Sympathy Gifts assembled in a basket can take away some of the pressure in finding the one appropriate gift for bereaved families of pregnancy and infant loss. The baskets can provide items that are helpful, comforting and supportive for the grieving families. Whether their baby was stillborn, passed of SIDS or miscarried, you can provide hope, love and support in a basket for their healing journey.
Do not think you have to send a sympathy gift or basket the moment the tragedy occurs. Many people are doing so already. You may want to take a little time to gather gifts that you feel are appropriate for pregnancy or infant loss. Your sympathy basket has no time frame. Usually 3-6 months after their loss, people around them are continuing with the routines of everyday life. This is also a difficult time for the bereaved and may even brighten their day by receiving gifts months after their child has died. This is showing you care about them as well as the life of their baby that ended too soon.
Sympathy gifts included within the baskets could be something practical, memorial keepsakes or items completely unrelated that would appeal to the personality, hobby or style of the bereaved. Having a mix of these gifts will provide families alternative outlets to channel their grief over the loss of their precious baby. These are all sympathy gifts because you have in mind the relationship between the family and the baby at heart. This relationship has changed form and new traditions will evolve from the gifts received by families suffering this terrible loss.
It is a very good idea to add practical products within a sympathy basket. This will alleviate the pressure of having to get dressed and enter into public to buy necessary items. There are always babies and pregnant women at grocery, department or hardware stores that may upset the mother for quite some time. Add paper plates, napkins, plastic silverware, paper towels or tissues. The first days following the death of their baby are filled with tears, stress and chaos. These supplies will eliminate the need to wash dishes, providing more time to be spent on comforting, talking and other important matters. Other practical gifts for your basket are stamps, stationary, and envelopes. You could even write a note stating that you could mow or shovel their property for the next month. If you are not local, purchase a month long contract from a company nearby. Another gift that inevitably helps is money. Most likely the parents have taken unexpected time off from work and a few extra dollars could help out tremendously.
Memorial keepsakes are a very good idea when assembling your sympathy basket. There are numerous products available to bereaved families of pregnancy and infant loss. Jewelry, remembrance kits, virtual memorials, frames, ornaments, stars, journals, memory trees, stepping stones, books and statuary. If there is a support group that helped the parents through this difficult time, make a donation in memory of their child. If the parents belong to a church, have a service said in memory of their baby. These remembrance gifts are the personal touches of your baskets and can provide such comfort at a time when life feels so empty and cold.
There is nothing wrong with including items not related to the loss of their baby like a trade magazine subscription or purchasing a craft or hobby kit. Adding gifts that specifically appeal to the bereaved parents provides an opportunity to engage in hobbies, crafts and activities that may bring joy to their lives.
There will be times when the words on a sympathy card or written in a book will upset or offend families grieving the loss of their baby. Offering a sympathy basket with several gifts of different characteristics will lessen the effects of the one gift that just didn't offer the comfort you intended. Make sure when writing the special little note to include their baby's name somewhere in the card. If they didn't name the baby, somehow acknowledge that they are parents, they have a baby and they love their little angel.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Monday, December 17, 2007 View other articles written by Diana Gardner-Williams(13)
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