The best gifts for new dads

Tablets are a multi-functional lifesaver for any new dad – they can distract kids during unruly mealtimes, and they can help you catch up on shows during late-night feeding sessions. Apple’s 11th-gen iPad is a great gift option: It’s fast and light, it has a solid 11-inch screen and at $349, it offers much more than the previous model. It also works with the Apple Pencil (a great option for doodling once kids are older), and there are cases like the Magic Keyboard Folio that can transform the iPad into a mini-PC. While the iPad Air is a compelling upgrade, it’s hard to beat the sheer value of the 11th-gen iPad.

This relatively cheap rattle is deceptively useful. It has a light-up face to keep babies interested, multiple textures for them to explore, and a mirror on the bottom for them to learn their own faces. It was a secret weapon during my child's first-year tantrums, so much so that I've gifted it to every new parent I know. It's not high tech at all, but it's a reminder that they’re called classics for a reason.

Keeping up with a new baby can lead to aches and pains in muscles that dad never knew he had. The third-gen Theragun Mini can give him the opportunity to get a massage without leaving the house. While there are much bigger and more powerful Theragun machines, the Mini is a good size for beginners and those who want to take its muscle-relief power wherever they go. It has a single button that dad can use to change the massage gun’s speed and its ergonomic design makes it easy to reach different parts of the body. You can also connect to the Therabody app over Bluetooth for guided massages.

And arguably the best part is its 150-minute battery life — while that might not seem like a long time, it truly is when you consider the fact that you don’t need to use it for more than a few minutes each day to feel the results. With that schedule, dad could use the Theragun Mini every day for a month or more before needing to recharge it.

When your first child is born, your first instinct is to spend whatever you can on the nicest ride for your baby. I get the urge, but take it from me that it’s a fool’s errand since they’ll often grow out of their first pram long before it gets its first dent or scratch. There’s a reason you’re likely to spot so many brand-name baby carriages on Facebook Marketplace in good condition. When it comes time to move to a stroller, however, you, uh, well, you can do that on the cheap as well.

Picture the scene: Our eldest was four and could walk easily, our youngest was two, and was about six months away from being able to walk with us. It was during the COVID lockdowns, so we couldn’t go secondhand shopping, and the fancy stroller we’d picked up on sale collapsed. I went on Amazon and found the dirt-cheapiest stroller I could find: Hauck’s Lightweight Sport. At the time it was £60 (around $80), and I figured it’d probably last long enough to cover the gap, and we did not treat it with too much care and attention.

Who would have thought that the flimsy, almost embarrassingly-cheap stroller would wind up outlasting a model that cost fourteen times as much at retail? Our son took a little longer than we expected to get his walking stamina, and so we wound up using it for the next two years. Then we handed it over to our in-laws when they were expecting their first child, saying they could use it when she’d grown out of her baby carriage. But they started using it as soon as she was old enough (and loved the freedom it afforded her). More importantly, it took a lot of punishment since the in-laws are outdoorsy types who take it off-road and on plenty of plane trips.

It’s certainly taken a battering, but when the wheels fall off, it only takes a second to jam them back into place. But if you’re just looking for something that does the job, won’t cost the Earth and will last a surprisingly long time, I can only speak to my experience that this is the one. — Daniel Cooper, Senior Reporter

The first AirPods Pro were a much-needed improvement over the original AirPods, thanks to a more secure bud design and noise canceling. The second-generation AirPod Pros are even better, with significantly improved sound and far more powerful ANC. They’re perfect for drowning out a crying infant as they’re being rocked to sleep, or quieting the cacophony of house noise while preparing dinner. Pop in one AirPod Pro, and it can help dad catch up on his podcasts while pushing a stroller around town, or chasing kids through a playground. And once the kids are asleep, they can deliver surprisingly powerful tunes. They also easily pair with Apple TVs to deliver immersive sound at night without waking the kids.

A perfect gift for any gamer dads in your life, the Laugh and Learn Controller is basically a baby-proofed version of a modern gamepad. There's a joystick, directional pad, and array of buttons for kids to fiddle with. But like any good distracting toy, it also lights up and makes sounds to keep them entertained. It's not exactly complex, but it's inexpensive and effective. That's particularly true for parents of little ones who always gravitate to their expensive console controllers.

The last thing a new dad needs is a dead phone. That’s why we recommend keeping an external battery pack on-hand, and Anker’s MagGo Power Bank is one of the best. It snaps onto your iPhone using MagSafe, so you don’t have to juggle any cables, and it’s relatively slim to carry. It also houses a 10,000mAh battery, enough to charge an iPhone 16 Pro Max twice. It’s the sort of device that’s easy to forget about, but it’s an absolute lifesaver when you actually need it.

Sometimes you just need to get away from the glaring backlights of smartphones, tablets and monitors. The latest Kindle Paperwhite is the perfect escape for a new dad, with a 7-inch screen, faster page turning and better contrast than previous models. And just like the previous model, you can also make its backlight warmer for late-night reading. Amazon claims it will also last up to 12 weeks on a single charge – and even if it doesn’t live up that claim, it’ll certainly be better than any tablet. The more expensive Kindle Colorsoft is also a great option, but not everyone needs a color screen for reading books. For most people, the Paperwhite will be more than enough e-reader.

For dads who were raised on Knight Rider and James Bond’s many wearable gadgets, the Apple Watch is a must-have. It’s a convenient way to stay on top of notifications, track your workouts and in general feel like a super-powered parent. The Apple Watch Series 10 is also a compelling upgrade for anyone who has an older model: It has a fast S10 chip, a bright 2,000 nit screen that always stays on and it supports Apple’s double-tap finger gesture. While exercise focused wearables from Fitbit may be better at tracking workouts, Apple has turned its Watch into a true extension of your iPhone.