Baby's First Christmas Keepsakes: Ideas That Outlast December

A baby's first Christmas is the one Christmas the guest of honour will never remember. Which tells you who a first Christmas gift is really for: the parents now, and the child years later, when the box comes down from the loft and they find out what their first December looked like.

That changes what is worth buying. Clothes are outgrown by February and toys are forgotten by spring. A keepsake is the one first Christmas present designed to be opened again.

What makes a good first Christmas keepsake

• It carries the name and the year. Without the year it is a Christmas decoration; with it, it is a record.
• It comes back out every December. The best first Christmas gifts become part of how the family does Christmas.
• It has room for what happens next. The cards, the photo, the tiny outfit - the things from that first December need somewhere to go.
• It is for keeping, not for playing. Anything designed to be chewed is a different kind of gift.

First Christmas keepsake ideas

A first Christmas box

An engraved box with the baby's name and the year on the lid, and an empty lined interior for whatever that December leaves behind: the first Christmas cards addressed to the baby, a printed photograph, the hat from the family walk, a note from each parent about what the day was like. Brought out again each Christmas, it fills up slowly and becomes the thing the child asks to look through.

It is a different gift from a new baby box, which is built around the birth itself - the hospital band, the weight, the time. If the baby arrived this year, both make sense; if you are choosing one, the first Christmas box is the seasonal one.

Engraved name ornaments

A set of four wooden ornaments, each with a name and the year. For a first Christmas the natural set is the baby, each parent, and a sibling or a pet; grandparents often order a matching set for their own tree with the new grandchild's name in it. The ornaments go back into their own box in January, which is how they survive to the next year.

Gift Boxes

First Christmas Keepsake Box

An engraved box for the first Christmas - as a couple, in the house, or as three.

£89Personalize

Family Gifts

Personalized Christmas Ornament Set

A set of four engraved wooden ornaments, one name each.

£42Personalize

Family Gifts

New Baby Keepsake Box

For the hospital band, the first scan and the things nobody can throw away.

£95Personalize

A dated plaque for the family

A plain plaque with the date in large numerals and the names underneath - our first Christmas as three - put out on the mantelpiece each December. It suits parents who want one understated piece rather than a box of things.

The first Christmas photograph - in January

The best photo of the first Christmas is the one taken on Christmas Day, which means it cannot be a Christmas present. It makes a very good New Year gift, or a first birthday gift, printed on a photo block with the date along the side. Make a note to send the photo in January; the timing problem solves itself.

What to engrave

The baby's first name and the year are enough. Some families like “Baby's first Christmas” spelled out; others prefer just the name and 2026, which reads better when the child is twenty. If you add a line, make it short and specific to the family rather than a seasonal verse.

Check the spelling of the name with the parents in writing. New parents sometimes change their minds about a spelling in the first weeks, and the layout preview exists so nothing is cut until it is confirmed. If the baby is due in December and has not arrived yet, email us before ordering and we will tell you how we can hold the engraving.

Safety: keepsakes, not toys

Wooden ornaments come with ribbon hangers, and keepsake boxes are finished with oil rather than lacquer, but none of these pieces are toys. Hang ornaments higher on the tree than a crawling baby can reach, keep ribbons out of reach of small hands, and treat the boxes as things for the parents to open with the child, not for the child to handle alone. The same goes for any decoration on the tree.

When to order

December is the month handmade lead times stretch. Engraved pieces take three to five working days to make, counted from when you approve the layout, and courier times lengthen in the last fortnight before Christmas. For UK delivery, ordering ornaments and boxes by the end of November is comfortable; for family abroad, earlier. Christmas order deadlines sets out the arithmetic.

Starting a tradition

The best part of a first Christmas keepsake is what happens in year two. Add one thing to the box each December - a card, a photo, a note from the parents - or add an ornament with the year on it. By the time the child is old enough to be interested, there is a whole shelf of Christmases they can't remember but can read about.

For more Christmas ideas, the Christmas gifts collection covers the rest of the family, and new baby gifts holds the pieces built around the birth itself.