This is How Much You Pay Every Time a Friend Has a Kid

When you have a kid, you know you’re going to be shelling out the big bucks for everything, from those weird bulb syringes that suck snot out of your baby’s nose before they understand how to do it themselves to enough diapers to clog a landfill for millennia. But it turns out that parents aren’t the only ones who can expect to dump the contents of their wallet directly into their little ones’ crib — because when a friend has a baby, it costs you, too.

According to a new report from Thortful, if one of your close friends has a baby, you’ll spend up to $1489 in the first ten tears of their life. The costs are mostly holiday and celebration-related. You can expect to shell out about $346 in the baby’s first year, thanks to baby showers, christenings, gender reveal parties (which are totally over, btw), gifts for the parents, gifts when the baby is born, and first birthday and first Christmas presents (if the family celebrates it).

$127 a year doesn’t sound like a lot, but that $346 in the first year alone is definitely a doozy (though it pales in comparison to the $7199 the kid’s parents will shell out in the first 12 months). And what if you have multiple friends having babies in the same year? Your finances could end up taking a huge hit. Those onesies, Boppy pillows, virgin mimosa bars, celebratory balloons, and organic nipple balms aren’t going to pay for themselves.

And if you have to travel to partake in the baby shower, Christening, or other event? You might start feeling the itch to consult a financial planner every time you hear that a friend has another little bundle of joy on the way. At least you can calm yourself about your dwindling bank account by huffing that new-baby-head-smell every chance you get.

— Justina Huddleston