Gifts for our Birthing Team

I struggled trying to figure out what the heck you get people as a "thank you" for helping you bring your precious baby into the world.  What could possibly be adequate?  I finally found an answer: Nothing.  There is nothing grand enough to say "thank you for helping bring life."  So instead of searching for something adequate, I decided to search for something semi-creative.  I started to think about the team (which will consist of a midwife, an assistant, and our doula) and what would be a pleasant thing for them to receive.  Still.. I struggled.

I happened upon a blog (thank you pinterest!) that has "_______in a jar" gifts.  (http://www.thegunnysack.com/2011/10/everything-in-jar-handmade-gifts.html) and I thought to myself... how neat!  Since it's about the only thing that I raised a brow to, I thought perhaps it will spark the interests of my team too!

So I got to work.  Choosing which jar to make was the tricky part.  However, i found a GREAT bargain on a few items... so that helped narrow it down quite a bit.  For my doula, we made her one jar and will present her with a card that contains some extra cash as well (since she's working for us for cheap).  For the midwife, I decided to make her two jars since she will be doing double the work of the assistant... and to make it "fancy" I decided to put it in a cute basket (and I threw in a planner with an owl on it b/c that's Annie's room theme.. and it was just down right cute).  And for the birthing assistant, one jar for her.

So I made the "relaxation-in-a-jar" for all three members and the "refreshment-in-a-jar" for the midwife's second jar.

Here's what I did:

Relaxation-in-a-Jar
Reasoning:  After going through... who knows how many hours of labor with me, these girls are going to want nothing more than to go home and relax.  To take a soak... and to go to bed.  I mean, that's what I'd want to do... and I'm sure that's what I'll want to do after my love is born.

Here's what they're made of.

• 1 - quart sized mason jar (which I got for half price at hobby lobby)
• 1 - gel eye mask (which I got a steal on at Michael's)
• I purchased two three pack's of bodycology lotion/body wash/ body spray from Target (the gift pack) and split them between the jars... so each jar got two items.  Either a lotion and body wash or a body wash and body spray, or a lotion and body spray.
• I bought a 12-pack of lavender tea light candles and split those among the three jars, so each jar got 4 tea light candles
• Lastly, I purchased a bag of ultra-moisturizing foaming bath beads (I was going to purchase bath salts, but I found a bag of these on sale at Target for like... $1 & it was lavender scented, like the candles... so I had a winner!) and I used little jewelry sized ziplocks to divide the beads up.  Each little packet = 1 bath.  There was enough room in the jar for 3 baths.
• I also included a little set of instructions in each jar (mainly for the purpose of naming what was in the zip lock bags).  I also included a "thank you" message at the end.

Refreshment-in-a-Jar
Reasoning:  Again, after going through who knows how many hours of labor with me, I could only assume that at some point my midwife would like to freshen up a bit.  I certainly would!

What it's made of:

• Again, a quart sized mason jar (found half price at Hobby Lobby)
• A travel pack of facial wipes
• A tide-to-go pen
• A travel-sized hairbrush/comb
• Mini dove deodorant
• A pack of Orbit gum
• Hand sanitizer
• A mini lint roller
• I also got a toothbrush/toothpaste... but I wasn't thinking about the height & the toothbrush was a little too tall.. so I just put that in my linen closet for a rainy day.

For the midwife i put both jars in a basket with the little owl planner I found.

I don't want you to call me a cheapskate, so I wont tell you how much I spent on each jar. ( But if you're THAT curious.. just shoot me a message :)

I really love them and think they turned out great!  I'm glad to be able to mark that off of my list of things to do!

Oh... and the gunny sack blog provided the label templates so all I had to do was adjust the colors in photoshop, add text, print, and glue (modge podge) it to the jars! You can get them here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bzzc0kU7BM6FYTFkMTAzZTYtZWQzNi00MWQ2LTgwZDctYmMyNWMyNTY3MzE2/edit?pli=1

She also has the labels on her blog with the text already there.