How many things on your registry?

AnnikaD20 · September 2013

People will always get you stuff that's not on your registry too. Handmade gifts, an outfit or toy they thought was cute, etc. I know a lady whose standard shower gift is a basket with 12 different brands of pacifiers "so you'll have at least one your baby will like." I'm betting on a decent portion of my shower guests buying me zero things off my registry, let alone five.

Also, how do you even come up with 400 things that you want/need?

flufy82 · September 2013

peanutmuse said:

Bookshelves said:

ETA: Can I just say I'm glad to see someone else is just getting started, too? I'm still staring at my laptop, trying to decide WHERE to register.

@Bookshelves -- I am completely clueless here. We picked a car seat, stroller, and diaper bag while we were in the store today. I wanted to make sure that my husband was ok with those things, but the rest of the stuff I'm just picking. It's taken me like 3 hours to pick 6 (now 7) other things. I have no idea what I'm doing so I have to research EVERYTHING along the way, haha.

Lucies list and "According to Carys" helped me TONS

Here's Carys:

https://babyhtaketwo.blogspot.com/2011/08/newborn-must-haves-according-to-carys.html?m=1

flufy82 · September 2013

JmeMichelle said:
Ours is 109, but we registered for literally EVERYTHING we will need, with the exception of clothes. Our plan is to use our registry as our checklist. After the shower, we will purchase everything remaining on our registry. Easier to keep track that way

Ditto! Great as a checklist, and one reason I'm sticking with My Registry, despite its faults.

flufy82 · September 2013

peanutmuse said:

BMReid said:

@peanutmuse - have you looked at any online lists? Lucieslist.com has a cheat sheet that I've found helpful.

Yeah, those types of sites are definitely helpful. But, for example, when selecting bottles -- every resource tells you basically that you won't know what will be best for your baby until you try them. So how do I decide what to register for? (This is just a rhetorical question, I don't need an answer.) Andplusalso there is a chance my baby will be lactose intolerant (both my husband and his father are/were). So I can't say whether I will be able to breastfeed or not. It's just daunting.

Despite your bottle concern being rhetorical, I will share my experience so far in case it helps you or others.
After a ton of research, reading online reviews, and friends' advice, I decided to register for a newborn gift set of Playtex Drop Ins on Amazon.

Playtex Baby Drop-Ins Premium Nurser Newborn Gift Set
https://amzn.com/B001QC3CKG

I plan to breast feed, but with work and the occasional drink or 6 8-> , I'll also be pumping. It's sweet that these work with Medela pumps (and others I think)...you can pump into, store/freeze and serve ALL IN THE SAME BAG! The convenience factor there was the icing on the cake for me.
But hey, if they don't work out, at least all I am stuck with is a starter pack, and we will go from there.

flufy82 · September 2013

SarahA918 said:
I think I ended up with 83, but the lady asked how many people will be at my shower. We decided between my work shower and my home shower, probably 80 altogether. She said I need to have 400 things on my registry bc people like to buy four or five each. Yeah right!! Haha do they even have 400 items there? Crazy people.

@-)

400 ITEMS!!!! INSANE!!!!!

twobluelines · September 2013

My registry only has a few items on it. I see no need to register for diaper shirts... of course i need diaper shirts, and receiving blankets, and facecloths... all the moms know this... but I don't want them to have to spend 10 minutes looking for exactly the right pattern or colour only sold at the store we registered at. I would much rather they find something conveniently available and would way prefer if they bought something at a local baby store rather than a BRU. We did register for big ticket items... but it is our expectation that we will be purchasing those items ourselves.

peanutmuse · September 2013

flufy82 said:

Ours is 109, but we registered for literally EVERYTHING we will need, with the exception of clothes. Our plan is to use our registry as our checklist. After the shower, we will purchase everything remaining on our registry. Easier to keep track that way
Ditto! Great as a checklist, and one reason I'm sticking with My Registry, despite its faults.

@flufly82 -- I'm sorry, but this is completely illogical to me. Using a service that is impractical, costly, and creates errors, just so you can have a checklist? Yeah, no. In theory, it's a good idea. They just haven't worked out all of the quirks.

