking to buy presents for your baby's first Christmas or buying for someone else's, it doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Our guest blogger this week is Clare from the leading personalised babywear brand 'PeachiBoo'. Clare’s here to provide insight into preparing for her first Christmas as a mum and how to keep the cost down. Having set up PeachiBoo from scratch this year with another new mum, she knows only too well the difficulties of making the family finances go further.

Preparing for my first Christmas as a mum on a budget

Along with many other new mums, I am busy preparing for my daughter, Sophie’s, first Christmas. With her First Birthday also approaching in January, and a very tight budget, I have been scouring the shops for age-appropriate toys and gifts that offer value for money and longevity. Sophie has always enjoyed making noise, although let’s call it ‘music’! Her toy box is brimming with homemade shakers (finally a use for the red lentils and pearl barley bought on a health kick), and you can’t beat an empty tin with a wooden spoon (making an educational toy is a perfectly legitimate excuse to purchase that supersize tin of choccies…). I have been gathering a few new bits to add to her music box this Christmas, in the form of maracas, castanets, jingly bells and tambourines, which should make the wrapped presents under the tree all the more exciting as they will give something back when they are explored and shaken about. Lots of the big supermarkets sell musical instruments at very reasonable prices, and there are some beautiful wooden instruments in some of the independent toy shops.

I have also used Christmas as an excuse to go shopping for some lovely little pieces to liven up her wardrobe (‘but it’s for Christmas!’ has made it far easier to justify said purchases to the Hubby), and have spent a disproportionate amount of time looking for the perfect Christmas party dress (For her. Gone are the days when I could spend hours in the shops looking for my own party dress, in fact, gone are the days when I had lots of parties to go to…). Of course, to match her new party dress I shall be accessorizing her with a co-ordinating personalised First Christmas bib, to protect said dress from the inevitable smears of turkey, sprouts and Christmas pud.  In terms of larger items, the Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles seem to have it covered, with trikes, tables and chairs, activity cubes and walkers. Who are we to compete? We shall play our own trump card in the summer, with her ‘Official Birthday’ (if it’s good enough for the Queen…) when we will give Sophie her ‘main’ present from us.

One thing is for certain, come Christmas day, whatever is inside the paper, will prove far less exciting than the shiny paper in which it is enclosed, a realisation that prompted a hunt around the shops looking for a sparkly paper that would withstand being pulled, twisted and chewed.  As for a stocking, there’s one out there with her name on it, literally.

About PeachiBoo:

PeachiBoo.co.uk was set up by two new mums, Jo and Clare, to provide personalised baby wear with a focus on both quality and fashion. All clothing is made in the UK so that British manufacturers are supported, with free delivery on all orders over £30. Christmas gifts including personalised Christmas bibs and stockings are available to order online at www.peachiboo.co.uk