If you’ve ever prepared for the arrival of a baby, or helped a loved one with it, you know how daunting it can be. Expensive too. There are onesies, blankets, bibs, socks, and diapers to consider. And the crib, of course. Bottles, bottle warmers, wipe warmers. A host of newfangled gadgetry. Pricing it all out, never mind the physical act of buying it all, is exhausting. Considering that pregnancy and birth are two of the most natural things on earth, there is an unnatural feel to the amount of time, effort and money that we’re made to believe goes into having a baby. Here you are, trying to grow a human, and simultaneously wondering how you’re going to afford all this stuff. And when and where you’re even going to get it. 

Here in the States, baby showers seem to be the popular thing. Shower the new mother with useful gifts so she can focus on her pregnancy. Often with hundreds of dollars worth of baby stuff sitting on a gift table, a merry afternoon is spent and the new family is blessed with what will hopefully be something of a head start on the long road of life.

Baby Starter Kit

But in Finland, since the 1930s they’ve been doing things a little differently. Enter the Finnish baby box: a revolutionary idea meant to help combat infant mortality rates, it’s now a rite of passage for the newborns of Finland, and their mothers too. It’s like a baby shower in a box.

What’s in the box? A better question might be what isn’t in this box. This unassuming cardboard box is chock full of all the first-year essentials for baby. Onesies, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, cloth diapers, bath products, bedding, and even a little mattress is included. (1) This mattress turns the box into baby’s first bed, and for the last 80+ years, this thoughtful gift has been helping Finnish babies and families with a graceful start in life. 

Grow Baby Grow

Back when the program started, Finland’s infant mortality rate was unacceptably high. The government desperately wanted to do something about that, and this box has been instrumental in taking the infant mortality rate down to almost zero. How? There are two important ways. Back when the program commenced, in order to get registered for the box, the mother had to visit a doctor within the first 4 months of pregnancy. This meant they became part of the health care system, and the pregnancy could be more closely monitored. Another way it has helped is by giving the baby a place to sleep. Back in the day, the baby would sleep in bed with the parents. While a cardboard box may not be fancy, it also isn’t a great big bed with heavy blankets and other people in it. So this means a lot less potential for suffocation and crushing of the wee one. 

The Finnish way of welcoming a baby into the world is a sweet and refreshing thing to see, and it’s not all about the money. In this program, mothers have the opportunity to claim a box or a cash gift. The overwhelming majority choose the box because the value is much greater than the cash. There are a great many baby products in those boxes, and that means a lot of business too. These boxes represent solid business relationships throughout the supply chain, ensuring everyone’s success. It’s not just a baby shower in a box, it’s a box of a hundred wins. It means opportunity… not just for that baby but for all the businesses who contribute to it, and that’s a pretty wonderful thing to see.