If You Need The Perfect Baby Shower Gift, Baby Dove Has You Covered

This summer and fall, I will be attending no fewer than four baby showers. I am constantly hemming and hawing over gifts, and always get a great item or two off the registry, but I like to add a little something extra, a little something that has a personal touch that shows I put some thought into their gift. Usually, it's something personalized. And while a monogrammed towel or rattle is nice, it's not very practical. However, the new personalized Baby Dove soap and lotion is the perfect baby shower gift that shows you care, and you care that it's something you can actually use. (Also because those rattles hurt when your baby inevitably throws it at your eyeball.)

Americans have been using Dove soap for generations. In 1957, Dove emerged selling beauty bars, and it has since evolved into a multinational company that manufactures dozens of products with an eye towards being gentle on your skin, hair, and wallet. Their line of baby products are very affordable in a time when it seems like baby shampoos and soaps are in a competition to see who can charge the most for the least amount of product. The new personalized baby bottle from Dove makes a splash by allowing customers to customize their bottle of soap with a baby's name. It's a sweet, practical gift for any expectant or new parent.

I grew up using Dove. It was the pink bar of soap that rested directly beside the sink that my grandmother always used to wash her face. If I inhale deeply enough, I can almost smell it on her skin even now. She used to tell me that it kept her young and beautiful, and it really did. She also used to recite the ad to me, "It creams your skin." Suddenly, not only was Dove good at cleaning your skin, it was also great for a laugh.

Laughter aside, Dove is so much more than just beauty bars now. Their hair products are stellar (seriously, try their dry shampoo), their deodorant smells like heaven without overwhelming everything else, and their baby products are really simple and great. The fragrance is light and has that perfect "fresh baby" smell that I can't get enough of. My kids are 7 and 10 and insist they're too old for baby shampoo and lotion, but I still want to lather them in it and then tackle them in a hug so I can breathe it in.

The new Dove personalized baby bottle is $24.99 for both the lotion and baby wash, each 13 ounces and easily refillable. And honestly? $12.50 for 13 ounces of baby wash isn't expensive to begin with, especially when it's personalized, which you do straight through their website. Imagine wrapping this up with an adorable hooded ducky towel and washcloth set inside the baby bath that your friend registered for. (Because it's their first child, and they haven't yet started just bathing with the baby because they need to multitask.) It would be adorable. Or even placing them at the top of the diaper cake at the head table for the mom-to-be.

Also, I'm not going to lie. I'm really tempted to customize this with my baby brother's name on it and give it to him when he starts blubbering about the Cavs losing LeBron — again. I'll also put his baby's names on them when I go to his wife's shower soon because I'm going to be an aunt, and I want to out-gift my sister. Be honest, you want to out-gift everyone else, too. Take my advice — go personal.