What do you say when you give a gift for new born

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Hi,

My colleague (man) recently had a new born baby girl.

I have to give him a gift on behalf of my colleagues who are working in another office. The situation makes me uneasy, I don't know why.

I have no clue what to say when I give him the gift, apart from "this is a gift from ... for the birth of your daughter". But with my monotonous voice, this would sound like a postman delivering a parcel.

For a birthday, I would simply add a smiling "happy birthday" and I guess that would make it. But for a new born, what do you say?

Maybe it sounds like a stupid question but it makes me very anxious, i'm afraid to look like a robot or weird and he (NT) will think I dislike him.

Thank you

I don't think there is an exact rule of what to say when handing someone a gift for their baby. When my (NT) mum gave my dad's sister's daughter a gift for her baby, she just said "congratulations, I got this for you" and handed the gift to her.
As long as you don't say something inappropriate like "here's a gift for your stupid baby" or something.

But to be honest, the guy is probably happy and excited and focused on being a father, so he probably won't care what you say as you hand the gift, as he'd be more grateful for the gift.

Just don't say something such as:

"Here's your freakin' gift for yet another sperm-mistake brought into an already overpopulated and hopelessly doomed world. Hope you like the stench of soiled diapers and projectile vomit, and only getting a few minutes of sleep a night."

Although deep down that's what I'd be thinking.

^^^I don't feel like saying anything negative, just looking for a good way to communicate I am happy for him as well...

"Congratulations" is a good start
Hope she lets you sleep at night may not be so bad actually.

Last edited by LaetiBlabla on 25 Apr 2018, 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I would think along these lines:
- "Congratulations" as a good opener.
- Be sure to mention that the gift is from everybody.
- Something to show that you are happy for your colleague.
- Be humble - the gift is for him or his daughter, not to "virtue signal" how wonderful you and your colleagues are.

So, something like:
"Congratulations on the birth of your daughter, here's a little something we got for you to mark the happy occasion."

If the gift is something that his daughter will use, like a toy or clothes, a nice touch might be to say that the gift is "for your daughter" rather than "for you".

Thank you, now I just have to rehearse this to make it sound spontaneous.

People often use "welcome to the world" on cards but can't think of a way in which that doesn't sound quite silly when handing a present over.

I think keeping it simple like: "congratulations, we are all so happy for you" is probably the way to go.

Good luck.

It is the "We" causing me trouble. It feels very much weird to me. Strange

Congratulations on your new child.

you could substitute something along the lines of "us folks in the office got this for you."

"Here is something from all of us." Is that any better?

In my case scenario I would rehearse something and then at the time would blurt out something different anyway.

If you stumble just a "Congratulations" with a huge smile on your face would probably suffice.

People expect other people to be all dumbstruck around the arrival of new life!

"from all of us" is great. (I think I don't like "we" because I don't like to speak in name of people)

I think I have my sentences and body language in mind now. I'm sure I will do it exactly the way I planned.

Congratulations is the proper thing to say. I also like to say, blessings to mom and baby and to your whole family. and you can just sign your name. Keep it simple. They will be very grateful and happy that you thought to give them a gift.