The best gifts for new dads

Amazon Kindle is the cream of the crop in the e-reader department, but if you were to ask our tech editor Rick Broida (I did, by the way), the 11th-generation Paperwhite is actually the best there is. It has a larger screen than the baseline Kindle, a "warmth slider" for nighttime reading and up to 10 weeks of battery life — need I say more?

If the new baby has mom feeling knots, a personal massage “gun” like the Theragun Mini can provide some temporary relief by gently pummeling away her muscle aches. While not the most forceful device of its kind, this triangular massager is effective enough to ease soreness yet small enough to carry around in and outside of the house. We’ve recommended older versions of the Mini in past gift guides; compared to the last one, this third-generation model is similarly compact and supports the same speeds and head attachments, but it lasts a bit longer on a charge. (Therabody rates it at 180 minutes.) Just be warned it’s not exactly quiet. No massage gun is a substitute for proper sleep and nutrition habits, but since those will be in shorter supply for any new mom, it can be a useful tool to have on hand. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter

With a larger crystal-clear display, features like Fall and Crash Detection and the powerful S10 chip driving it all, this is one of the most powerful Apple Watches yet. At nearly $70 off, this is among the best deals we've seen for the model. This brand-new watch only debuted earlier this fall, so nab it on sale while it's still in stock.

Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro are a huge improvement over their predecessors, offering improved sound quality, ANC and transparency mode.

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.

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

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.