Gift for My Babys First Birday

Ha ha - my second child just turned one a few weeks ago. She got a couple of baby books and I got her some useful cold weather items. I decided after my first turned 1 that they really have no clue what's going on the first year. I went all out on my first girl and she has no memory whatsoever. I suppose it's mainly for us parents that we celebrate. My second child.. poor thing... got the above and that was it. We did sing happy birthday to her all day =)

For Christmas I'm pretty much doing the same thing... some articles of clothing and some fun holiday bags for her to carry around. She's at that stage where she likes containers. Now next year...

I wouldn't do or get anything too big since it's her first bday - they mainly care about the wrapping and boxes more than anything at that age. Also, If your planning a party, I'd keep it small, as a big crowd can be overwhelming for little ones.. Save the "big" stuff for Christmas :) Check out this link to the parenting magazine - they have "top toys" catagorized by age, this link is for the top toys for 1yr olds, have fun! http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/gifts/best-gifts...

All the responses are good. When she gets older she will want her birthday to be remembered and be special but that is hard to do at Christmas time. My mother solved that problem, the tree was put up on my birthday, after the activites. My birthday was always recognized (I got actual birthday presents, not birth-mas gifts: that came later when in college, I would get IOU's for things that I needed/wanted when they were on sale--good deal, I really became more appreciative that way), and did not get lost at Christmas time, plus I always felt very special, because no one else I knew got a Christmas tree for their birthday each year. :)
Also my mother was very wise, by putting the tree up so 'late', we were home for the Christmas holidays so we got to enjoy decorating the tree and not be in a hurry. We enjoyed it for 2 weeks, took it down January 1st, and had great Christmas tree forts until there were no needles left on the trees out in the back yard!
I continued this tradition with my own children, much to their grief: but it really was more practical since teaching school really kept me busy.
But now that we have a grandchild, that did not go over well, so needless to say, the tree is up and has been for over a week.
Always make sure that her day is SPECIAL.

I would say nothing or do something really special. Don't bother with a toy or something like that. She'll never know, you would just be wasting your money at this age. For my daughter, I got her a book called Someday. It will make you cry to read it. I wrote an emotional note to her on the inside cover. There are so many cool ideas out there to start when they are young. Just start digging around.

we did a little something like a cake and sang on the date. but we did not buy anything for the gift or christmas (january baby)!!! instead we waited until summer to purchase a gift for him!

I have an 11 month old who is a second child. After being around lots of kids the past few years, I'll tell you what got used the most in our house. A "Kangaroo Climber" that was small enough to use inside, but could also be used outside. A ride on toy that she can grow into, like the one Little Tikes sells (has a handle so you can push her around - I see people at the mall pushing kids around.) A push toy like a small shopping cart - she will use that for years! Any kind of toy she can walk behind and push. Blocks, stacking cups for small toys. Those don't have to be fancy, either. A pop-up toy where you learn to push knobs to make the things pop up, like the one from Playskool - there are tons of gently used ones on ebay right now.

Hope this list helps. She might not be walking yet, but she will be soon, so I can guarantee you that anything she can push around will get used.