As promised, the last post stuck to the basics so that I could leave room for the fun stuff here. I will mostly recommend brands and websites and let you do the browsing to find clothes, nursery decor and toys that fit your vibe. Enjoy!
Clothes: I do actually want to start out by saying that snaps are the devil and I will only tolerate them as a triple snap on the bottom of a onesie. If anyone buys you a full body snap outfit please return immediately.
Monica and Andy has cute prints and great kimono options and these side tie rompers for little ones when its hard to put things over their head.
Angel Dear has a hard to navigate website, but some really cute onesies, overalls and great sales.
The ONLY pajama your baby will need is from Magnetic Me—especially for those early days of many midnight changes. No snaps = no problems. This is the #1 thing I buy for expecting friends.
My favorite brand in terms of design is Mini Rodini, beautiful and quirky and so Swedish. Please note I only buy their items on sale (cause they $$). Alex and Alexa is a great place to find their stuff and other very chic European brands on sale.
Burt’s Bees is a great option for the price, as is Tea.
For a more fanicful baby (think daisy or dinosaur appliques) go for Boden Baby.
Yes, your baby does need tiny sunglasses thank you very much.
No child’s wardrobe is complete without a pair of OshKosh overalls.
Tiny feet do not need shoes until around a year old but that did not stop be from buying baby checkerboard vans. Socks really do NOT stay on under six months so you have to have Zutano booties if you want them to stay on. After that, Bombas for babies are the best!
Nursery Decor
Both Crate&Kids and Pottery Barn Kids are great starting points. Some great things to personalize a baby’s room is a fun lamp and storage containers for toys or laundry.
One of the best things to pick out is your baby’s mobile, I’m partial to anything Djeco makes.
Toys
The Europeans once again outdo us in terms of quality of materials, simplicity and therefore are of course, higher priced. German company Grimm makes lots of wood colorful blocks and Janod, a French company makes a lot of my favorite tactile toys. Manhattan Toy Co is holding it down for American options.
I strongly believe that the best toys you can get is some kind of Montessori toy subscription, we use Lovevery and really enjoy getting them every two months. They include instructions and childhood milestones.
I would also recommend Lovevery’s playgym as a great registry item (use my code: SAR2MQ8V for $20 off any Lovevery purchase).
One item I had no idea about before having a baby were “activity blankets” luckily we got a few and they were here favorite for the first few months of life. She loved this activity elephant and this tag-filled blanket.
That said, my baby’s favorite toy of all time may be these $3 maracas. Also this $15 guitar so she can rockamole.
Don’t cut the tags off anything—that will be half of their enjoyment playing with the tag!
Books
Her favorite first books were these “crunchy books” with fun animal tails
Anything with a mirror or peek-a-boo will also be a hit
Artsy Bebe
Since we needed all the items related to art for babies I could find, these are my top recommendations compiled into one list.