The Rise of First Christmas Gifts for New Parents in 2023

The first Christmas after a baby is born is not really about the baby. Development experts are very clear that newborns have no real understanding of holidays or gifts, and often barely notice what is in their own hands. Yet by the early 2020s, holiday guides from parenting brands, lactation specialists, toy companies, and major retailers all started converging on the same insight: the baby’s first Christmas is a milestone for the parents.

For e‑commerce founders, especially in on‑demand printing and dropshipping, this shift is a quiet but powerful opportunity. The “first Christmas” gift is becoming less of a novelty onesie and more of a bundle of emotional support, practical relief, and long‑term memory making. Understanding that shift is essential if you want your holiday catalog to resonate in 2023 and beyond.

Why The First Christmas Is About Parents, Not Presents

Several of the sources behind this research make the same developmental point: infants and young toddlers do not understand the idea of presents. ANB Baby notes that many newborns already have plenty of clothes, blankets, and gear before they are born, and that the mechanics of unwrapping gifts are often frustrating. Babies typically latch onto a single new object while adults do most of the unwrapping, if they engage at all.

The Good Play Guide reaches a similar conclusion. It encourages parents not to overspend on piles of toys and instead focus on a small number of age‑appropriate, useful items. What matters for the day is not the quantity of gifts, but whether the family can stay relaxed and enjoy time together.

From the parents’ side, the emotional context is intense. A mother writing for Life Inspiration File describes feeling like a completely different person bringing her first baby home only days after birth, and how the second postpartum period during the pandemic felt even more isolating. In that story, a single thoughtful group gift made her feel profoundly seen and supported.

Taken together, these perspectives show that first‑Christmas gifts are primarily doing jobs for adults. They help new parents feel recognized in their new identity, reduce strain during a sleep‑deprived season, and kick off rituals the family can repeat every December, even though the baby will not remember that first tree or stocking.

From Baby‑Only To Parent‑First: A Clear Shift In Holiday Guides

If you look across recent guides from Lactation Network, Boppy, Stareworthy, Target, Wirecutter, and Happiest Baby, a clear pattern appears. The most emphatic recommendations are no longer about flashy baby toys. They are about three things: comfort for the parents, services that save time, and keepsakes that preserve memories.

Lactation Network’s gift guide, written by a team that works with International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, divides ideas by budget but repeatedly comes back to comfort, rest, and convenience, from belly butter and bath flakes to restaurant gift cards and robot vacuums. Boppy’s extensive list of ideas for new parents prioritizes meal delivery services, professional cleaning, babysitting help, and practical gear that keeps parents hands‑free. Stareworthy reinforces this, highlighting meal subscriptions, ergonomic carriers, and cleaning vouchers as “actually used” gifts.

Wirecutter, the New York Times product review site, adds another layer of realism. Its guide for new moms is grounded in a rough postpartum recovery story and singles out a very unglamorous product — the peri bottle — as the most valuable gift the author received. That perspective echoes the Boppy and Lactation Network emphasis on physical recovery and real‑world pain points over cute but low‑impact items.

Happiest Baby’s holiday guides for new parents round this out with a heavy focus on sleep, hydration, and emotional resilience. They recommend robot vacuums, one‑cup coffee makers, sound machines, swaddles, insulated water bottles, loungewear, and snack subscriptions, framing them openly as tools that save time and mental energy. The article even cites research that weighted blankets can increase adult melatonin by around a third, while firmly reminding readers — in line with American Academy of Pediatrics guidance — that weighted blankets and weighted swaddles must never be used for babies.

For an e‑commerce founder, this is an unmistakable market signal. By 2023, the “right” first‑Christmas gift has evolved from a pile of baby toys to an intelligent mix of parent‑centric comfort, developmental essentials, and long‑term keepsakes.

Personalization And Keepsakes: The Emotional Core

Nowhere is the emotional shift more obvious than in the rise of personalized baby gifts. Bunnies By The Bay argues that personalized blankets, books, and keepsakes create a level of emotional connection that mass‑produced items cannot touch. When parents see their baby’s name embroidered on a blanket or woven through a storybook, the gift becomes a symbol that this child is uniquely seen and welcomed.

Boppy and Kids2 echo this, recommending personalized ornaments, blankets, storybooks, and memory books as “first holiday” anchors. Kids2 highlights first‑Christmas ornaments, festive onesies, memory books, and holiday plush toys as a way to commemorate the baby’s first season and kick off traditions. A parent in an early childhood education community on Facebook goes a step further, describing how baubles containing their children’s birth measurements are brought out every year for the tree, becoming cherished markers of growth and love.

Bunnies By The Bay also makes an important point about gender neutrality. It recommends personalized items that focus on the child’s name and story rather than color‑coded gender norms, and notes that gender‑neutral gifts are both inclusive and practical for diverse families. That approach aligns closely with modern parenting values and gives on‑demand print sellers a clear design direction.

From a psychological standpoint, personalized gifts also support identity building. Bunnies By The Bay notes that when children see their names on special items and hear stories about gifts that were made just for them, they develop an early sense of self‑worth and uniqueness. That long‑term developmental benefit is an unusually strong selling point for what might otherwise be “just” a blanket or book.

For on‑demand printing businesses, these products are low‑risk, high‑emotion categories: baby name blankets, first‑Christmas ornaments, custom picture books, milestone cards, and birth‑stat wall art all travel well, store flat, and carry a high perceived value relative to production cost.

Personalized First‑Christmas Gifts And Their Roles

Practical Support Gifts: Convenience As The New Luxury

The second major cluster of first‑Christmas gifts for new parents is practical support. Parents are not shy about the reality of early parenthood: sleep deprivation, physical recovery, and constant decision making. Gifts that actually make the days easier are valued far above decorative clutter.

Time And Energy Savers

Boppy, Stareworthy, and Lactation Network all put meal delivery at the top of their lists. Meal trains coordinated by friends or subscriptions to prepared‑meal services free parents from planning, cooking, and cleanup during a period when their hands are literally full. Boppy adds professional housecleaning as a transformative group gift, reducing visual clutter and stress while creating more time for bonding.

Stareworthy and Boppy both praise babysitting offers and “lending a hand” with errands, chores, or holiday decorating. These service‑based gifts are difficult to drop‑ship directly, but you can still build them into your offer as digital gift cards, printable IOU coupons, or curated “how to set up a meal train” guides bundled with your physical products.

On the product side, several guides converge on specific time‑saving categories. Boppy highlights baby carriers and wraps that keep infants close while freeing hands for chores and errands, as well as stroller organizers, sleek diaper bags, compact changing pads, and versatile cover‑ups that double as nursing covers and car seat covers. Target emphasizes backpack‑style diaper bags and stroller organizers that keep essentials within reach.

Happiest Baby and Lactation Network push the idea further into home tech: robot vacuums, one‑cup coffee makers, Instant Pots, and air fryers are explicitly framed as good holiday gifts, even though conventional wisdom warns against gifting appliances. The catch is that these are framed for both parents and clearly messaged as time‑saving tools that respect how exhausted new parents feel.

For dropshipping merchants, this is a rich category, but it is also operationally demanding. Bulky gear and electronics add shipping cost, returns complexity, and warranty obligations. Many small stores do better positioning themselves as “curators” and linking to or partnering around these big‑ticket items, while owning the smaller, lighter accessories that complement them.

Sleep And Recovery Helpers

Sleep is the other non‑negotiable resource in early parenthood. Boppy recommends white noise machines, swaddle blankets, and cozy throw blankets as core gifts. Their overview of swaddling cites research that this practice can keep babies calm, curb excessive crying, improve neuromuscular development, and support self‑regulation, especially for preterm infants. Kids2, through brands like Baby Einstein and Ingenuity, adds sound machines, soft nightlights, and plush textiles to create a calm nighttime environment.

Happiest Baby’s guides build an entire sleep ecosystem: award‑winning swaddles designed for simple, secure wrapping, sound machines that play their signature white noise, and even a smart bassinet. They also discuss adult weighted blankets and note research showing a significant boost in melatonin for adults who use them, while repeating the American Academy of Pediatrics warning against any weighted products on babies.

Wirecutter’s focus on the humble peri bottle as a standout gift illustrates another important angle: recovery is not just about sleep. Postpartum soreness and sensitivity make simple hygiene tools incredibly valuable. That is a reminder for merchants that the most effective “recovery” products may not be the ones that look impressive in a product thumbnail.

Developmental And Age‑Appropriate Toys

On the baby’s side of the ledger, the best Christmas gifts are developmentally smart rather than flashy. Kids2 recommends sensory play mats, toys with varied textures, gentle sounds, and high‑contrast visuals, particularly for newborns. Boppy emphasizes tummy time prop pillows and play mats that help strengthen neck, shoulder, back, and arm muscles, as well as sensory toys and mirrors that encourage exploration.

