Most pregnancy gifts are for the next few weeks: something for the nausea, something that helps her sleep, a treat she would not buy herself. Those are easy to get right if you know how far along she is.
One kind of gift is different. A keepsake is meant to last for years, and it only works if she uses it. You choose that one by how she likes to keep things, not by how pretty it looks.
This guide sorts the ideas by stage and by who you are to her. It starts from what the gift guides ranking on Google Australia recommend most.
Disclosure: Makia publishes this guide. We make a pregnancy journal, which is one of the keepsakes below. No other product here is ours, and no link is paid.
Quick answer: what to give a pregnant woman
| If she’s… | Give… |
|---|---|
| In the first trimester (up to 12 weeks) | Low-key and useful: easy snacks, a large drink bottle, a cooked meal or a cleaner. Nothing that gives the news away |
| In the second trimester (13 to 27 weeks) | Comfort as the bump grows: maternity leggings, a body oil or cream, a pregnancy massage |
| In the third trimester (28 weeks on) | Sleep and getting ready: a pregnancy pillow, help with the hospital bag, freezer meals |
| About to give birth | Meals and help for the first weeks home, plus feeding and recovery supplies |
| Your friend, sister or workmate | Something small she will use, or a gift card. Check her size before buying clothes |
| Your partner | Paid help at home, plus something only for her |
| Someone who loves keeping memories | A pregnancy journal or photo book that suits how she keeps things |
| Getting a group gift | One bigger item or service. One person buys it and everyone signs the card |
Gift ideas at a glance
Every idea below comes from this guide, and each one links to its section.
Gift helper
Three quick questions
-
Easy snacks or a tea she likes
Small, and kind on a queasy day. Check what appeals to her first.
First trimester ideas -
A large drink bottle
Low cost, and in use all day.
First trimester ideas -
A cooked meal
One night off cooking, dropped at her door.
First trimester ideas -
Unscented body oil or cream
The gift type the guides we read recommend most. Unscented is safest early on.
Second trimester ideas -
Maternity leggings or a soft dress
For when her clothes stop fitting. Check her size first.
Second trimester ideas -
A pregnancy massage
With a therapist trained in pregnancy massage. Let her pick the day.
Second trimester ideas -
A pregnancy pillow
Something for her bump and back to rest against. Check she has not got one.
Third trimester ideas -
Help with the hospital bag
Shop the hospital’s list, or pack the small things people forget.
Third trimester ideas -
Freezer meals
A week of dinners she can heat up after the birth.
Third trimester ideas -
Slippers or compression socks
For feet and ankles that puff up by evening.
Third trimester ideas -
A few weeks of meal delivery
Dinner sorted for the first weeks home.
After the birth ideas -
A cleaner for a few weeks
Paid help, arranged so she has nothing to organise.
Ideas for your partner -
Feeding and recovery supplies
Nipple cream, breast pads, soft bras. Ask first, or give a gift card.
After the birth ideas -
A short, useful visit
Bring lunch, fold some washing, mind the baby so she can rest. Ask first.
After the birth ideas -
Something only for her
A book by an author she loves, or a fix for whatever bothers her most.
Ideas for your partner -
A support belt
Only if she has mentioned back or pelvic pain.
Second trimester ideas -
A gift card for a maternity or baby shop
Lets her choose sizes and what she still needs. Add a personal note.
Giving as a group -
A keepsake she will fill in
A paper journal, photo book or digital journal that suits how she keeps things.
Compare keepsakes
If she keeps memories
Give her the Baby Bump Journal
She writes it on her phone, with prompts for each stage. Give the whole journal with the linen hardcover, or the Digital journal on its own. You don’t need a Makia account to buy it.
How we chose these
We read 12 of the pregnancy gift guides that Australians are most likely to find when they search, and noted which kinds of gift each one recommends. A short list counts the same as a long one, so no single guide tips the result.
