With spring and summer upon us (finally, Minnesota!) that usually means baby shower season. Buying a baby shower gift when you aren't a parent yourself can be an intimidating experience. I take pride in being a good gift giver myself, but looking back on some of the baby shower gifts I've given in the past, I've realized I may not have given the best gifts to help out new parents. It's easy to get sucked into the cute little baby clothes and trendy baby toys - while there's nothing wrong with giving those items as gifts (I know I received some that I really loved!) everyone else may be thinking the same thing. Shopping from a parent's registry is definitely a great place to start, but from my experience, I used my registry mostly for my big ticket items (great group gift idea!) to receive a discounted priced once my registry expired. I did get help from mom friends of mine to create my registry, but I still forgot items that I didn't even think I needed. ...