New Baby Sibling Gifts

Adding a new baby to the family is an exciting and emotional time for everyone! Part of that excitement for the older kiddos is due to our tradition of New Baby Sibling Gifts!

There is so much to look forward to and be happy about. Although, for older siblings, it can sometimes be confusing or overwhelming. When so much attention is being directed at the new baby, they may feel forgotten or ignored. That’s why our family uses New Baby Sibling Gifts to help them feel more involved and part of the excitement!

It’s a Family Event!

Each time we add a new baby to the family, I try to involve the older kiddos as much as possible. They visit mommy in the delivery room while she waits for the new baby to arrive, and sit in the waiting room with other family members until . And they are some of the first visitors to welcome the new baby! They get super excited and feel special being so involved in the process.

I am super intentional about making sure they feel like they’re part of the process and celebration. I honestly believe it helps them start off on the right foot with sibling relationships and integrating the new baby into their lives.

Part of including them is making sure that the experience is fun and enjoyable for them too! That’s where New Baby Sibling Gifts come in. About the same time as I put together a hospital bag (I have a post on that too!) for myself, I also pick up a few things for the older kiddos.

Getting presents gives them something to get excited about and share in the anticipation and joy of baby arriving. It’s also a great way of providing entertainment for the long hours spent in the waiting room.

What to Include

Remember, this is all about fun and excitement! While it may be tempting, don’t go the super healthy or educational route. I’m not suggesting you load them up with sugared candy and nerf guns (boy mom!). Just try to find a few items for each of them that are mom approved, but are something they might pick out themselves. Here is the list of things I included in our New Baby Sibling Gifts.

Something Munchy

Long hours spent in a waiting room definitely call for snacks! Especially if you’re little ones are like mine and approach starvation only a short while after meals. (This is where you can satiate some of those mom instincts and go a little healthy). Pack a hearty snack you know they’ll enjoy, but will last in their tummies longer than one lap around the waiting room.

Some suggestions would be peanut butter crackers, goldfish, graham crackers, fruit cups, cereal bars, chex mix, granola bars, etc.

Something Yummy

In addition to the munchy, also throw in (even a small amount) of something yummy! It doesn’t have to be candy, but make sure it’s one of their favorites! For ours we went with gummy bears. They don’t get them very often, and were SUPER excited to find those little bears in the bag!

Here are some other yummy ideas: fun size candy bars, snack cakes, pudding

Something Fun

The trick to this one, is finding something fun for your little ones that is also waiting room appropriate. We look for toys that are interactive or hands on and that don’t make any noise. Anything that will keep their heads and hands occupied for any amount of time is ideal!

This is where the age of your kiddos is most influential. Our five year old got a small Lego set that he could work on piecing together, and our one year old got a bucket of small dinosaurs to dump out and sort through. Avoid things that require too much physical activity or flying objects like balls, nerf darts, or paper airplanes.

Just remember small, hands on, and noise free!

Something Entertaining

This one is closely related to something fun. The difference is that the entertaining item shouldn’t require any supervision and have a calming effect. For example, our gifts included a new movie and some board books! These are both things that our little ones love, but they could sit still with and not have to be overly monitored.

Let the Anticipation Build!

You can definitely include more or less than the suggestions above! Make it your own and do whatever works best for your family. We love doing New Baby Sibling Gifts with our kiddos, and try to have as much fun with it as possible!

If you’re a super mean mom like me, you can even display the gifts somewhere visible but out of reach. When they ask what they are, you can tell them that they are special New Baby Sibling Gifts that they will get when the baby is born! They’ll be as excited about the new baby’s arrival as you are!!

Adding a new baby is such a huge blessing and great celebration! Including older siblings in the excitement only makes it even more enjoyable!!

If you enjoyed reading, you might be interested in my other new baby post Bringing Baby Home: How to prepare your other child(ren)

Do you guys have any special traditions or ways of incorporating older siblings into the new baby experience? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!!!

Follow along with the This Growing Home Community on social media, I’d love to hear from you and get to know each other better! Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter.