Baby showers are fun events. They give you a chance to hang out with friends and celebrate the new child that will be coming soon. They also give you a chance to buy a gift. While baby shower registries are very common these days, you may want to make your gift a little more meaningful. One of the easiest ways to do this is to include a book as a part of your baby shower gifts. However, you don’t want to buy a baby shower book that is common or cliche because you risk someone else giving the same gift! Instead, you need to think a little outside the box to select an original book that mother and baby will love.
One of the great perks of giving a book as a baby shower gift is you don’t need to give a card. Instead, you can write a memorable message inside the book which turns it into a precious keepsake. Combining your thoughtful message with an original and meaningful book creates a slam dunk baby shower gift to be treasured for years to come.
Check out some of our suggestions for baby shower book gifts below.
10 Baby Book Gifts
1. Whoever You Are
This beautiful picture book by Mem Fox celebrates diversity and cultures from across the world. Young readers and babies will enjoy folk art, oil painted illustrations by Leslie Straub. The beautiful poem text helps teach the baby to accept and love the diversity they will encounter as they grow.
This is a great baby shower gift to consider for families who are adopting children from other countries, multi-cultural families, or just a unique gift option for your expecting friend.
2. Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss
This is meant to be a birthday gift, but I would argue the day you’re born is the most important birthday of them all! This classic book from Dr. Seuss is filled with his signature bright and playful illustrations. The Great Birthday Bird takes the reader on a special birthday trip. The celebration includes a trip throughout the world to eat whatever you want, visit wherever you want, and make your day special.
With a memorable baby book inscription in the front, this book will become a precious keepsake to be revisited each year on the baby’s birthday.
3. Beatrix Potter the Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter’s classic stories of the young Peter Rabbit and his animal friends have been beloved by children for over a century. This gorgeous hardcover collection features all 23 tales fully unabridged, plus four previously unpublished stories.
Many people wouldn’t consider buying a book like this for a baby shower, but this is an investment in the baby’s reading future so they will grow up on these classic animal tales. Adding a meaningful inscription will make this a keepsake that the child will want to keep and pass on to their own children someday.
4. Little Hoot
If you’re looking for a bedtime story book to give as a baby shower gift, this is an original option instead of the cliche Goodnight Moon. This cutely illustrated children’s book flips the dilema of a kid who won’t go to sleep. Instead, Little Hoot wants nothing more than to go to bed while his parents want him to stay up and play.
This book works well as a little bit of reverse psychology to help encourage any little one to go to bed. Toddlers and babies will want to hear this story again and again at bedtime and love the full-color illustrations. This is a great choice for a baby shower book gift.
5. The Geek Baby Book: A Memory Journal
This book gift is a little different. It’s not a story book but instead a baby memory book. And it’s targeted for geeky parents. While many millenial parents aren’t interested in the traditional memory books of their childhood, they will love this one. It helps track all the special memories of first tooth, first steps, and first words. But it also takes advantage of the geeky love of video games and fantasy scifi movies.
The interactive pages and projects also track first viewing of Star Wars or rolling a natural 20. This helps them track what really matters for a little geek in training and will create a unique and meaningful keepsake for the whole family. This is a must-have baby shower gift for geeky parents.
6. Pat the Bunny
This classic interactive story is one of the best baby book gifts to give for baby showers or even first birthdays.
This book originally was released in the 1940s and was the first touch and feel book of its kind. This special edition re-release includes two additional touch and feel pages previously removed from the book.
7. ABCs of Space
If you want a book gift that goes beyond a traditional bedtime story, this one is all about knowledge. Taking the traditional ABC book format and adding some extra science, ABCs of Space is an introductory look at astronomy perfect for little minds.
What makes this book and the others in the Baby University Series so cool, is it features three levels of learning, so as the child grows, their learning and understanding grow. Each letter has three sentences, starting with the very basic and then adding more and more information. This book and the others in the series are perfect for introducing young children to STEM concepts.
8. Color Me: Who’s in the Ocean?
If you’re searching for unique baby book gifts that will really stand out at the shower, check this out. Surya Sajnani has a series of Baby’s First Bath Books, including this one Color Me: Who’s in the Ocean?. This gorgeously illustrated book appears to be black and white until it’s dipped in water to reveal the vivid colors.
This book is perfect to distract fussy babies during bathtime. It also makes a great addition to a gift basket featuring towels, soap, tub toys, and other bathtime items.
9. You Are New
Illustrator and author Lucy Knisley has created this vivid book that’s perfect for babies and newborns. In her unique illustration style, Lucy features a diverse range of babies on each page. The book’s text rhymes through all the fun parts of being a new baby.
A cute story for bedtime or any time of day, it makes a lovely baby shower gift for expecting parents.
10. The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Some of the sweetest books for new parents and infants are those that celebrate dreams and the future to come. Emily Windield Martin’s The Wonderful Things You Will Be captures all the thoughts parents have when they see their child. It’s a sweet gift for the parents who can use it to share their love with their little one.
While this is a contemporary children’s book, Emily’s classic illustration style has a retro mid-century feel that makes it seem like an instant classic. This is a book that will never go out of style and will be cherished as the child grows older.
Now that you’ve found the perfect baby shower book gift, learn how to write a meaningful book inscription to turn it into an unforgettable keepsake.