Your first child brings on a lot of other firsts: morning sickness, maternity clothes, baby showers, and selecting baby gear! Some mommies register for their new arrival, and one piece of advice for picking items for your wee one is to go in person.
The Internet is fabulous, but when it comes to your newborn's goods it's helpful to head on over to the store. All those toys, swings, bassinets, and decorations look a lot different when you see them first hand, and since you are about to acquire a lot of gear, you want to make sure you actually like the stuff you get. It's better to take care of the legwork before baby is born, than lug him or her back with your returns after.
Thinking she had outsmarted the system by sitting on her couch and shopping, my pal registered online. Then, she spent a good deal of time exchanging goods once the gifts poured in. Learn from a fellow expectant mommy's mistake and do it right the first time.
Did you register in person or online?
Karen Millen
Passionata
Camper
I did both. I actually registered online first at Babies R Us and then went in person to check everything out. I wanted to go in with a plan so that I wouldn't be so confused when I got there. Then, I went back online to add more stuff and make edits. Some of the items you will need as a first time mom aren't even available in store so it is good to search the websites as well.
1We didn't have online registering with my first. *lol* I hated doing it in person though, carrying that stupid scanner everywhere.
When I had my third (and before we get into an etiquette discussion, she's five years behind the other so fits formal etiquette and I didn't do it for a shower anyway, I did it because dozens of people asked me to so they knew what I needed) I did it all online. I checked out one or two items in person but it was much better for me to do the bulk online and read reviews as well as descriptions. Those aren't available in stores.
2My SIL registered online, and she didnt realize that 80% of it was "online only" so when all of us went to get her baby shower gifts? out of luck.
3I did a lot of mine on-line. I had seen a lot of the stuff I wanted in person and knew what I needed. I didn't have a problem.
4I had a couple of items that were online only but half the people wanted to shop online only so I was good. *lol*
5I did both. I started my registry online adding items I knew we needed/wanted (Playtex drop in bottles, carseat, etc.), but went to the store to look at specific things that I know can be different in person. I think it's good to do both because some items are in store only (like clothing items) and other items are online only. A good mix enables anyone to do the shopping either at a store or online.
Ironically, hardly anyone shopped from the registry for us. Not a big deal really, but interesting.
6I did mostly online. I did TONS of research using Baby Bargains, reading reviews online, visiting stores, asking other people, etc. I checked out some of the big items (stroller, etc.) in person to make sure it was a good fit. But I added to my registry from the comfort of my couch. It was great because I could add to it at all hours (midnight registering was fun!) and as much or little as I wanted. And it was easy to change my mine. Plus, aside from the two traditional registries I used, I also used wishlist.com, which pulled from all over the internet. I found BRU and Target WAY too limiting for what I wanted, which tended toward the unique or trendy, especially for the stuff like bedding, diaper bags, etc.
7We had a great time registering in person.
8I did most of it in person because I wanted to make sure the items would be in the store when people went to look for them. BUT, I used the internet to do my research before registering to make sure I was registering for things that had good reviews.
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