One of the most fun but yet overwhelming parts of pregnancy has to be the baby registry. Any company that you register with will probably provide you with suggestions of all the things you “need,” things that you never even knew existed (looking at you, Nose Frieda). I tried out three registry services/companies when I was pregnant: Amazon, Babylist, and Target. Babies R Us was going out of business during my pregnancy, and the nearest Buy Buy Baby is two hours away, otherwise I probably would have tried those too. If you’re wondering where to register for baby, here’s a review of the three I tried, and my winner of the best baby registry!
Babylist is pretty cool. You can add products from any store or website. To be honest, I only started a registry here because I wanted the free goodie box that they send. Since we used Amazon primarily, I didn’t want to confuse people with an additional online registry. The welcome box was cute! It came with a bunch of coupons (none that particularly stand out to me), a Cetaphil sample pack (useful), a Pampers sample set with a diaper holder, a breastmilk storage thing that I’m not sure exactly how you use, and a cute ABC wall print. Considering it was free and didn’t require a whole lot of effort, I would do it again. They also send you a stack of cute cards with your registry link on it, which if I had used this primarily I would have found useful.
I registered at Target for two reasons. One, some people really prefer being able to shop in a store. Unfortunately, most items that I was interested in either weren’t available in our local store or were sold out when I went to order them. But Target was my only local option, especially since Babies R Us was going out of business. The good news, and the second reason I registered at Target, is the Target registry bag they give is adorable and stuffed with great coupons! I pretty much immediately used the BOGO Starbucks coupon. The other stand out coupon was $25 off $50 of Honest products. I also appreciated that the coupons had like six months before they expired. There were some great samples in the bag too, like a Dr Brown’s bottle and Mam pacifiers (conveniently the only pacifier Lilly actually likes).
As I said previously, we registered primarily at Amazon. Amazon works well when you have family and friends all across the country. Plus, so many items are cheapest on Amazon. We hadn’t had Prime in a while, but I signed up for it a few months before my due date so that I could get their awesome registry Welcome Box as well as the 15% off completion discount. It was also really helpful to have Prime right after Lilly was born for some of the last minute essentials that we needed ASAP. If you’ve been living off the grid and haven’t tried Prime before, you can get a free 30 day here.
The Amazon Welcome Box was the best out of the three. Along with a wide variety of samples, it came with a large swaddle blankie, a Burt’s Bees organic onesie, a onesie with little elephants on it, Nuk pacifiers, a full pack of wipes, a thing of Lysol wipes, and a bottle.
Another reason why I love Amazon is their policies are awesome. I ordered a baby carrier that didn’t work out for me and not only did I have 90 days to return it, but all I had to do was schedule a pickup. The UPS guy even brought the label.
Along with the free Welcome Box, I also got two more freebies before she was born: a Boppy teething scarf (not sure how useful this will be but hey it was free) and this maternity belt. By the time I got the belt I was like 110 months pregnant so it didn’t fit, but postpartum it has been really useful! It gives my back extra support and helps keep my stomach muscles tucked in. It’s nothing fancy, but I’m really happy with it.
All that to say, Amazon was the clear winner for me. It’s just so simple and easy. We also registered for our wedding on Amazon, and I’m a tiny bit sad that we’re now out of life events to register for! But now we’ll get to return the favor. I’m glad I have a little mom experience now and know that buying off the registry is a GREAT thing–I’ve given way too many cute-but-not-useful clothes as gifts in the past (face palm).
Where are you planning on registering and what are you most excited to register for?