Believe it or not, push presents have a long history, even though the idea just became popular in the United States. In the United Kingdom and India, the push present has been around for hundreds of years, possibly even longer. There are some claims that these baby baubles have been around since the 1700’s.
The gifts were given to new mothers as a way to make them feel special or to ‘reward’ them for a ‘job well done’. Men would buy a small bit of jewelry for the mothers of their new children and the women would wear it as a reminder of the joyous occasion. Most of the time in the U.S. people give gifts that parents can use for the new baby, both as a practical idea and as a way to celebrate a new human joining the world.
With the advent of the internet, information travels around the world in seconds. It is sort of odd that push presents only became more popular in the U.S.A. recently, as people have been sharing baby-bearing news across the oceans for years now. There are theories on why the concept just gained ground, one of them being that the United States tends to materialize everything, from mass marketing Christmas to creating sales for President’s birthdays.
There is no solid history of when the first push presents began to show up in U.S. baby gift trends, but from 2010 to 2012 the idea of giving a push present o baby bauble has gained ground. Some people claim that the whole thing was started by jewelers in an effort to sell more merchandise, but as the concept was spread mainly by word of mouth, this claim has no basis in fact. Like all good rumors, this one began on the internet and spread through emails, forums, and social networking.
Even before the current craze, there has been no established tradition for giving the gift, other than the present should come from someone close to the new mother. Usually, this is the father of the child or the mother’s partner. As with all other gift-giving occasions in the U.S., more people are getting in on the party. Grandmothers, fathers, brothers, and friends are gifting their pregnant friends with small push presents.
Whether you choose to buy a new mother a push present or not is up to you. You don’t need to feel pushed into it (not an intentional play on words!) – but it is nice to let a mother know she is appreciated. You can feel good in knowing if you do choose to give a push present or baby bauble, it isn’t the marketing ploy of any jeweler’s market or board of directors.
When you hand the gift to the new mom in your life, you can tell her it has roots in history and that you are only following in the footsteps of Kings and Queens in history. It’s all in good taste and such a historic occasion deserves a historic gift.
Random gift ideas: Considering Mets season tickets as a gift for a soon-to-be dad? Or perhaps an electric bike under $1,000?