What Size Baby Clothes Should You Buy as a Gift?
You are standing in a shop, or scrolling at 11pm, buying for a baby who either isn't born yet or is three days old. Every rail in front of you says "newborn". It feels like the obvious answer, and it is the answer almost everyone gives. That's exactly the problem. Here's what size to actually buy, and why the bigger one is the kinder gift.
The short answer: buy 3–6 months. Newborn and 0–3 months are the sizes every single guest buys, and they're outgrown fastest. A 3–6 month gift arrives when the drawer is empty and nobody is visiting any more.
Why everyone buys newborn, and why you shouldn't
There's a reason for it. Newborn clothes are the smallest, so they look the most like a baby present. They photograph well. They're what the shop puts at the front.
But think about what happens in that house. The baby arrives. Over about a fortnight, twenty people give a gift, and the overwhelming majority of them have made the same decision you're about to make. The result is a drawer with fourteen newborn sleepsuits in it and nothing above 0–3.
Then the baby grows, which is the one thing babies reliably do. By around ten or twelve weeks the newborn pile is done. The visitors have stopped coming. The gifts have stopped arriving. And the parents are in a shop at 9pm buying vests, because everything they were given fits a smaller baby than the one they've got.
That is the gap your gift can land in. It's a much better gift than the fourth identical sleepsuit, and it costs you nothing extra to think of it.
Bella's tip
If you're one of several people buying – a work whip-round, a group of friends – say out loud in the group chat that you're going bigger. Somebody else will copy you, and between you you'll have covered the months nobody else thought about.
What "3–6 months" gets you
Roughly speaking, it gets you a gift that is opened politely in week one and genuinely used in month three. Most Baby Box Shop gift sets are sized 3–6 months for this reason, and we put it on the product page rather than burying it, because the whole point is that it isn't for right now. A couple of sets run wider – birth to twelve months – and those say so too.
It also takes the pressure off guessing. You don't need to know the birth weight. You don't need to have met the baby. You don't need to ask a heavily pregnant woman a question she can't answer either.
The one thing 3–6 months is not suitable for is the coming-home outfit or the newborn photos. If that's specifically what you want to give, buy small and accept it'll be brief – that's a sentimental purchase, not a practical one, and there's nothing wrong with it as long as you know which one you're making.
Which size should you buy?
Pick the line that matches your situation.
Find your situation
"The baby isn't born yet"
Buy 3–6 months, without hesitating. You cannot get it wrong, because you're buying for a baby three months from now rather than a baby whose size you'd have to predict. This is also the safest choice if the due date is vague or the parents are keeping the details to themselves.
"The baby arrived last week"
Still 3–6 months. You are now competing with every other visitor for drawer space, and the ones buying newborn have already lost. Hand it over with a line like "this is for later, when everything else has stopped fitting" and watch it land.
"The baby is already a few months old"
Go up, not across. If they're four months, buy 6–9. The same logic applies at every stage: the size they're wearing today is the size they already own, and the size they'll wear in eight weeks is the one nobody has bought.
"It's twins"
Two of the same size, not one of each. Parents of twins spend the first year being given single items and matching outfits in different sizes, and neither solves the actual problem, which is that everything now has to happen twice. If your budget only stretches to one gift, buy one bigger thing rather than two small ones.
"The baby came early"
Ask, gently, before you buy anything. Families in this situation usually know exactly what they need and often have very specific requirements, and a guess – in either direction – can land badly. A message saying "I'd love to send something, tell me what's useful" is worth more than any gift you'd have chosen.
Three things worth checking before you buy
Size is the big one, but these are the small ones that decide whether a garment gets worn or shoved to the back.
- Poppers down the front, not up the back. Anything that has to go over a baby's head at 4am is a garment that gets worn once.
- Cotton, and enough of it. A single item in a nice box is a lovely thought. Three of something they'll get through in a day is more useful.
- Whether it's ready to give. If you're posting it or handing it over at the door, a set that arrives already wrapped saves you a job you'd otherwise do badly at midnight.
Gift sets that are already the right size
This is the bit where I'm allowed to point at our own shelves, so: every set below is sized 3–6 months, hand-packed in the UK, and comes with a gift card for your message.
Baby Shower Gift Set in a Grand Keepsake Case
The one to buy if you want the gift to look substantial when it's opened in front of everybody. Garments are 3–6 months, and the case is rigid enough that it gets kept and used for something afterwards.
See the setIf you want something smaller for a colleague or a neighbour, the Congratulations set in a petite keepsake case does the same job in a smaller box. And if you're buying to a budget rather than to an occasion, everything in baby gifts under £25 is worth a look – there's no correlation between what a baby gift costs and how much it gets used.
Common questions
What size baby clothes should I buy as a gift?
Buy 3–6 months. Newborn and 0–3 months are the sizes almost every other guest chooses, so those drawers fill up immediately and empty just as fast. A 3–6 month gift arrives roughly when the smaller clothes stop fitting and the gifts have stopped coming, which is when it's genuinely needed.
Is it rude to buy a bigger size than the baby is now?
No, and most parents are quietly relieved. It reads as someone who has thought past the first fortnight. If you're worried it looks like a mistake, say so as you hand it over: "this one's for a bit later on" turns it from an error into a plan.
What if I don't know whether it's a boy or a girl?
Then you're in the easiest position of anyone buying. Gender-neutral sets in cream, grey, biscuit or coffee are the ones that get passed down to a second baby and lent to a friend, which is more use than something that only works for one child. Nobody has ever complained about being given a neutral gift.
How many outfits does a baby need in each size?
More than you'd think in the small sizes and fewer than you'd think in the large ones, because the laundry rate falls as the baby stops being sick on everything. As a gifter this isn't really your problem – your job is to cover a size nobody else has, not to complete a wardrobe.
One last thing
If you're also wondering what to actually bring with you on the day, rather than what to post, I wrote about what to bring when you visit a newborn – the food, the timing, and how long to stay.
Buy the bigger size. That's the whole article. You'll be the only one who did, and in about ten weeks somebody will text you about it.
What size did you buy, and did it fit when they thought it would? Tell me in the comments – they're read before they appear, so don't panic if yours takes a day – or come and find me on Instagram @babyboxshop1.