Wirecutter’s guide to infant gifts looks for items that support developmental skills, avoid excessive noise, and last through multiple months or even years. The Good Play Guide advises parents to choose toys that match the baby’s age and developmental stage, and to double‑check that gifts from others meet safety guidelines, particularly around small parts that could become choking hazards.

ANB Baby adds a pragmatic note: given that holiday toys can be expensive and newborns have limited awareness, it is perfectly reasonable to skip gifts entirely, or to focus on practical items the baby will grow into, such as clothes, books, or simple educational toys.

For dropship stores, developmental toys are a natural fit, but they require careful vetting for safety labeling and quality. For on‑demand print, the more obvious move is to design complementary items such as milestone blankets, photo props, or storage bags that organize these toys and feature the baby’s name or key milestones.

What This Means For On‑Demand Printing And Dropshipping Stores

The convergence across parenting and gift guides gives store owners a clear map for building a first‑Christmas assortment in 2023.

First, separate your thinking into three jobs: celebrate the baby’s arrival, support the parents’ daily reality, and capture memories in ways that are easy to revisit year after year. Most successful products sit at the intersection of at least two of those jobs.

On‑demand printing is particularly strong in the celebration and memory space. Personalized blankets, ornaments, matching family pajamas, photo books, memory journals, custom milestone cards, and baby footprint prints all align with what brands like Bunnies By The Bay, Boppy, Kids2, Target, and Stareworthy describe as treasured keepsakes. These items are light, shippable, and typically low‑return when your personalization workflow is solid.

Dropshipping shines in delivering the practical support that Boppy, Stareworthy, Happiest Baby, and Lactation Network emphasize: ergonomic carriers, stroller organizers, play mats, sound machines, snack subscriptions, and selected home tech. The weakness is logistical risk: shipping delays or quality issues can hit hardest in the holiday window. That is why many mature merchants limit dropshipped first‑Christmas offers to a small, well‑tested set of SKUs and lean more heavily on POD for anything personalized.

Fulfillment Models By Gift Category

For all categories, safety and evidence‑based messaging matter. Boppy cites studies on swaddling benefits. Happiest Baby calls out both benefits and safety limits of weighted blankets and swaddles and aligns with pediatric guidance. Lactation Network explicitly notes that its articles are educational, not medical advice, and encourages readers to consult physicians and lactation consultants. E‑commerce stores can borrow this pattern by pairing any health‑related product with clear, respectful disclaimers and links to recognized authorities.

Pros And Cons Of Key First‑Christmas Gift Strategies

Different merchants will lean into different mixes of product types. Thinking about pros and cons through the lens of new parents’ lived reality will help you decide how to allocate capital and design effort.

Personalized Keepsakes

Personalized keepsakes such as name blankets, ornaments, storybooks, and footprint kits score extremely high on emotional value. As Bunnies By The Bay notes, they often become heirlooms and storytelling tools that families revisit years later. Social media comments about baubles containing baby measurements show how deeply parents connect with these objects when they reappear on the tree every year.

The trade‑offs are operational. Mistyped names or birth dates can turn a very special gift into a disappointment, and personalization typically extends production and fulfillment lead times. These items also require careful customer education on cutoff dates; Kids2’s recommendation to shop in November for personalized items reflects the need to build in extra time. Finally, highly customized items are harder to resell and may have stricter return policies, which must be communicated transparently.

Parent Self‑Care And Recovery Kits

Self‑care gifts, from spa‑quality skincare bundles and cozy robes to hydrating water bottles and adult weighted blankets, address the very real exhaustion described by Wirecutter, Happiest Baby, Lactation Network, and Stareworthy. They convey the message that the parents matter as individuals, not just as caregivers.

The challenges are more subjective. Scent preferences, skin sensitivities, and body sizes vary widely. Some parents might already own similar products, particularly in well‑trodden categories like mugs and robes. Merchants can manage this risk by keeping kits flexible, allowing buyers to choose from a small menu of components, and by focusing on widely appreciated benefits such as softness, ease of care, and practicality rather than niche ingredients or trends.

Developmental Toys And Baby Gear

Developmental toys, sensory play mats, tummy time props, and safe baby gear align strongly with the guidance from Kids2, Boppy, Wirecutter, and the Good Play Guide. These items connect directly to “help my baby grow” concerns and, when chosen well, can last through multiple developmental stages.

However, they are also where safety, durability, and honest age labeling are most critical. The Good Play Guide warns that gifts from well‑meaning friends can miss age guidelines and include small parts that present hazards. Shipping costs can also be high for bulky items like mats and loungers. For many merchants, that means focusing on a small curated range of proven items and complementing them with lighter, personalized accessories.

