About

Push Present is a slang term for a gift for a new mother to be delivered shortly after she has given birth.

Origin

The earliest available usage of the term "push present" appeared on Fox News ^[4] on October 14th, 2003. The article "'Push Presents' Expected From Expectant Fathers," however, notes the pre-internet usage of the phrase and tradition. They write:

The tradition of husbands giving their wives gifts to commemorate the birth of a baby has some longstanding cultural roots. In England (search), the man is expected to buy the woman an elegant ring. In India (search), a husband bestows a set of gold jewelry upon his wife -- offering more elaborate baubles for boy babies than girls. And recently, some of those customs have made their way over to the U.S.

Spread

On August 1st, 2004, the website PushPresent.net^[1] launched.

On October 18th, 2007, Urban Dictionary ^[2] user Stilgar defined the "push present" as "a gift (usually of high quality) given to a mother by the father of a newborn baby."

Later that year, the New York Times^[3] Fasion & Style section featured the trend of push presents, published "A Bundle of Joy Isn’t Enough?" on December 6th, 2007. They wrote:

That’s “push” as in, “I the mother, having been through the wringer and pushed out this blessed event, hereby claim my reward.” Or “push” as in, “I’ve delivered something special and now I’m pushing you, my husband/boyfriend, to follow suit.”

The Times also notes that "more than 30,000 respondents by BabyCenter.com found that 38 percent of new mothers received a gift from their mate in connection with their child. Among pregnant mothers, 55 percent wanted one. About 40 percent of both groups said the baby was ample reward.":

Shortly after the article's publication, people on Twitter began discussing push presents (examples below).

On October 14th, 2017, professional tennis player Serena Williams posted a photograph of herself with her child and the caption, "Ladies is a "push present" a thing? If so what did you get if anything? #conversationstarter" on Instagram. ^[5] The post received more than 670,000 likes in less than two years (shown below).

On November 5th, 2018, YouTuber The Chatwins published the video "TRIPLET BABY HAUL | CARA'S DREAM PUSH PRESENT | CHATWIN TRIPLETS | NUNA PIPA | DOCKATOT." The post received more than 543,000 views in less than one year (shown below).

Search Interest

External References