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Hi, a good friend just had a second baby and I'm at a loss to figure out something useful as a baby gift. She lives across the country, so I don't have any idea how they've decorated the nursery, etc or, really, what they might need (plus, I don't have kids or friends with babies here so am particularly clueless). Her first child (a girl) is now about 18 months old, so I assume they still have bibs, blankets, onesies ets. even though #2 is a boy (is that correct?) I was thinking something for the mom might be nice, even though she might not use it right away - a gift certificate for a nice manicure or something similar? Or, is there something particularly useful for the second baby that someone can recommend? I'm thinking in the $25-ish range, and I do have to be able to send it to North Carolina.

Thanks!

A gift certificate for the mom would be lovely, even a gift certificate to their favorite take-out would be useful and welcome as they are probably very busy! Since she had a boy second, she might need clothing for him. A simple but sweet little outfit or jammies would be great (BabyGap has a first favorites line that is nice and fits your budget). Or you could get a boy-oriented children's book like The Biggest Bear or Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel. All are easy to send!

Something for the mum would indeed be lovely. I'd also recommend books, CDs or a gift basket of consumables (e.g. bath products if you know what soaps/shampoos they use, hand lotion for mum, nappies, etc.) for the baby and, if possible, a small gift for the sibling, too.

when we had our son, we didn't have any "boy clothes" -- our daughter had mostly gender-specific clothing, so we were most grateful for clothes! We especially loved the stuff we got from Old Navy -- corduroy pants, a fleece top (has gotten a lot of wear out of that!), t-shirts...

My friend just had her first son and she had already received everything material that she needed... so we gave her and her husband several gift certificates for local restaurants/take out places. We gave them $20 for Panera, $20 for their favorite local pizza delivery place, and $10 for Starbucks (which they'll need with a newborn). I picked up take-out menus at each of the restaurants and included them in the envelope. If the local phone number for each place wasn't printed on the menu, I found the number and wrote it on the bottom. That saved them a few minutes when they wanted to order.
She said it was her favorite gift because it was the only thing they received that was for THEM. Also, gift cards don't cost anything extra to ship, so you can spend all the money on the gift, not on the postage.