Service‑Based Gifts

Meal deliveries, cleaning services, babysitting support, and simple offers to “lend a hand” get some of the most enthusiastic endorsements in guides from Boppy, Stareworthy, and Lactation Network. These gifts dramatically cut cognitive load and free up time for sleep and bonding, which is exactly what new parents need most.

The downside for a pure e‑commerce operator is that these gifts do not always translate neatly into a stockable SKU. Partnering with local providers, designing printable gift certificates, or bundling digital how‑to resources with your physical products can bridge that gap. For example, a “first Christmas survival bundle” might combine a personalized ornament and cozy throw with a digital guide to setting up a meal train, staying true to the spirit of the trend even if you are not delivering the meals yourself.

Practical Moves To Capture The 2023 First‑Christmas Market

For founders in on‑demand printing and dropshipping, the opportunity around first‑Christmas gifts in 2023 is not about inventing entirely new products. It is about aligning your catalog and storytelling with how modern parents actually experience the holiday.

Start by defining your main gift personas clearly. Many of the guides reviewed here differentiate between expecting parents, brand‑new parents in the first months, and parents approaching the baby’s first birthday. An expectant parent might value belly‑care products and nursery art, while someone deep in the fourth trimester is better served by meal support, soft loungewear, and a couple of meaningful keepsakes. Even simple on‑site navigation that separates “Gifts for New Parents” from “Gifts for Baby’s First Christmas” can reduce friction and improve conversion.

Next, build bundles that tell a clear story. Boppy, Kids2, and Stareworthy all show how well it works to pair practical items with sentimental touchpoints. A first‑Christmas bundle might combine a personalized blanket, an age‑appropriate sensory toy, and a compact changing pad. Another might combine matching family pajamas with a mini photo printer or a digital photo frame, echoing the photo‑rich focus of Boppy and Happiest Baby. The key is that each bundle solves for a specific moment, such as “Christmas morning photos with a newborn” or “a calmer bedtime routine during the holidays.”

Finally, communicate safety and evidence in plain language. When you sell swaddles, reference the benefits Boppy highlights while also encouraging parents to follow established safe sleep guidelines. When you consider promoting adult weighted blankets to exhausted parents, follow Happiest Baby’s lead and explicitly state that these are for adults only, not for babies. When you include breastfeeding‑related accessories, echo the Lactation Network model and remind customers that your content is informational and not a substitute for medical advice.

When you treat the baby’s first Christmas as a heavy‑duty emotional and logistical moment for the parents, rather than a marketing excuse for novelty outfits, your product development and messaging change. You move from selling things to solving problems. In a crowded on‑demand and dropshipping landscape, that is exactly the kind of shift that builds lasting differentiation and repeat customers.

References

1. https://exac.hms.harvard.edu/gifts-for-newborn-first-christmas
2. https://www.personalizationmall.com/Personalized-Christmas-Gifts-for-Babies-d1096.dept?srsltid=AfmBOoptpEsEnzx9Yqj89dCH1hz2tA8_uFxb1PJ9IA-IAXDTu7kiInKi
3. https://lifeinspirationfile.com/blog/15-awesome-gifts-for-the-new-mother-or-father
4. https://www.stareworthy.com/post/unique-gift-ideas-for-new-parents-that-theyll-actually-use
5. https://www.anbbaby.com/blogs/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-buying-holiday-gifts-for-your-newborn-baby-anb-baby?srsltid=AfmBOoqUWdPgW_g4tpRHfGqxT6q1QJb7Kf4_YPz3uag8S9ZgtzzUI99-
6. https://www.boppy.com/blogs/boppy/gift-ideas-for-new-parents?srsltid=AfmBOopTsipjzTYfMMn0TLlBT3q-JCHvvfGexnCdoK1RK_1eLaJdT-Lm
7. https://bunniesbythebay.com/blogs/how-to-delight/why-personalized-baby-gifts-are-perfect-for-new-parents?srsltid=AfmBOoqGW8xQ3v23Yp72SlbLVp1Rx5lLU4M2kC9ZkYOmp4qzppEYYFx2
8. https://www.crateandbarrel.com/kids/baby-gifts/1
9. https://www.goodplayguide.com/blog/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-first-christmas-as-a-new-parent/
10. https://www.happiestbaby.com/blogs/parents/christmas-gifts-new-parents?srsltid=AfmBOoolJCDpDrrpfHR15eWaquANWmchGfm6bWSfGEXzDpSO63y_9yZb