When the new mother arrives home, it is nice to have someone to help for the first few weeks, especially if she has no close family living nearby. The new father may be home also, but may not be capable of taking care of everything. Offering to prepare home-cooked meals and to clean the house is an ideal gift and will help to keep the mother from getting too overwhelmed as a new parent. Having someone to care for the baby while she can get some well deserved rest would be greatly appreciated also. You can offer to babysit as well as running any necessary errands. The less the new mother has to do the faster she will recuperate form the effects of childbirth.

Another ?gift? that you can give a new mother might be a gift certificate for a makeover. After months of being large and awkward, she may not be feeling very attractive. Offer to babysit and send her for the full treatment that includes a facial and a pedicure (which she may desperately need since she has not seen her toes in two months). A new hairstyle and makeup will make her feel refreshed and ready to take on the world. A new mother needs to be pampered as much if not more than the baby.

A certificate for a full body massage would be a nice gesture. The new mother's body has taken a beating for the last few months and every muscle in her body may ache. A massage will allow her to fully relax and enable the masseuse to rub away any lingering aches and pains that she may still have.

If the new mother has suffered from a huge weight gain, a trial membership to a gym might be a good idea. Whenever the mother is physically able, she can try out the facilities and it may give her the extra push she needs to begin a fitness program to gain back her pre-pregnancy body.

If you wish to do something for both the new parents, you can offer to babysit while they spend the night in a prepaid motel room. The room doesn't have to be elaborate. The privacy and the idea of being away from it all will help the couple to relax and reconnect with each other. The advantage of this gesture is that this ?gift? includes the new father, who may be feeling more overwhelmed than his wife.

Finally, you can offer to babysit so that the mother can do anything she may want to. She may want to have lunch with old friends or spend a peaceful afternoon at the library. Every mother needs a little ?me? time, whether she is a new parent or not.

Many people purchase items for the new family, but the gesture of giving your time freely so that they can enjoy some spare time without the baby can be the greatest gift of all.