This post on Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase after clicking one of my links. All opinions and recommendations are my own.

Baby showers are such a sweet & special time to celebrate the coming of your new little one. I have baby #3 on the way and while there will be no shower this time, I still remember my baby shower from my first child. It was beautiful and helped us tremendously in preparation!

I have a lot of tips for giving great, useful gifts that are not only practical for the family, but great choices for the planet. Before I give some gift suggestions, here are some general guidelines you can follow when selecting a gift:

Guidelines for Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts

1. Know the parents to be and select a gift with their preferences in mind.

If you have access to a registry, that’s awesome! But if you’re like me, you’re a last-minute gift purchaser (trying to work on that) and often the registry is picked over before you get to it.

While shopping and picking out what you want to give someone is fun, I want to encourage you to think about what the family wants and what they are likely to use.

You could purchase them state of the art baby food maker with a cookbook of organic baby food recipes, but if they don’t have a problem with store-bought baby food and would rather save their time, then the gift isn’t likely to get much use. Giving a gift that isn’t going to be used very much isn’t that great for the environment.

2. Focus on unique essentials that aren’t likely to be duplicated. 

I got SO many bath soap gift sets at my baby shower… SO many. There was no way I could use it all. I tried giving them away, but I noticed many other expecting families I knew had a similar situation going on.

I looked for organizations that could take these items to redistribute but found my town did not have any that accepted toiletries. I did finally find a mom-to-be in need on Facebook that I was able to pass some of them on to.

All that said, some items look super cute on the shelf at Target and Buy Buy Baby, but try to decide if it’s something you think the parents-to-be actually will need or if you just want it as a filler for your gift basket.

Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts

Without further ado, here are some great ideas for green gifts to give a loved one at their baby shower.

Cloth Diapers

Before purchasing cloth diapers for someone, be sure this is actually something they are interested in. If someone has no plans to use cloth diapers, they probably won’t just because you bought them some. 🙂

But if you know that they want to use CDs, they make an excellent gift! They may have a brand in mind already or maybe you have your own favorite you’d like to gift, but if not, here are some suggestions for versatile, affordable, and easy cloth diapers:

You can get a 6-pack of Mama Koala diapers on Amazon for a great price! Check out my brand review for them here: Mama Koala Cloth Diapers Review

The Elemental Joy Cloth Diaper kit from Cotton Babies is an awesome gift! Cotton Babies (maker of bumGenius) is a brand that is working to make affordable and quality cloth diapering products for all families. This kit comes with a diaper pail, 6 diapers, 12 inserts, and a wet bag.

I highlighted these particular sets because of how great of a value they are–instead of giving a single diaper (which is still a great gift, but I understand many feel like they want to give more than that), they give multiple and/or accessories.

However, there are SO many excellent brands out there. For more ideas, check out my Diaper Reviews section.

Organic Crib Sheets

Many people think that you couldn’t possibly have enough baby clothes and buy a bunch to throw in with their gift.

Baby clothes are wonderful, but I did find that when I received them as gifts, I tended to get way more than I needed, and my baby didn’t wear all of them.

Sometimes I received so many that I really couldn’t justify purchasing my own. This may be a good problem to have. I’m not at all criticizing people’s generosity, but between hand-me-downs, outfits from showers, and random garage sale finds that family members grab for you, I felt like I missed out on the experience of choosing clothes for my baby. I had way more than I could use.

If you want to pick out something cute but avoid clothing, I recommend some crib sheets. Having several crib sheets on hand is essential. Between diaper leaks, vomit, or boogers getting smeared all over them, you will find yourself changing sheets all. the. time. Having only 1 or 2 isn’t going to work!

These Burt’s Bees crib sheets are 100{9994046f29331ee04cc0b5e07eb28364315ea03ccc2f01b5a43e8b85b372d1e9} organic cotton, adorable, and affordable. Pick up a set to add to a gift or as a great gift in and of itself!

Wooden Toys for Baby

Wooden toys are not only more durable, but they cut down on plastic.

This teething ring features wooden rings and silicone beads for relief from teething pain without the toxins that reside in plastic.

Another fun toy idea is this Shumee Wooden Crochet Rattle. Babies LOVE rattles–they love making noise! But my kids always whacked themselves in the face with rattles. I love that this one has a crocheted end to soften the blow. That’s genius!

Non-Toxic Feeding Essentials

This could mean a lot of things! For the first six months, glass bottles are a great choice.

Bottles

Many times, babies are particular on what type of bottle they take and parents need to try out multiple kinds. For a shower gift, I think it makes sense to buy a small pack for this purpose. I love this two-pack of glass Dr. Brown’s bottles for this purpose. We loved using these bottles in my family!

Check out this post on the most eco-friendly baby bottles for specific suggestions.

Plates, Cups, Silverware

I also like to get silicone or stainless steel plates & cups. So many baby & toddler plates, cups, and silverware are made out of plastic, which can be toxic and degrade easily.

This silicone feeding set is awesome! It comes with two silicone trays that suction to the table (no more plate throwing! That can’t just be my kids who did that…) and two silicone spoons.

These Chewbeads Flatware forks and spoons have stainless steel ends with silicone handles. They are perfect for babies!

Finally, sippy cups make a wonderful gift. I’m in love with these Penguinni Stainless Steel Sippi Cups for several reasons:

  • No plastic whatsoever
  • Silicone grip around the cup for easy holding
  • Absolutely no nooks and crannies to capture moisture and grow mold (which is a huge issue with many popular brands of sippy cups)
  • Silicone spout promotes proper oral development over plastic
  • Free lid replacements for any rips or issues
  • No leaks
  • Reusable straws can be inserted into the spout
  • Dishwasher safe

Essentials for Mom

A special touch to your baby shower gift would be to focus on the mom to be!

If you know they want to nurse their baby, nipple care items are amazing. There is no way I could have survived without them in the early days.

Nipple Creams: Mother Love Nipple Cream & Earth Mama Nipple Butter are awesome! I much preferred them to lanolin because lanolin is very thick and sticky which can be uncomfortable to spread on very tender nipples.

Self-Care Items: A beautiful robe, functional nursing tanks, and Epsom salts are fabulous ideas for the mom to be.

Gift CardsGifts cards to a nearby store for essentials are incredibly helpful. It also helps the parents-to-be to save up for larger purchases like a crib, stroller, etc without breaking the bank.

I’m also a huge fan of gift cards to restaurants to help with the burden of cooking after the baby comes. These don’t need to be a gift card to a 5-star restaurant (and probably shouldn’t be–when will they have the time to go anytime soon?) I am a huge fan of gift cards to places like Jimmy John’s, Chipotle, etc where they can get relatively healthy meals quick on nights they don’t have energy.

Don’t Overthink It

Overall, you can’t go wrong with any gift that is well-intentioned and heartfelt, so don’t overthink it.

I understand wanting to be eco-friendly and think that is a great goal! Just remember that more important than buying a product from the most eco-friendly company you can find, it is important to purchase healthy, safe, effective, and practical products that will get a ton of use out of them. The best way we can help our planet is to stick to purchasing what we actually need and not accumulating a ton of stuff that just ends up in a landfill one day.

Want some other baby shower gift ideas? Check out this post! Gift Basket Ideas for Baby Shower

What has been the best eco-friendly baby shower gift you have given or received? Let me know in the comments!