ADVICE: How to factor in gifts from the shower when buying?

jordanps · July 2013

I am about to have my first - due in November! And I am trying to figure out what we really need...and more importantly what items I probably shouldn't buy as I'll likely receive them during my baby shower.

Is this really bad of me to factor in gifts I may receive? What are the most gifted items... or more accurately put: What should I hold off buying till after the shower?... just in case

Also while online I came across this ?complete? list: www.bab.io

Personally, I think it's useful... as I can't bear using Excel

However, there?s a lot listed? and quite a bit of it is ?optional?. Does this mean I can ignore the optional items if budget gets tight? What can we buy after birth? Is the list roughly right? Missing anything major? Useful? Any and all thoughts welcome.

Helenahhandbasket · July 2013

Here's what we absolutely needed and used constantly for DD's first 3 months of life

Carseat and snap and go stroller

Diapers/ Wipes

Formula and bottles

Pack and Play (we used it as a basinette)

Bouncer seat

Bibs

Maybe 7-10 sleep and play outfits/ gowns/ onesies

3-4 rec/ swaddling blankets

A baby bath

Everything else was icing on the cake. If I felt like I "needed" something those first few weeks I either send H out for it or I took a much needed break and ran to the store myself. Babies really need very little in the beginning.

Edit- just adding that we didn't really think about my shower. Whatever we got, we got. What we needed, we bought. There were no spreadsheets involved.

SpartyMomma · July 2013

If you are so concerned, why not buy the major things now (like crib, carseat, stroller, etc.) and if you happen to get gifted some repeats, return them? I think generally, you shouldn't count on getting anything specific as a gift unless someone specifically tells you they would like to purchase it for you (and even then, people still change their minds). You may well end getting nothing but clothes and small items (which are also things to be grateful for) at your shower. But it's not like cash or store credit from BRU or Target is ever going to be a waste.

Good luck!

LuClo · July 2013

Hold off on as much as you possibly can. The store will send you a 10-15% completion coupon after your shower (depends on which store). Why would you pay full price for any of it when you can save 10% across the board? Even if you only spent $1000 on baby stuff that's $100 back in your pocket.

ljanette85 · July 2013

I would wait until after the shower to start buying. We got just about everything that we needed and a million giftcards....I don't think that I paid for diapers until LO was about 4 months old! We even returned some things that we had doubles of.

TREDgirl · July 2013

We purchased all the 'big' items that we knew we wanted and then added them to our registry but marked them as 'fulfilled'. That way people know we have them and won't think 'Oh well surely they need a crib, stroller, carseat, etc.'

Plus we didn't feel comfortable with anyone (even as a group gift) spending that much money on a gift. Obviously if someone is inclined to spend a lot of money they will and we have a good range of items and prices. Clothes are a given that people will pick up so we didn't put any on our registry.

Empireceo · July 2013

somerandomchick:
The thing that you will get a ton of almost guaranteed: clothes. We haven't purchased any clothes at all. People love to gift cute clothes! And blankets, and toys. The other stuff... There's not that much you need in the beginning. But honestly I would keep an eye out for good deals on the stuff you want. If you are interested in X stroller and it goes on sale just buy it. There's usually big stuff left to buy after your shower, you might as well buy it whenever its cheapest. Maybe someone would have bought you that stroller, but instead they'll just buy you something else like your carseat so its really NBD.

I was also told that I would get a lot of clothes, so I held off on that and got the larger items. Turns out, since we didn't find out ahead of time what we were having, I got no clothes whatsoever! I wouldn't bank on anything, but if someone is throwing you a shower, make sure you have plenty of time to get essentials afterwards.

JilllyBean · July 2013

LuClo:
Hold off on as much as you possibly can. The store will send you a 10-15% completion coupon after your shower (depends on which store). Why would you pay full price for any of it when you can save 10% across the board? Even if you only spent $1000 on baby stuff that's $100 back in your pocket.

This. We didnt buy anything except room stuff beforehand (then obvi didn't register for it). We bought our own crib, glider, sheets, etc

Then after your shower go buy whatever you need. We went the day after, exchanged duplicates and used gift cards and completion coupons to buy the rest! I know it is tempting to shop,now, but I would wait. It took us one day to get what we didn't get. Not a long time.

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