Registry experiences

kellyt327

I had a shower with family Saturday and received mostly "little stuff" from my registry, which is fine.  I registered at Target and BRU.  Not one single item has been purchased from my BRU registry.  I did have a couple bigger things on my Target list that I noticed are only available online.  Have people ordered things from your registry online? Or just bought in-store stuff?  I have my friend shower this weekend and I'm guessing I will get more "little stuff" and I do not expect my friends to spend a lot, nor do I want them to.  So unless they go in together on bigger items, it looks like I'm going to have to get those myself.  Is anyone else having similar experiences???

TristaD81

No one has bought me anything from my registry online yet, but I frequently buy things from other people's registries online and have the gifts shipped to their houses.  I think it depends on the deomographic of people attending yout showers (tech-savvy peeps or not). 

I've gotten a variety of price ranges so far, but some things I bought myself because I had a feeling no one was going to buy me that item (like my breast pump). 

krisim

I didn't really get any items off my registeries for DD1.  (mostly a few small things)  I ended up buying  most of the items myself.  Our friends tended to buy things they liked (like clothes or toys), not really necessities.

maiken1027

I haven't had a shower yet, so I have not received many gifts. But, I made sure to register for a lot of stuff that can be found in store, especially on the less expensive stuff.  If there was an item that I wasn't picky about and they had one version in store and online and one just online, I went with the one that could be bought either place.  I know personally, even though I love internet shopping, I'd rather go to the store if it means I won't have to pay shipping. 

sissyroo

Yeah, same here, but we expected to have to buy some of the bigger items.  I have found that I've gotten a lot of things that are very similar to what I've registered for, so I've gone back in and updated my registry.  We bought all the baby furniture, glider, baby monitors, car seat, stroller, humidifier, etc.  There's lots of little things left to buy, but we are just slowly getting them one at a time! We definitely don't need any baby clothes! As far as my showers have gone, I've gotten a lot of adorable things, I didn't even think to ask for! It's been great!

bkbaird88

I just had my one and only shower on Saturday. DH was very surprised and disappointed that only little things were purchased. The only BIG item that was bought was the pack n play from my cousin, who is more like my sister. So we sat down and budgeted in everything we NEED that we didn't get from the registry. I noticed that we didn't really get anything that was on registry.

bunnybiter

I'm actually a little annoyed. We spent the time registering in order to make it easier on people so they could get us what we needed, and could see the cribbing and bedroom set we are using (noting that we bought it already) and not one person has used the freaking thing. Instead I'm getting phone calls with, "What do you need or want?" I stopped answering. If they want to get us something, they're going to do it.

MrsWilliams2B

I have started to receive some stuff, like my boppy pillow and a pack of onesies and bibs. My stepmom got us our bouncer. We haven't had our sprinkle yet, but the registries aren't listed on there. We already planned on buying the "big stuff", so the gifts we received were surprises. We registered at BRU and Target and all of our gifts have come from Target so far.

MCH77

I reg at Target and BRU, most of my gifts have come from BRU.  I tried not to reg for many gifts that were only online, because if they are like me they are buying it on the way to shower. 

krissymac

bkbaird88:

I just had my one and only shower on Saturday. DH was very surprised and disappointed that only little things were purchased. The only BIG item that was bought was the pack n play from my cousin, who is more like my sister. So we sat down and budgeted in everything we NEED that we didn't get from the registry. I noticed that we didn't really get anything that was on registry.

Same situation here - I got mostly clothes when all I registered for for clothes were plain white onesies. I did get about 25 things from my registries. Now at least we have 8 weeks to purchase the rest of the stuff we need and can spread  it out. 

lbolin

My shower isn't until Saturday but I look at my registry all the time and so far only the big stuff has been purchased. I am assuming a lot of people are going in together to get gifts which is okay by me.

pixiegirl131415

I have heard it can be the case that you don't get any of your big stuff, because people generally do have to go in together to pay for them. I am hopeful, but planning on having to buy most of the big stuff ourselves. As for the online only availablility, it depends on the person and a) how tech savvy they are b) how well they plan ahead. If something has to be shipped, they can't get it last minute, which is what I usually end up doing for parties.

starz57182

I've had one shower so far, and another one coming up in a few weeks. I had several smaller things bought from the Target registry (bath toys, towels, cart cover, socks, etc) and a couple somewhat pricier items from BRU (bath tub and a really nice umbrella stroller). 

Oddly enough, although not a ton was bought from the registries, we didn't end up with tons of clothes either. We got several gift cards, which I intend to use to buy basics like sheets, changing pad, etc.  

As far as the big stuff, we were planning on getting that stuff ourselves anyway. We already bought the crib and car seat, and a friend who is done having kids gave us her swing and bouncer. We've gotten things like a boppy, changing table, bumbo and carrier at consignment sales and Craigslist to cut costs.

We did have one person buy us something that was online only (at Target), which surprised me but I'm happy about it! Mostly though, our stuff is available in stores because we made it in the store. 

kristiwashere

Only my "bigger" items on my registries have been bought - I'm sure it's my ad&stepmom who bought my stroller, mostly because they aren't sentimental like "oooh what a cute onesie" they are more practical, & also my stepmom always Xmas shops online & I know the stroller is out of stock in store (frustrating since we registered in store to make sure it would be there!) but I also only registered for necessities, because I know people will buy the cute clothes etc without me suggesting it I think a big issue may be in-store availability. If people aren't tech-savvy (everyone I know over 30 except my stepmom!) they aren't going to think to order online, or will be too frustrated & buy something else. Worst case scenario, return some smaller unnecessary items in exchange for a bigger, more needed item

Fineleo31

Luckily, I got a couple of the bigger items(crib, stroller, swing). But I noticed that noone really liked using BRU. They all went to the Target site. I thought that was a little weird. Target is more convenient, but I always saw BRU as more fun when shopping for shower items.

carriebklyn

Our family shower was Saturday, and basically only three people used the registry. I love the sentimental gifts I received, like outfits that DH wore as a child or handmade things, but we're panicking a little because we now have so much to buy on our own. (I still have another small friend shower, and our coworkers will likely go in on some gifts or give gift cards, but there's still a ton we need). I had a BRU and an Amazon registry -- I wonder if Amazon scared non-tech savvy people off? I like it so much, tho, because prices are lower and more variety. Who knows.

sallydraper

I have one shower coming up this weekend (my friends) and am expecting I'm going to get primarily clothes...maybe not, but I go back to thinking before I was pg and I would buy clothes 75% of the time because I love picking out baby clothes! They're also cheaper, obviously. So I think that's why I haven't seen much movement on my BBB registry.

Then I have another shower on 6/4 (my mom and MIL's friends), and my mother has been giving me grief about the BBB registry since Day 1. Stuff about people not knowing how to buy things online, not LIKING to buy things online, not spelling the website correctly (wth??), losing the invitation with the registry information on it, etc. etc. Finally the other day she admitted that they "just don't want to be bothered." (fwiw, I also registered at Target specifically for this group of people, although there isn't much besides toiletries, diapers, and some smaller baby care items on that one.) Which kind of hurt my feelings, since this shower has already turned into a party for my mom where I am going to know literally 10% of the people. Anyway, the short point of this rant is that, I think it really depends on the age and demographic of the group of invitees...at least in my case, cranky old ladies are resistant to registries.