what do we buy ourselves and what do we put on our registry?

nicole08709

Hi ladies:) my husband and I are expecting our first baby in April, we are having a boy! & I am about 21.5wks... Feeling anxious to start a registry and I want to buy the crib, glider..& big things to get the room set up. Can you suggest what we buy ourselves and what we put on the registry ?? I don't want to assume my parents will buy all the furniture and I don't think I can wait until I'm almost due to get the room ready... Any advice would be appreciated!!

FemShep

Generally, you can put anything baby-related on a registry, including furniture, stroller, etc, so long as you have a wide variety of price points for people to choose from.  Since most stores offer a registry completion discount, it can be to your advantage to put what you want on the registry.

As far as what to buy yourself or not buy in advance at all, think about items that may have a long order time, like a crib.  It's not uncommon for a crib to take 8-12 weeks to come in, depending on where you get it, so you should choose it early and order it as early as you need to.  Have your parents mentioned purchasing furniture at all?  If so, have a discussion with them about the amount they had in mind to spend, choose the furniture, check order times, and decide accordingly.  If your parents haven't mentioned buying furniture yet, I wouldn't assume they will buy anything and would order furniture on your own.  

Also keep in mind that a newborn actually needs very little.  DD2 slept in her RNP for the first three months, you don't *need* a changing table, and while a glider is nice, it's definitely not a requirement.

We wanted to have our car seat installed and inspected, so we purchased that early.  And I don't recommend stocking up on more than a pack or two of diapers because we've had issues with DD2 not tolerating certain brands and leaking with others, although I know many women disagree.  I also wouldn't put things you need for an older child on a registry (like a highchair, etc), but that's just because I wouldn't want to deal with storing the items for months and months before I needed them.

ETA:  Totally agree with treating a registry as your personal shopping list.  If you wouldn't buy it for yourself, don't put it on your registry.  And don't feel like you can't have only items that cost more than $X or less than $x on your registry as well.

PrimRoseMama

Registry & buying things yourself are all the same thing...

Put on your registry what you would be buying yourselves.

SingleMom31

Ditto everything above. Also, once I had everything on our registry, I took a step back and thought to myself, "geez, where would we put all of that?" and took about 1/4 off.

Doing it over again, I wouldn't have registered for clothes at all - people bought plenty on their own. Oh my did we have clothes... I would have also registered for more of the little stuff, like diaper pail refills, an extra suction bulb, etc.

dufferoo

I would buy the things you are really excited about now, and then buy the rest of the things you want after your shower(s). For example, my husband and I bought our nursery furniture, artwork and rug early on, because we were excited to decorate the nursery; and our carseat and stroller because I found the ones I wanted at a great price and didn't want to pass them up. We didn't actually register, but still received a lot of nice gifts and gift cards at our showers. Then afterwards, we bought changing table pads and covers, and the rest of the junk we thought we needed.

MMason12

We will put everything on our registry that we want to buy. In my point of view I do not expect a single person to buy any of the large items that we want like the crib, rocker, huge area rug and we fully 100% expect to buy these items ourselves.  However, if we add them to our registry than we get to use the completion coupon that companies send out -- usually around 20% off -- to buy those large items.  A 20% savings is awesome on those larger items you are buying yourself.