The other thing I wanted to mention about myregistry is that it is really bad for anyone who does not want to purchase gifts online -- for example, say, your 85 year old granny. Even if there are brick and mortar stores where you register, they don't keep track of your registry at the actual stores. I found this out the hard way when I tried to have the registry printed at Target. So your guests either need to print it online beforehand or use a smart phone to look at things as they go. And when I tried to do that, I discovered that I couldn't sort by store name, so I had to scroll and scroll and scroll to find the next item at Target. That actually ended up being more difficult than just buying online.

(Fortunately, this particular friend who used myregistry had a normal registry at BBB. I ended up going there. 1000 times easier. If I ever receive an invitation with myregistry info only, they're getting a gift card!)

holly142 · September 2013

I have 39 items and I thought I was good, but now I am thinking I should add more. I am hoping people will go in on some of my bigger gifts

For example, Boba 3G, pack'n'play, Chicco Keyfit 30 carseat, etc.

nikki_rose7 · September 2013

No 90 is nothing! LOL I have 107 on my Babies R Us registry and another 72 on my Target Registry (to be honest some of the items overlap as I am having 2 showers in 2 different cities so I needed to register at a store in both cities). But no that's not a crazy number at all.

flufy82 · September 2013

peanutmuse said:

flufy82 said:

Ours is 109, but we registered for literally EVERYTHING we will need, with the exception of clothes. Our plan is to use our registry as our checklist. After the shower, we will purchase everything remaining on our registry. Easier to keep track that way
Ditto! Great as a checklist, and one reason I'm sticking with My Registry, despite its faults.

@flufly82 -- I'm sorry, but this is completely illogical to me. Using a service that is impractical, costly, and creates errors, just so you can have a checklist? Yeah, no. In theory, it's a good idea. They just haven't worked out all of the quirks.

The other thing I wanted to mention about myregistry is that it is really bad for anyone who does not want to purchase gifts online -- for example, say, your 85 year old granny. Even if there are brick and mortar stores where you register, they don't keep track of your registry at the actual stores. I found this out the hard way when I tried to have the registry printed at Target. So your guests either need to print it online beforehand or use a smart phone to look at things as they go. And when I tried to do that, I discovered that I couldn't sort by store name, so I had to scroll and scroll and scroll to find the next item at Target. That actually ended up being more difficult than just buying online.

(Fortunately, this particular friend who used myregistry had a normal registry at BBB. I ended up going there. 1000 times easier. If I ever receive an invitation with myregistry info only, they're getting a gift card!)

@peanutmuse : I'm sorry that you had trouble with MyRegistry, and that you feel the way I've gone about my own baby registry is "illogical" and "impractical". Not sure what you mean by costly, as it is free. I have "normal" registries at BRU, BBB, and Amazon. They are all well-linked/ synced with MyRegistry, so that they are accessible in all in one place, or my guests could go straight to the actual store or store's website. I explained all of this to potential guests in my "Message to Guests" so they'll all see it when they log in.

As a test, I had my not-so-online-savvy Mom and Aunt try to buy something, with their only instructions being "MyRegsitry.com and [password]". They both worked it out fine, as I stood by silently and watched. Any minor problems I've had so far have been quickly resolved with a brief online chat with a MyRegistry rep (I had trouble linking my BBB registry at first, but it was operator error - - note: I can't even make a real signature :-W ).

Like I said, it is not perfect (and I totally agree they need a "sort by store" button), but I have friends who were happy with it as a wedding registry, and I've also been on it as a buying guest and had no problem. The checklist aspect is nice for me, especially with 3 registries (I have 3 because I wanted to make it convenient for my guests...some only have BBB near them, and only BRU for others...for the shop exclusively at homers, theres Amazon. Boom.Yeah, I'd say I've kept my guests in mind, despite it creating more work for myself). Neither of us have any grandparents left, nor anyone older than our parents (60s), so that isn't a concern for us. It doesn't have to work for everyone (although that would be nice), but it works for me.

dltate29 · September 2013

We have about 80 items on our registry so far. We still have yet to include diapers, health and safety, etc. We will have a ton of items by the time we are fully complete with our registry. I am actually ok with this because we registered for small packs of a lot of different brands and styles. At buybuy baby they mentioned returning items wasn't going to be an issue so I was definitely relieved with that!

I also have a lot of different price points so those that cannot afford big gifts have great options to choose from as well. It is definitely daunting though. I know there are things we are missing or will miss including but overall we have the basics and that is most importnat. The rest we can get ourselves along the way. I am not sure what size shower I will have so anything is helpful.

peanutmuse · September 2013

flufy82 said:

@peanutmuse : I'm sorry that you had trouble with MyRegistry, and that you feel the way I've gone about my own baby registry is "illogical" and "impractical". Not sure what you mean by costly, as it is free.

