Baby’s First Birthday – Gift Guide
Last week my baby girl turned one. The last 12 months have passed in a bit of a blur, but we have loved every minute of having her in our lives.
Deciding what to buy for her first milestone birthday was quite the challenge, but helped a little by the fact that her older sister offered quite a large number of hand-me-downs, she ended up with quite a wide selection! Here’s what we gave Neve to open (with her sister’s help) this September and the reasons why we chose them! I hope that this gives you some inspiration if you are preparing for your own little persons’ big day!
On the move
At one, most babies have started to master the art of movement, whether it be crawling, cruising or walking. Neve is now crawling fast and with confidence, and has started cruising around the sofa with just the one hand for support. Unlike her sister who was walking by her 1st birthday, she is not quite there yet, but is slowly gaining confidence in standing on her own, and attempting to figure out how to balance!
We all fell in love with the Fisher-Price Zoom & Crawl Monster – pop the balls in and watch as he spits them back out before moving around on the floor, encouraging her to follow. Not only does The Zoom & Crawl Monster get Neve moving around the room after him, but also encourages her to stand up and pop the balls back into his head. Having watched her play with him lots, I can already see Neve trying to stand up from sitting position with just one hand or unaided.
The Great Outdoors
Like most babies, Neve LOVES to get outside. We were lucky enough to receive a SmarTrike 5-in-1 Infinity to review last month, and if your child doesn’t already have one by their first birthday, I would whole heartedly recommend one. Not only do they allow your child a fun way of getting out and closer to the action, but they grow with your child from 10 months to 3 years of age. See it in action here:
First Marks / Drawing & Craft
At one year, Neve is just starting to learn that crayons are more than just for eating! 🙂 Being quite a creative and crafty person, I am keen to introduce Neve to colouring in and paint, so the My First range from Maped is perfect. With large chunky crayons and pens perfect for little hands, these will be a great tool to encourage mark making and scribbling with Neve and I am sure Erin will be very keen to help. The finger paint pots are also perfect for a bit of messy play.
Shapes / Patterns / Spacial Awareness
Neve is now able to pick things up and move them around unaided (normally trying to steal things off her sister, much to Erin’s annoyance). Shape sorters are PERFECT for one year olds, and a great way to try and encourage them to make sense of their surroundings, including an understanding of size and shape. A big fan of Miffy, we LOVE this Miffy wooden shape sorter, and Neve really enjoys banging the pieces off the sides!
Another MASSIVE Hit was these Tomy Shake & Sort Cupcakes – this set reminds me very much of the Tomy Hide n Squeak eggs that Erin had when she was younger, but with an edible theme instead! Babies can swap the tops of these super cute cupcakes before trying to slot them back into the right place in their case. They have adorable faces, and are the perfect size for little hands. Neve loves trying to stack them up and hearing them rattle when she shakes them.
We have lots of Mega Bloks from when Erin was little including the fab Mega Bloks Build n Learn Table, again perfect for Neve to pull herself up against and bang, tap and build. The chunky bricks are perfect for smaller hands and have no small parts so I can be confident she wont get her hands on anything she shouldn’t. This was a real hit with Erin, and I am confident it will be enjoyed again 2nd time around.
Learning Toy
Neve loves music and dancing, and any interactive toy that features a sound is always likely to be a big hit.
We already have a BeatBo which we bought by her Grandad for Christmas, but if you don’t have one again I would recommend. His dancing is somewhat infectious, and it is SO funny watching Neve’s head bop as she tries to copy.
We also gave Neve the Teletubbies Rock & Roll Po – she is a big fan of the Teletubbies (I can’t quite get over the fact they’ve been around for over 10 years), and like a large weeble, she loves this musical toy which features instruments sounds, melodies and lights.
Another fun activity toy is Tomy’s Mr Shopbot – a shopping based robot toy –Â feed the coins to his mouth and watch him chomp and giggle, before popping open his till and retrieving them back again! Mr Shopbot comes with two grocery items for scanning, and is suitable from 18 months, so this is one for her to grow into! For now, she loves collecting the coins and is just attempting to slot them into his mouth unaided.
Bath Toys
I am yet to meet a one year old who doesn’t love a bath, and Neve is no exception! Given the choice, Neve would happily spend hours playing with toys in the water, and her skin being sensitive is the only reason I have to stop her doing it every day!
HUGE fans of Sophie, and both girls have had Sophie items as a baby – including the Traditional teether and Fan Fan the Fawn. These Sophie Giraffe Aqua Bath Sets are lots of fun with a familiar character I know she loves. Neve loves flicking through the pages of the little Sophie bath book, and floating round the three mini ships. As a Mum, I love the fact the net can be used to pop all the toys neatly out the way when not being used – no more stepping on a boat whilst you’re trying to have a shower! 🙂
One gift that has been a hit with both girls is the Tomy Toomies Fountain Rocket – lift it up and see the water zoom out the sides as he flies up into space! At first Neve was a little bit shocked by the affect, but now she is used to it she absolutely loves to watch as I zoom it up out the water!
