Buying gifts for a baby is easy. But what about when they turn one? Suddenly your baby is a toddler! But not a big toddler like a two or three-year-old. It’s sort of a transition phase between baby and toddler. Between 12 and 18 months is basically the baby version of tweens. So what do you get a baby for their first birthday? Here are a few ideas for you!
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Sleepers and Pajamas
Toot lives in sleepers. If she’s home, she’s in a sleeper. That’s probably why most of my Instagram is just photos of her in pajamas. She’s comfy in them! So we have A LOT of them. We got quite a few for her first birthday.
When my relatives asked me what size they should get her, I told them nothing smaller than 18 months, preferably 24 months or 2T so she has room to grow into them. She’s always been a size up for her age. My friend’s son is a month younger than Toot and he’s already in 3T and 4T! Always ask for a size range if you’re buying gifts for a toddler. If someone asks you for a size for your kid, I’d tell them the size they’re currently in and one size up.
Spiralin’ Seas Waterpark Play Table
Now, this is recommended for 2 and up by the manufacturer, but we bought it for Toot’s first birthday. She took to it just fine. As long as your little one can stand and kind of walk, they should be fine.
There’s plenty of fun things to do with this water table, It come with some balls that squirt water, and you can throw them in the funnel in the center and they spiral down and splash in the water. They also fit in the Ferris wheel that turns with a crank. Toot loves to just splash around and pour the water with the cup.
VTech Chomp and Count Dino
Toot loves this dinosaur! She likes to feed the dino and says “yum yum yum” when she puts the little discs in his mouth. It took her a few weeks to fully be able to get it to go in. But it has been building up her fine motor skills.
It also builds language skills because each disc is a different color and has a different food on it. The dino will announce which one he has just eaten “That’s the brown potato!” And he’ll ask you to feed him certain ones if you push the button on his head. “Can you feed me the purple grapes?”
He also has a number setting where he’ll count the number of discs he has eaten or ask for a certain number of discs.
Fisher Price Ride-On Car
We found a pink version of this car at the Goodwill down the street. It was missing a lot of stickers and was obviously used, but it was only $3. I got it because I thought why not? It’s cheap. She might like it. Turns out she LOVES it! She plays with it every day!
She needed help getting on and off for the first few months but now that she’s 18 months old, she can easily get on and off herself.
The seat pops open and you can put stuff in it. Ours doesn’t have all of the same features as the ones on Amazon so they must have updated them since ours was made. I may get her one of these new ones!
Desk Chair with Storage Bin
Toot absolutely loves her little desk. It’s where she colors, plays with blocks, and plays with small toys. I’m going to go ahead and say this was one of my favorite purchases for the year because she gets so much use out of it. She can use it until she’s about six.
It has a cup to hold crayons and we keep paper in the storage bin below the seat.
We got the Frozen design but it also comes in Micky and Minnie Mouse, Cars, Paw Patrol, Disney Princesses, Spider-man, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, and Ninja Turtles. So you can pick whichever one your toddler might like. We have a lot of Frozen stuff but she doesn’t seem to like it as much as other stuff. I wish I would’ve gotten the Elmo one or Ninja Turtles. Oh, well. She loves it anyway.
Books! And More Books!
I’m pretty sure Toot’s favorite thing to do is read through a pile of books. She loves to flip through one, toss it aside, and grab another. We keep a bunch in the living room in a cubby under the TV and in her room on the bookshelves. You can find a list of her favorite books here.
We stick to board books because she has issues with page ripping as I’m sure most one-year-olds do. My friend’s son ripped a page out of a book he got for his first birthday almost immediately. So make sure you get board books unless you intend to keep them out of their hands until they’re older. Toot has some books with paper pages, but Mommy reads those to her. And they’re kept on the top shelf so she can’t reach them.
Marshmallow Fold Out Couch
This is the perfect first birthday gift. Once Toot graduated from her boppy, we didn’t know what we would use for her to sit comfortably in the living room. I found this little couch and it was perfect. I can’t imagine life without it.
Again, we have the Frozen one. But they come in other characters similar to the desk. If I would have known what she would’ve liked, I would’ve gotten Doc McStuffins.
It also folds out into a little pull out couch style bed. Of course, it’s all just foam, but kids can lay down on it if they want.
What are your favorites for a first birthday?
Let me know in the comments below!
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Christina Myerly says
Such a great list! Personally with lack of space, I am always a fan of books and clothes!
Niki @ Toot's Mom is Tired says
Lol books and clothes take up a lot of space too! We have piles of both in our house.