Costly for two reasons. The first one I already mentioned -- if your guests have to pay for shipping from different stores, it adds up. So they have to be careful that it all comes from the same store, which myregistry makes a pain by not being able to sort by store. Second, if you get repeat items because they forget to remove the item from the registry, it is not always free to return items. From your earlier post, you mentioned being able to register for things from other stores -- quote: "It's cool because you can also add things from here and there and anywhere without having to actually register there at each place for each little thing (I want bath towels from pottery barn, and a nursing cover from Bebe Au Lait.com)." That's the piece I'm talking about here. One item here, another item there. It adds up, both in the shipping cost and the return cost if necessary.

But hey, if you want to use it, it's your choice and has no effect on me. When you basically said, I'm ignoring all of the negative comments because I want a checklist, that was definitely illogical to me. And still is.

(Edited because apparently my verb agreement skills are off today.)

Jdolphin09 · September 2013

I registered at Babies R Us and I had 180 on mine. Then at target I had bout 80 or so.

flufy82 · September 2013

@peanutmuse said: "Costly for two reasons. The first one I already mentioned -- if your guests have to pay for shipping from different stores, it adds up. So they have to be careful that it all comes from the same store, which myregistry makes a pain by not being able to sort by store. Second, if you get repeat items because they forget to remove the item from the registry, it is not always free to return items. From your earlier post, you mentioned being able to register for things from other stores -- quote: "It's cool because you can also add things from here and there and
anywhere without having to actually register there at each place for
each little thing (I want bath towels from pottery barn, and a nursing
cover from Bebe Au Lait.com)." That's the piece I'm talking about here. One item here, another item there. It adds up, both in the shipping cost and the return cost if necessary.

But hey, if you want to use it, it's your choice and has no effect on me. When you basically said, I'm ignoring all of the negative comments because I want a checklist, that was definitely illogical to me. And still is.

(Edited because apparently my verb agreement skills are off today.)
"

--------------------------------

Not ignoring the negatives. As I've said twice now, I agree it has its faults, but the benefits outweigh them for me.

And again, if people want to buy several items from the same store, they can view my BRU, BBB, or Amazon registries separately....which CAN be (and are) linked to directly from MyRegistry.

IMO, it would be tacky to create an additional (4th) registry at Pottery Barn, and list it on the shower invites for the 3 towels I want from there. Same with the ONE $40 nursing cover I want that's only available on BebeAuLait.com (5th registry mentioned on invites? Yeah, no.).

So MyRegistry.com will be listed on my invites, and they can choose how they'd like to shop, bundle and ship from there, as they are all responsible adults who I'm sure won't waste all their money on shipping. Seems perfectly logical to me, but thanks so much for your input!

LuGal623 · September 2013

@peanutmuse I'm not sure if someone chimed in on the bottles yet but when I registered I was shown the newborn (wide neck/nipple) bottles for Avent/Dr Browns/Medela and registered for those since I'll be pumping when I go back to work and don't want nipple confusion with the baby that would lead to ending BFing sooner than I want. So I registered for 4-6 bottles of each depending on pack size so that I would have 10-12 newborn bottles and 6 regular nipple bottles. That may seem like overkill but other STMs stressed getting a variety. Hope this helps.

peanutmuse · September 2013

LuGal623 said:

@peanutmuse I'm not sure if someone chimed in on the bottles yet but when I registered I was shown the newborn (wide neck/nipple) bottles for Avent/Dr Browns/Medela and registered for those since I'll be pumping when I go back to work and don't want nipple confusion with the baby that would lead to ending BFing sooner than I want. So I registered for 4-6 bottles of each depending on pack size so that I would have 10-12 newborn bottles and 6 regular nipple bottles. That may seem like overkill but other STMs stressed getting a variety. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. Someone else gave some advice too. I actually registered for some Avent and Dr. Brown's since I'm assuming I will be going the Medela route for pumping.

miam4 · September 2013

My list is big also...! When I went to register, the ladies from BRU and BBB told me that I should put everything I want, since after the shower I will get discount in all the items that were not purchased. I am gonna wait for discount and Thanksgiving for the big items... My shower will be big. So I am adding as much options for my guests as I can.

