PERSONALISED GIFTS THIS CHRISTMAS

When I was pregnant with Maddison (and we had decided on her name), I was obsessed with everything personalised for baby! Wall art, clothing, toys.. the full works! But I held off buying anything because we were keeping Maddison's name a surprise from both our families, and I would've hated to spoil it if someone saw something they shouldn't have! I think I'd worked myself up so much with so many different ideas, that by the time I gave birth, I couldn't face buying anything personalised!!

I think it was partly because I am so indecisive, so couldn't actually make my mind up of what I wanted. But secondly, that horrible boring practical side of me kicked in and I kept thinking.. "if I buy that with Maddison's name on, we won't be able to reuse it for baby number 2?!"

When I was asked to try a piece from Binky's collection "With Love From Binky" with My 1st Years, I was super excited. This was my opportunity to FINALLY get Maddison something with her name on, something special that is just for her. Still being a little bit on the practical side.. I decided on the gorgeous crown print blanket, with the thought that Maddison could keep it forever, so is fine that it has her name on because it's not like she'd outgrow a blanket!! It was the perfect start to my personalised collection of pieces for her.

When it arrived and I opened the box, my heart just filled up with such a big warm fuzzy feeling.. that's MY baby girls name. That is MADDISON'S blanket!! As I snuggled my face into the super soft pink material, it immediately brought back all those excited memories and ideas of personalised items I had planned on getting her while I was pregnant. This was the ice-breaker I needed! I shouldn't be so indecisive, just go for it and enjoy the fact I have a gorgeous baby girl! Practicalities can come later - hehe! Who would've thought a baby blanket could make such a difference.. but it has! I absolutely LOVE it, and so does Maddison! It is the perfect sized blanket for everything, we mainly use it to tuck her up in the crib at night or in the pram on our day to day adventures to keep her snug.

With December literally around the corner, I've been so torn about what to buy Maddison for her first ever Christmas! Obviously I'm not going to go crazy.. she'll only be 6 months old after all so won't exactly understand the whole concept of 'Santa'!! But I do want to get her a few special items that we can always remember as her first Christmas presents! So couple of weeks after using the blanket, I went back to My 1st Years and purchased TWO more personalised items for Maddison, which will be perfect stocking fillers for her! The first a fluffy pink dressing gown, that she can snuggle up in during these cold winter nights! And secondly a pull along wooden caterpillar toy, which is so classic and timeless!! BOTH of which have her name on! It just fills me with such joy now seeing her name on items, it makes them that much more special - which is perfect for the magic of Christmas!!

I'm still trying to find a piece of wall art that I love and can personalise to go in the nursery, but I think I've made great progress on being more decisive! I'm also deliberating getting her a personalised tree decoration or something that has 2017 on it to remember the year she was born.. because lets face it, if I don't do it now, I'll regret it later!! And of course we've got her a festive Christmas sack with her name on she can keep forever!

Did you buy your little ones personalised items - if so what did you get? Are you doing anything special to mark your babies first Christmas? As always I'd love to hear from you all!

Lots of Love, Bethany x


SHOP THE "WITH LOVE FROM BINKY" COLLECTION HERE

This post was written in collaboration with My 1st Years and BellePR