Meal Time
With Neve we are trying to encourage self feeding and more of an interest in food. Whilst she doesn’t eat a great deal, she does drink water well from a cup, and I fell in love with this Miffy bowl spoon and cup set. With a gender neutral colour scheme and the adorable Miffy characters Neve loves these were sure to be a hit.
Books & Bedtime Routine
I have started to incorporate books into Neve’s routine as much as possible, and she is now able to hold one herself and turn the pages. I love the “That’s Not My” Books and we have lots from when Erin was a baby – she used to love touching the different textures on the pages. We treated Neve to then new “That’s Not My Unicorn“ which is a recent addition to the range.
Sophie also has a range of fun learning books including this Fun First Words Book which will help me teach Neve about words and items around the home, as well as having stickers and activities for when she is older.
Overall Neve was spoiled rotten this birthday, and I hope some of the themes and ideas will prove useful for anyone else planning a birthday haul themselves!
Disclosure – Some of the items listed above are press samples or review items (reviews coming soon). This post contains affiliate links.
Oh what a cute collection of toys for a 1 year old, I love the fountain rocket, that is such a fun addition to a bath.
Some really lovely ideas here. We loved Sophie roo and anything Miffy is a winner in our house. I am struggling to think of ideas for my soon to be 2 year old. Could have done with this last year!
What a sweet post, lots of lovely first birthday ideas here! My little one is two next month and I am struggling as to what to get him, could have done with this a year ago.
Aww happy belated birthday, you got some lovely items, I am like the bathroom items more as well as the items that help with a child’s learning.
A great selection of ideas for a first birthday. You can’t go wrong with some of the traditional brands like Fisher Price.
Perfect, my littlest one has his first birthday coming up in a few weeks time, where has it gone?! I love the look of the cupcakes – and the bath basket! I stood on a piece of lego in the shower one, I don’t want to do that again in a hurry!!
I love the rocket toy for the bathtub! #HumpDayLinky
Such a cute selection! I especially love the bath toy and the Miffy shape sorter. #humpdaylinky
What a beautiful collection of first birthday toys!! I love the little monster one at the top!
My niece will be one in a few months and she already has the shake and sort eggs! SHE LOVES THEM. Great guide x
I e been struggling for ideas on what to get my daughter for her first birthday the foundation rocker would be great as Mia loves her baths
Congrats on her first birthday, I think you smashed it on the gift front, it’s a great selection 🙂
Love gift ideas here. I love the Teletubies toy. My kids would like that.
12 months! Doesn’t time fly? What a great collection of gifts. Great that the crawl monster gets her moving :)!
What a great gift guide! We love the selection you’ve picked. When I was younger I loved playing in the bath with my toys!
Hi, what a lovely post and some great ideas for a first birthday gifts. I love the Fisher Price Walker with its bright colours #humpdaylinky
She is soooo adorable. Happy Birthday to Your little girl, time does fly
Darcie loves drawing so that first marks kit would have been amazing. Henry less so…..I wonder if it’s a girl thing #HumpDayLinky
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Great ideas here. Bath toys were always a hit with my boys at that age xx
Oh what great presents. I love the Miffy set. Such jolly colours.
I found it really tough finding things to buy Zach for his first birthday because he already has so many toys from his older brother and sister! We have the bath rocket: it’s fab!
It’s lovely to see all these toys again – takes me back down memory lane when they were into all these toys whereas now all they want is screens and toys are redundant. Bring back those exploring days! #HumpDayLinky
I have actually just gone a bought the zoom and crawl after seeing this list. It looks so much fun!
What lovely ideas and as a massive Miffy fan and wooden toys fan that shape sorter would be my first choice!
Such a cutie! Lovely gift ideas, bath toys are always a winner! 🙂
some great gift ideas here that I am sure will help out any mom with a bay of this age also for Xmas approaching too
Aw, bless her! Happy birthday Neve! 🙂 What a wonderful selection of presents! I can’t believe the Teletubbies are still around after all these years! Haha! 🙂 xx
Firstly what an absolute cutie your little on is. I remember my twins 1st birthday like it was yesterday…. they turn 21 in November! I love the different gifts you have mentioned, especially the little Po tellytubby.
What a lucky little lady! So many lovely gifts bought for her x
Fab selection of gift ideas! It’s our god sons first birthday next week so I need to get something sorted fast!
Happy birthday, beautiful Neve! I love all the amazing gifts!
Awww there’s so many amazing gift ideas! I love the bath toys, great way to get children to have fun in the water.
I would definitely go for bath toys! Best to make baths as much fun as possible!
What a lucky girl! Those bath toys do look super fun, I remember I used to have telly tubby ones 🙂
We got BB a SmarTrike for her first birthday – we’ve still got it ready for number three! #humpdaylinky