Hey Mamas!
We get it, one of the most daunting tasks when expecting a baby is most certainly navigating the dreaded baby registry process. BUT, we’re here to tell you it doesn’t have to be! In fact, we want you to enjoy the process. Yes, enjoy. Whether you’re having baby one, two or three babies we’re here to help give you some simple, but helpful tips and tricks to register #likeaboss.
FIRST THINGS FIRST…
You’re going to need to think about where to create a registry, or registries. Depending on your geographic location, the demographic attending your showers, and your own personal style you will want to be strategic. We always suggest choosing an online option, as well as an in-person option (that may also have an online option.) We do this because it’s the reality that not everyone is a planner. You may want to sit down for this one, in fact the vast majority of your shower guests will wait until a week or days before your shower to even think about what they are going to get you! In addition, most likely your 85-year-old Grandmother isn’t tech savvy (unless she is, in that case GO GRANDMA) and still appreciates the flexibility of perusing aisles of cute itty bitty baby things. You want to accommodate your shower guests, while also thinking about yourself (obvi.)
WHAT ARE OUR GO-TO REGISTRIES?
BABYLIST – We have so many favorite retailers and websites for baby and mama gear and goods it’s just too hard to choose, that’s why we are HUGE fans of BabyList. BabyList is a universal baby registry where you can add anything, from any store, including home cooked meals and help! NO…You didn’t hear us wrong. We’re talking Land of Nod, Etsy, Buy Buy Baby, Target, you name it, you can do it. AND in addition they provide price comparisons for each item from several different retailers. How great is that?! BabyList is such a fabulous concept and really makes what used to be a daunting task, super simple!
TARGET – Aside from being every mom’s safe heaven, Target has really stepped up their baby gear and goods game. Being the one-stop-shop that it is it provides those last minute shoppers, or browsers a scaled down, in an out, place to hook you up! And plus, who doesn’t love a Target Gift Card?!
PRIORITIZE
What you need, versus what can you live without (or can wait to buy.) The KEY to maximizing your registry gifts is to understand what you really need, and to direct your guests to these items. So how do you do this?
DON’T REGISTER FOR…
1. Diapers – Even though it may be tempting, don’t register for diapers. Instead opt for throwing a diaper party! Way more fun, efficient, and makes for better use of your registry.
2. Bottles + Breastfeeding Accessories – Register beware, there’s a few things we want you to know about all the gadgets and accessories marketed to mamas planning to breastfeed. Because let’s be real, it takes up an entire section at any retailer carrying baby products so it’s natural to think “I must need this, right?” Wrong.
Whether your 100% committed to breastfeeding, or haven’t seriously thought about it but think you want to try, just like with any other product category, we encourage you to register for items you know you will need. Meaning, don’t register for 400 milk storage bags, 20 bottles, nipple creams, etc, instead buy them when you need them, if you need them. All this does is redirect your shower guests to items you think you may need, but aren’t essential. The only exception to this rule is that we do suggest having a few bottles on hand no matter what.
In most cases your insurance will cover the cost of a breast pump, which more times than not also comes with bottles, milk storage tubes, and some storage bags to try out and use. These items will most certainly hold you over within the first week to two weeks until you have a better idea of how feedings are going.
3. Clothes – If your worried about shower guests getting you a bunch of clothes about your shower guests getting you a ton of clothes and not focusing on the more functional baby items, it’s a great idea to keep the gender of your baby secret, or reveal it on the day of the shower. It’s a fact that people LOVE to by baby clothes, especially baby girl clothes. By doing this you will naturally redirect guests to focusing on the essentials. Although we can’t guarantee you will completely disarm them!
4. Or anything under $25 – Save all the inexpensive fingernail clippers, NoseFridas, pacifiers, bath products, etc to add to your registry until all of your showers are over. The trick to this is to be able to still direct guests to your bigger ticket items, then but yet still be able to use your 10-15% registry fulfillment discount to stock your nursery with all those personal care products that you need.
Everything else is fair game!
WISH LISTS
Some expecting mamas find that they need to add items to their registry over time because everything has been picked over. In this case, that’s amazing! It’s a good idea to make a “wish list” of products you would like, but may not see as a priority. That way you can maximize your “needs” right out of the gate, and then you can add in any additional “wants” to your registry as you see fit later on.
PICKING YOUR PRODUCTS
We encourage all our expecting mamas to take a “less is more” approach to registering for baby. Easier said than done, right? The best way to do this is to start by looking at the bigger ticket necessities, for example car seats, strollers, pack and plays, high chairs, etc. and think about these 4 things..
LIFESTYLE- Depending on where you live or what you like to do, choose your baby gear accordingly. For example, are you an urban or suburban family? Do you have one car, two cars, or no car? Are you active outdoors, travel often, or have more than one home? Are you eco conscious and want to invest in sustainable eco friendly products?
FUNCTIONALITY- Products that serve more than one purpose are great! For example, consider registering for swings that also convert to a bouncy chair, or a soother that provides a variety of motions all in one product. Pack and plays are also a super functional, multi purpose item that can transition with your kiddo as they grow.
SIZE + WEIGHT- Depending on your space at home, you may have a lot or a little space to work with. Taking into consideration size, portability, and the items ability to fold and stow is essential.
LIFESPAN – How long is this product going to last? Does it transition as your baby grows? As your family grows? Are the materials used quality, durable, washable? All of these items factor in to the lifespan of a product for your family.
SAFETY- Never, ever compromise your baby’s safety. No matter what. We coach and encourage all new and expecting families to visit The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JMPA for short)
STILL FEELING OVERWHELMED?
We’re here to help! At BabyTalk we offer mamas to be On-Demand Classes and Virtual Maternity Consulting Support to make planning for baby + navigating being a new mama easier than ever!
Babytalk Gear Consult + Custom Registry Creation Service – We’re are SO excited to announce we we’ve recently launched our wildly popular Gear Consulting + Custom Registry Service virtually to mamas all over! For a one time cost mamas will receive up to a 2-hour phone consult with one of our Babytalk Consultants where they will assess individual registry wants and needs. From there, we will specially curate personalized gear recommendations based on your family. After you’ve made your large ticket selections, we create a custom registry just for you! For an additional fee we will even manage it for you until its been fulfilled.
Babytalk™ Gear Guru© – This November we will be launching our Babytalk™ Gear Guru© class online! We will break down all the major baby gear categories looking at product style comparisons, pros and cons, and different brand offerings helping you to better assess what you really need, what’s going to function best for you and your baby and fit into your family’s lifestyle. This course will not only save you time and energy, it also saves you money, honey.
Shoot us an email at hello@babytalkco.com for more info!
Till next time, Cupcakes!
xoxo,
Maggie and The BabyTalk Team
