When my gorgeous friend Willie told me that she was going to organise a baby shower for me, I was very excited. In France, the baby shower concept does not exist, so this was a new adventure before the term of my pregnancy.

I was really great to be able to invite all my friends to celebrate the arrival of my first child. Beyond the love, joy, laughs, yummy canapés and treats, the bubbles (yes, that day, we all indulged in some champagne), the icing on the cake was of course the awesome gifts that everyone brought. I was moved by my friends’ generosity and still use some of these great gifts three years later.

The timing of the baby shower was perfect as the amount of things needed for a first child was quite daunting. I barely knew what we really needed until I started doing some reading and talking to some friends: the list of items grew by the day.

Being a pragmatic person, I ended up putting together a list of my picks and favourites in a shop where the staff was friendly and helpful and where they had a great range of things.

My friends and family then ordered the items they wanted to give us directly from the shop. Some other friends, who thought making a contribution towards a pram was boring, chose that little extra sweet present that you do not really need but will cherish and find practical and cute in its own time. There were just so many thoughtful ideas and presents, it was overwhelming.

Since that amazing experience, I have been to many baby showers of friends of mine. I have now learnt how to give the perfect baby shower gift. I would always favour something that I could not do without for my own child, as well as something a bit different and stylish.

For me, the top picks are a beautiful baby blanket and/or a set of pure cotton bodysuits. You can never have enough of either.

The other gift that I found special and have since given out to friends many times is a baby amber necklace.

Most people would not think of giving that as a present until they read the fascinating story of amber and the amazing healing properties that it has, as well as how pretty it looks.

They then understand that it truly is a special gift and a keepsake for any newborn baby.

When my daughter was born, I was rapidly faced with the dilemma of how I wanted my baby to look fashion wise.  Did I choose ‘mini-fashionista‘ versus ’mainstream’ or  big $ brands versus the affordable?  After all, I am French and with that comes an expectation to be well dressed and elegant at all times. I assumed it applied to my baby too.

So there I was, trying to find ’elegant’ pieces of garment for my newborn baby in Sydney. Well, most department stores are visually split into colours, baby pink and baby blue with the odd yellow and green items for those who choose to discover their baby’s gender at birth.  Combined with the usual busy patterns of fairies, bunnies and butterflies, there just was not anything that really inspired me.  

My preferences for clothing are simple whites, neutral and  classic colours.  I also like it when children are dressed similarly.  With this in mind, I tried my luck in more exclusive boutiques who had some beautiful pieces that suited my taste but very few that suited how I wanted to spend my baby bonus.  It is so annoying for me to see that Petit Bateau selling for 2 to 3 times the price of what it retails for in France.  In fact, in France, it is one of those iconic family brands we all grew up with and that sells pack of 3 pairs of bodysuits in French supermarkets.  So I simply could not resolve myself to pay over $39 for a cotton bodysuit, as cute as they might look.  My next thought was to think of when my next visit to France was planned for?

I quickly realised, I could either find things I liked but would pay an absolute fortune for or dress my baby in her standard supermarket-purchased bodysuit.  BTW the same concept, I realised later, applied to shoes.

A year later, I launched Comme les grands.

Since launching, we have received so many positive emails letting me know that I was obviously not the only one who was frustrated by the choices out there.  We have also been developing a second collection which caters for children from 1 to 7 so that your children  and Comme les grands can grow together.  This will be available in the coming few months so that you no longer have to compromise quality and style for value.