Montessori-Inspired First Birthday Gifts
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy through my link but does not change your price.
I am still in complete denial about that my baby turned 1. This year FLEW and yet I feel like she has been part of our lives forever. First birthdays make me a tiny bit sad. I think it’s the fact that society transitions them suddenly to toddler. I will die on the hill that a 12-month-old is NOT a toddler though. I think toddlerhood starts around 18 months. Now having had a toddler I find it completely laughable I let people call my 12-month-old a toddler last time.
Anyway, all that aside, I find first birthdays a bit sad regardless. I am not a big party person but I absolutely am someone who makes first birthdays special. It helps me to enjoy the milestone rather than just feeling sad. I am SO excited for the gifts we ended up choosing for our baby. I think they’re a great mix of things that will grow with her and she will enjoy with her big brother. So here’s the list of our favorite Montessori-inspired first birthday gifts. Some of them are even so good we bought them for my son and are buying again for our daughter.
Learning Tower
This was meant to be for her first birthday but we decided to give it to her a bit early and make it a Chanukah gift. She was no longer accepting the clip-on high chair we had on the island because she wanted to be standing all the time. So she got it a few weeks early but a learning tower is the perfect Montessori-inspired first birthday gift. Ours is Sprout Kids (code OnTheWay10) and we loved our son’s so much we bought the same one again.
Stapelstein Stepping Stones
I went back and forth on getting these for a while because they are quite pricey. I think they will be the perfect gift though for the children to use together. I also can imagine some awesome 1-year-old play with them including stacking for maximum effort and color sorting. This is a gift I know will grow with her which is something I look for in first birthday gifts.
Doll Stroller
This was a gift from my mom. She loves her doll so my mom got her a stroller for her doll. I know when she starts walking this will be a huge hit! She was very excited when she opened it!
Toniebox
We got my son a Toniebox for his first birthday and it was such a great gift. He could use it right away to choose music and play it whenever he wanted. We now gave her one for her first birthday as well. She knew what it was having seen Y’s and seemed very into it!
Blanket
I have always sung You Are My Sunshine to her so sunshines are something I love getting her. This blanket in particular is special because one of her first outfits was pajamas with this print in preemie size. We also got her another pair of these pajamas in 12-month size for her birthday since she obviously outgrew the preemie ones. My son has this same blanket with a different print and we love how soft it is.
That’s all! That’s everything we got for my daughter’s Montessori-aligned first birthday gifts. My main qualification on gifts for a first birthday is I want gifts that will last. These are all gifts my son still enjoys at 2.5!
A Ball Run
We got this ball run from the Tiny Earth Toys sale a few weeks ago. It was an amazing deal at $10 so we decided to go for it. It is an absolutely gorgeous ball run which is why we got it despite already having some ball runs. I highly recommend a ball run for a 1-year-old. This one is currently out of stock but we love this one as well! My baby loves to post balls in them and watch them come down. They’re so enticing though my toddler still loves them too!
Doctor’s Set
This was the gift Y chose for M! She is loving it and I think as her pretend-play skills grow it will be a wonderful toy for her!
