Baby Registry for Used & Secondhand Items - Ideas?

rebamaybassett

FTM here. I am interested in acquiring most of our baby stuff either used and/or secondhand. The only items I will be registering for as new will be a breast pump, crib mattress, and car seat. My friends are throwing me a shower and I can't figure out how to (1) communicate our desire to be nice to the environment and save money (without overloading text on the shower invite), as well as (2) how to list our needs and have them checked off as they are bought, since lots of items will be from secondhand stores in town. (For example, at one store in town there a gazillion nursing pillows, so the likelihood of that item being available is high.) The stores all have gift cards but do not have registries.

I've looked around at different online gift registries, but want a combo of a website where I can manually list several stores as well as a section to explain our reasoning/philosophy. Anyone know of anything that could help? My last resort would be to ask a friend to design a website for me. Thanks in advance!

erinnlou

I used babylist registry. It's online, and there's a text box where you can leave a message to your guests. Not sure about manually entering stores. Pretty sure the store has to have a website.

charliepepper

Sorry, no ideas. But I'm totally following this--what a great idea!

Maybe, if you're not picky about the specific item, you can ask people to give a hand me down? The friends that are organizing the shower can help manage it so that you don't multiples of the same type of gift. That way you have a secondhand items, but also nice memories of your friends each time you use that item. Guests who don't have kids can bring useful stuff like diapers?

laurenkoonce

Have the person throwing your shower set up a Facebook group. Give them the list if items you want have them make a post and include that you don't want them purchased new... Everyone can post their finds and what they already bought as well as pictures!

Koalaknuckles

I'm all about doing the used thing for items that don't have safety issues.

My friend is having her baby next month, and I probably won't need to buy a lot of baby clothes because by the time her baby grows out of them they'll fit my baby lol

Although I don't know what the sex of my baby is and hers is a boy. 

Don't really care though, even if I have a girl I have no qualms about dressing her in blue clothes. No big deal, just glad they're free.

No suggestions for you on how to go about your registry though, except by word of mouth or a card attached to shower invites with your preference.

rebamaybassett

This looks like a great option! I love that they give you shower invite cards to put with the invitations. I will probably be using babylist! Thanks for the tip.

erinnlou

You're welcome! The registry cards are great!

rebamaybassett

Btw, I'm getting most of my ideas from a book called The Eco-nomical Baby Guide by Joy Hatch and Rebecca Kelley. The authors also have a blog (www.greenbabyguide.com), but the book is a great resource for ideas! Some of the product recommendations are out of date (book was published in 2010), but the general philosophies are great. Love it!