The Gift Blogger

With the spring season upon us my thoughts have been turning to gifts for new arrivals this week. Finding an original gift for any new baby is a notoriously hard endeavour. With most newborns coming home to a fully fitted nursery and complete with designer wardrobe, it can be hard to welcome the latest addition to the family without duplicating an existing item.

Clothes are great present for new parents – those babies just grow and grow don’t they? The latest fashion for newborns is leg and arm warmers, which are a fantastic way to protect knees from the sun and undue wear and tear once they start crawling. They help keep outfits as adaptable to the wonderfully changeable British climate as is necessary and come in a variety of colours and patterns to suit both boys and girls. Alternatively packs of baby grows – preferably in escalating sizes - are always a good bet.

In the event of a new arrival mum often gets overlooked so I've also come up with a few suggestions if you want to congratulate and pamper the new mum.

Jewellery is a wonderful way to announce motherhood to the world and sites such as Treat Her have sterling silver jewellery in every form including bracelets, necklaces and charm bracelets.

Finally, continuing the theme above, if you can’t think of anything to give or budget is a problem then consider the most valuable thing you can give is your time. While the early days after birth are an important time for new parents to bond with their little one, the best way friends and relatives can help is to either look after baby while Mum and Dad take a well-earned rest or roll the sleeves up and get stuck into the day-to-day tasks of running the household to ease the burden on new parents.

Whether it's his birthday or you simply want to show the important man in your life that you care, I've been looking around at all of the latest and greatest in the world of gadgetry and helpful geeky add-ons.

USB answers

Is it true that most men just can’t get enough of gadgets? Next up how about one of these amazing USB gifts for his computer. Treat Him has the perfect way to keep your man happy during his working day – it’s a USB coffee warmer. Both plug straight into the computer USB port to provide enough to power for a perfectly warm cup of tea – no more reaching for your mug during a busy work session only to splutter on an ice cold mouthful.

Of course, there’s nothing that goes quite as well with the perfect cuppa as a nicely browned slice of toast – the skull toaster at Treat Him stamps each piece with a skull and crossbones to keep any would-be toast thieves (they’re lurking everywhere!) away from your loved ones victuals. Alternatively check out the love toaster – same idea, but each piece gets stamped with a love heart instead. Aahh! Isn’t he just a big cutie?

Clever clogs

Does the man in your life love showing off his intellect? Perhaps he’s a doyenne of pub quizzes or just likes shouting at the TV every time Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is on. Whatever his particular intellectual peccadilloes – and we’re not saying he’s a smart ass – why not give him a REAL challenge with an IQ test from IQ expert Philip Carter. It’s an official test – get him to complete it and send it off and he’ll receive a personalised certificate, which proves his genius once and for all. OK, you’ll never hear then end of it, but it’ll make him feel good won’t it – and isn’t that exactly what you want from a great gift?