What we found:
- Across the 12 guides, the most recommended gift types were body care products (11 of 12), postpartum and feeding supplies (10 of 12), and sleep aids, comfortable clothing, and food and drink (8 of 12 each).
- 9 of 12 recommend a keepsake. 6 of 12 name a pregnancy journal.
- Only 3 of 12 suggest practical help, such as a cleaner or meals.
- Only 2 of 12 are organised by trimester.
Most of these guides (9 of 12) come from shops that sell some of the gifts they list. That does not make their ideas wrong, but it is worth knowing. 7 of the 12 are Australian. The others are from the UK, the US and New Zealand, and still rank here.
The full list of guides and the method are in about the research at the end.
Pregnancy gifts by stage
Stages come from the guides that give one. “Useful for” is our own reading of each gift, not something the guides measured.
-
First trimester
Easy snacks or a tea she likes, a drink bottle, a meal or a cleaner, unscented body oil
Useful for days to weeks
-
Second trimester
Maternity clothes, body care, a massage, a support belt if her back hurts
Useful for weeks to months
-
Third trimester
Pregnancy pillow, hospital bag help, freezer meals, birthing ball
Useful for the rest of the pregnancy, and the pillow often after
-
After the birth
Meals, a cleaner, feeding and recovery supplies, a gift card
Useful for the first weeks
-
Any stage
A keepsake she will fill in
Useful for years, if she uses it
First trimester gifts
The first 12 weeks are often the hardest to buy for. Nausea and tiredness are common, and the news may still be a secret from most people she knows.
That makes quiet, practical gifts the safest choice:
- Easy snacks. Check what appeals to her this week before you buy. Plain crackers, ginger biscuits or a tea she already drinks are safe starting points.
- A large drink bottle. Low cost, and in use all day.
- A cooked meal or a cleaner. Taking a chore off her plate in these weeks is often worth more than an object.
- Unscented body care. Strong smells can be hard to take early in pregnancy. If you buy a body oil or cream, choose an unscented one or ask her.
Keep it discreet. Do not send anything to her work that says “baby” or “mum to be”, and check that the parcel does not either. If the gift will arrive by post before she has shared the news, choose a sender that uses plain packaging.
Skip for now: anything sized (she does not know what size she will be), anything strongly scented, and baby things she would have to explain to people.
Second trimester gifts
For many women, the middle months bring some energy back. The bump starts to show, and her clothes stop fitting.
- Maternity basics. Maternity leggings or a soft dress with room to grow. Ask her size, or give a gift card for a maternity shop.
- Body oil or cream. The most common gift type in the guides we looked at. A growing bump can feel dry and itchy, and an oil or butter is a small daily comfort.
- A pregnancy massage. Book it with a therapist trained in pregnancy massage, and let her choose the day.
- A support belt, if she has mentioned back or pelvic pain. It may help, but let her choose the size.
- A maternity photo shoot, if she would enjoy one. Ask first. Not everyone wants photos of their bump.
Third trimester gifts
From about 28 weeks, sleep and getting ready take over.
- A pregnancy pillow. Named in 6 of the 12 guides. It gives her bump and back something to rest against, and some designs double as a feeding support later. Check she does not have one already.
- Help with the hospital bag. Offer to shop for the list her hospital gives her, or put together the small things people forget: lip balm, a long phone charger, snacks, coins or a card for parking.
- Freezer meals. A week of dinners she can heat up after the birth.
- A birthing ball, if she does not have one. Check first, as she may already own one.
- Comfortable slippers or compression socks, if her feet and ankles puff up by evening.
Gifts for after the birth
10 of the 12 pregnancy guides we looked at also list postpartum gifts. They have a point: the weeks after the birth are when help matters most, and fewer people think of it.
- Meals. A few weeks of meal delivery, or a roster of friends who drop off dinner.
- A cleaner for the first few weeks.
