I had an awesome time at my good friend Lesley’s baby shower yesterday. Nice gals, tasty food, fun games and a glass of wine. Sounds like a good Sunday to me!

I was trying to think of something fun, but different, to take as a gift. I strolled the aisles hoping something would jump out at me. Of course I saw TONS of cute outfits, but I was hoping for something a little more unique. I finally made my way to the toy department, still walking up and down the aisles.

….and then it HIT me. Wooden alphabet blocks!  I remembered seeing a blogger who had made it a point to take weekly photos of her little one, documenting the entire first year of the baby’s life. She had used alphabet blocks to spell out the baby’s age… 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, etc. I loved the idea and thought it would be a fun gift!

Blocks in tow, I headed home to personalize it a bit. I wanted to make a page to insert in the packaging to  explain what the blocks were for. I didn’t want her thinking I was wackadoodle for giving a newborn some wooden blocks!     Soooo I did a search and came up with 6 stinkin’ cute baby photo ideas… ALL done using the wooden blocks.  I added on the words “Avery Photo Op Ideas” and printed it out. Would you believe the sheet of paper was the EXACT same width as the packaging?! PERFECT!  All I had to do was fold the top and bottom a bit and it looked like it’d been there all along. You could no longer see the original label on the box and my new “cover” was perfectly nestled inside the clear plastic packaging.
Here’s a looksie:

These are the blocks BEFORE I changed up the packaging. They even come with a little fabric pouch to store them in! Here’s a view of the back:

You can see a little bit of the bag showing through at the bottom. AND you can see that the set includes NUMBERS.

…and here is the set AFTER I added the personalized Avery page. Hopefully I don’t upset any of the people who I borrowed pages from. Hopefully they’ll take it as a compliment that I loved their photos enough to want to share them with a friend!

Pin It

I was so surprised that the page was the perfect width. Oh how I love when things work out like that!  I finished the gift off with plain brown paper, pink ribbon, and a bonus car seat carrier toy. Who doesn’t love a little functional gift garnish?!  I like to take a cute sharpie (silver this time) and write a little note to the recipient right on the paper. I could be wrong, but I think it feels casual-cute this way.

I think I’ll remember this idea for future baby showers.  It’s a cute present that can be used in the first year… and many years to come!

Be sure to check out the awesome link parties where I’m linking up!

You may also like: