As the twins’ birthday draws near, we often get asked what gifts we want for the kids. Strangely enough, it’s a difficult question to answer. Maybe because we already have a lot to be thankful for, and really, we just want to celebrate with family and friends, and honor God for the wonderful blessing that is parenthood.

That said, we registered at Baby Co. to help some friends pick gifts for our girls. When we registered, we were asked to pick at least 10 items. It took us a while to pick the required number of items. I guess we don’t want to end up having too many things we don’t need. We don’t have space at home to store baby stuff, and I am still planning on rearranging the nursery to make it a suitable Montessori playroom (more on this later).

So I’ve thought about it some more and looked at what we have already, as well as the space we have available. Here are some gift ideas for the girls and some notes on the rationale for these choices.

1. Cash – Haha! Yes, it’s an option. The girls have their own account. Every peso we get that is given to them since birth, even Php20 pakimkim go to their account. So it is always welcome.

2. Clothes – As their mom and fashion stylist, I prefer to dress them in matching outfits. Why? Because they’re twins and it’s cute. Also, my window for picking their clothes and dressing them the way I want is getting smaller. They will get to that age when they will have their own preferences. Until then, it’s my choice. Haha! So anyway, dresses are great. A lot of people give us bigger clothes so we already have dresses the girls can wear when they turn 4 yo. It would be good to have some that they can wear now. We currently buy clothes for 9-12 months. They will be able to wear that for a couple of months more since they are small for their age. Sleepwear is also great. SM sells affordable cotton sleepwear (in white). Cool and comfortable pambahay is also nice (sleeveless onesies, sleeveless shirts – they usually just wear sando with their cloth diaper during the day). Oh, and the Uniqlo Airism onesies are so nice and comfy! Size 80 is perfect!

3. Headbands – They can’t have too many headbands. Current head circumference is 16.5”. I recently ordered headbands with 15” elastics and they fit perfectly. Check out M+K=A in Facebook.

4. Socks – Yes, socks are a great idea. They act as fillers so they can wear the two smallest pairs of shoes they own. Plain colors are great – white, baby pink, red, purple, etc.

5. Growth Chart – Nothing fancy, though one that will fit our nursery theme should be good. Room colors are white and grey with touches of pink. We have decals of birds and owls.

6. Disposable Diapers – I have yet to convince hubby to use cloth diapers at night, so we do still use disposables. Our brand options are Pampers, Huggies and MamyPoko. We still buy Small but will be transitioning to Medium soon. So Medium is recommended.

7. MacLaren Stroller Accessories – Cup Holder, Lightweight Storage Bags, Reversible Seat Liner. Should be MacLaren brand. Please don’t buy generic stroller pad/liner because we already have those.

8. Skip Hop Geo Foam Floor Tiles – In grey and white. It is available in Mothercare, but the colors I like are always out of stock.

Skip Hop Geo
9. Skip Hop Bath Towels – Any design, doesn’t have to be matching. Available in Lazada.

10. Skip Hop Diaper BackPack (Grey Chevron) – Available in Mothercare.

skiphop-forma-diaper-backpack-gray_1

11. Tula Blankets – They are made of soft bamboo. Available at www.ceoemporium.com.

12. Furniture – White horizontal, low shelves. See photos for reference. Ikea shelves are available at The Furniture Source (FB Page). SimplyModular.ph also sells modular shelves. The 16-panel set looks good. We will use this for their Montessori-inspired room. I wish I read about Montessori learning sooner. I could have designed their nursery based on this.

downloadshelf3

I would also love the Montessori weaning chairs, available at Montessori On online store.

Weaning Chairs
13. Toys – I really don’t want to end up with so many toys that my kids won’t need. I’d like to focus on toys that will help them develop their fine motor skills. Again, Montessori-inspired toys are preferred. Wooden toys are preferred over plastic. Please check https://montessorion.store/ for high quality, Montessori-inspired toys. Check out Mom and Milly Educational Toys in Facebook.
14. Books – We can never have enough books! I really want to raise kids who love to read and learn. We do have a collection of Dr. Seuss. I also love Neil Gaiman’s boardbooks (we have three so far). We have a few favorites – Goodnight Moon, Ten Tiny Toes, Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?, I love You Through and Through, among others. I’d love to have Bible Story boardbooks. Check out Mom and Milly Educational Toys in Facebook. They have pop-up board books for only Php90. Filipino board books are also awesome. So far, we only have English story books. I’d love to have some local books that are suitable for Amaris and Alisa.
15. Beddings – Baby pillows (bolster, head pillow) in plain, or simple patterned pillow cases. To match their room theme, colors should be grey, pink and white. Plain linen is preferred, or stripes, chevron prints. Note: We never used pillows before, following guidelines in preventing SIDS. I think they are now old and big enough to use pillows.
16. Pottery Barn Blankets – Someone gave us two Poterry Barn Kids blankets as a baby shower gift, specifically, Monique Lhuillier baby blankets. Love them! They are soft and comfortable. They look great, too.  I have no idea how much they cost, and I don’t want to know. Haha! It would be good to have another set for the girls.

17. Baby-proofing/Home Safety – Now that the babies are crawling, rolling and standing, we need to baby-proof our home. Here are some items we would need – Safety First Portable Bed Rail (we already have one on one side of the bed, we need at least one more, or two), all purpose locks, finger guards, cabinet locks, appliance locks, those things you put to cover power supply outlets, and those things you put on table corners.

18. Unsweetened Organic Almond Milk or Unsweetened Organic Rice Milk – I saw some in Healthy Options. Our babies are exclusively breastfed and their pedia recommends that we continue to breastfeed until they catch up their weight and height (they are small for their age). However, we can start giving them tree/plant-based milk already (they are allergic to legumes though, so only tree nuts are ok).

19. Potty – We are going to start potty training soon. We like Potette Plus from Mothercare. Again, given space constraints, the more compact, the better. I prefer white or muted colors only.

I can’t think of anything else for now. Any other suggestions?

 

Written by Alby Laran

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