- Feeding and recovery supplies. Nipple cream, breast pads and soft nursing bras. Do not assume how she will feed, so ask or give a gift card.
- Your time. Ask whether she wants visitors first. If she does, keep it short and make yourself useful: bring lunch, fold some washing, or mind the baby so she can rest.
Keepsakes: only if she’ll fill them in
A keepsake is the one gift on this list meant to last for years. It is also the easiest one to get wrong.
Gifted memory books often stay empty. In our earlier research into how parents keep pregnancy and baby memories, people described books they never had time to fill, books that did not suit them (“I’m not a scrapbook person”), and choosing the simplest book because they knew they would not keep up.
The same research found the other side too. A record with gaps can still mean a lot. One person who was given a journal their parent kept said:
“Some years there were far fewer entries… It is one of the most meaningful gifts I’ve ever gotten.”
So ask one question before you choose: how does she like to keep things?
- If she writes notes or cards by hand, a paper journal may suit her.
- If her pregnancy lives in her phone’s camera roll, a photo book or a digital journal may suit her better.
- If you are not sure, ask her, or choose a simple option with fewer pages to fill.
Here are three kinds of keepsake, with the same facts for each. For a full comparison of seven pregnancy journals, see our guide to the best pregnancy journals in Australia.
Gifts for your pregnant partner, including at Christmas
As her partner, you see what is wearing her down day to day. Use that.
- Paid help. A cleaner or a meal service for a few weeks, arranged so she has nothing to organise.
- Something only for her. A pregnancy massage, a new book by an author she loves, or a fix for whatever is bothering her most, such as a better pillow or shoes that fit swollen feet.
- A keepsake you start together. Write her a letter about the pregnancy so far, or give her a journal and write the first page yourself.
At Christmas, the baby will be the focus of plenty of presents, so make yours about her. Sleepwear she can pack for hospital, a pregnancy pillow, a massage booked for January, or a quiet night away close to home all work. If she will be heavily pregnant over summer, think about the heat: a cooling face mist or a fan for the bedroom is a kind thought.
Giving as a group
A group gift lets friends, a mothers’ group or a team at work give one bigger thing instead of several small ones.
- One person buys it. One of you buys it and signs it from everyone, and you settle up between yourselves.
- Pool for something bigger. A few weeks of meal delivery, a massage, or a pregnancy pillow.
- Add a card everyone signs. For a workmate, a pooled gift card inside the signed card is simple and easy to use.
Pregnancy gifts by budget
Prices change by brand and by sale, so we sorted these by size of gift rather than by dollar figure. The only prices on this page are the keepsake prices we checked on the seller’s own website.
| Size of gift | Ideas |
|---|---|
| A small gift | A water bottle, compression socks, a box of snacks or tea she likes, unscented body cream, a cooked meal |
| A mid-size gift | Maternity leggings, a body care set, a pregnancy journal or photo book, a gift card |
| A bigger gift, or one to share | A pregnancy pillow, a pregnancy massage, a cleaner for a few weeks, a few weeks of meal delivery |
Common questions
Something low-key and useful: easy snacks, a large drink bottle, a cooked meal, or unscented body care. Keep it private until she has told people.
Whenever she shares the news with you is fine. Match the gift to her stage: comfort and food early, clothes and body care in the middle months, sleep and preparation near the end.
Only one of the 12 guides we looked at had a list of gifts to avoid. Most of it is common sense: check her size before buying clothes, go easy on strong scents early on, skip alcohol, and do not assume how she plans to give birth or feed.
Yes, especially if you do not know her size or what she already has. Pick a shop that sells maternity or baby things, and write a personal note in the card.
Make it about her: a massage booked for the new year, a pregnancy pillow, sleepwear for her hospital bag, or paid help at home.
It can be, if it suits how she keeps things. Choose a paper journal for someone who likes to write by hand, and a photo book or digital journal for someone whose pregnancy lives in her phone.