SunflowersBride · September 2013

I'm a FTM, and I haven't started my registry yet....Although, I do have an Amazon Wishlist for the time being where I've been putting things I know I definitely want to register for, and I currently have about 26 items. I will get around to registering at some point, but my shower isn't going to be very big and I don't want to put a bunch of crap on there that I don't end up using or wanting (learned that with my wedding registry). I'm also going to be getting a bunch of stuff from a friend of my mom's next weekend, so I want to wait to see what she has before I officially register.

Dishylo · September 2013

@miam4 - we were told the same thing. At BRU, we get a discount on anything that wasn't purchased. At another store, they take 10% of the value of goods purchased by others and put it into an account for you. So if others purchase $4,000 worth of goods, you then have $400 to spend at the store.

LuGal623 · September 2013

I really appreciate the lists that are out there like Lucie's list etc. The ones from the stores seem either too wishy washy or too overloaded to be legit but I'm a FTM so what do I know!

We have 83 items on one registry and 39 on another and have a mix of prices (mostly under $20) and the essentials including some clothes as well. I also registered at Target but it was mostly for ourselves to get the completion discount on like nursing bras/tanks, some cute baby clothes we loved there and a few toiletries for the baby and myself!

flufy82 · September 2013

Dishylo said:
@miam4 - we were told the same thing. At BRU, we get a discount on anything that wasn't purchased. At another store, they take 10% of the value of goods purchased by others and put it into an account for you. So if others purchase $4,000 worth of goods, you then have $400 to spend at the store.

Sweet! Which store does that? May have to add yet another store to my illogical registry! $-)

holly142 · September 2013

I signed up for myregistry, but my Babies'R'Us account wouldn't show up on the main page, only as a "linked registry". I am worried that people will miss it. Also, I find that items are really slow to be updated on myregistry. I deleted something at Target and it didn't show up as deleted on myregistry for 2 days. My crib and dresser were bought 1 1/2 weeks ago and they still aren't showing up as bought on myregistry, even though it does on Amazon. For these reasons, I think I am not going to list myregistry and just be tacky and list 3 registries.

Dishylo · September 2013

flufy82 said:

Dishylo said:
@miam4 - we were told the same thing. At BRU, we get a discount on anything that wasn't purchased. At another store, they take 10% of the value of goods purchased by others and put it into an account for you. So if others purchase $4,000 worth of goods, you then have $400 to spend at the store.
Sweet! Which store does that? May have to add yet another store to my illogical registry! $-)

@flufy82 - unless you're in Canada (and more specifically BC) I don't think it's for you!

flufy82 · September 2013

Dishylo said:

flufy82 said:

Dishylo said:
@miam4 - we were told the same thing. At BRU, we get a discount on anything that wasn't purchased. At another store, they take 10% of the value of goods purchased by others and put it into an account for you. So if others purchase $4,000 worth of goods, you then have $400 to spend at the store.
Sweet! Which store does that? May have to add yet another store to my illogical registry! $-)
@flufy82 - unless you're in Canada (and more specifically BC) I don't think it's for you!
</blockquot

Oh, man...yeah, not in Canada, haha. Well, thanks for the follow up and enjoy that sweet deal!

flufy82 · September 2013

holly142 said:
I signed up for myregistry, but my Babies'R'Us account wouldn't show up on the main page, only as a "linked registry". I am worried that people will miss it. Also, I find that items are really slow to be updated on myregistry. I deleted something at Target and it didn't show up as deleted on myregistry for 2 days. My crib and dresser were bought 1 1/2 weeks ago and they still aren't showing up as bought on myregistry, even though it does on Amazon. For these reasons, I think I am not going to list myregistry and just be tacky and list 3 registries.

-----------
This may help you...I have BBB and BRU as "linked" registries on MyRegistry as well. Those stores have unfortunately not allowed themselves to be auto "synced" (like Amazon, Target) with MR yet, probably because MR automatically directs the buyer to the store with the best price for the same item, which is usually amazon or MR's own baby store. Bad business for our favorite, overpriced baby chains.

So here is another option for you, that works for me: Have you discovered the "Add To My Registry" button that you can add to your browser's toolbar? Go to the "Add Gifts" button on the upper right of the page. They give you a button that you just drag into your tool bar. Once added, its ALWAYS there, and ANYTHING can be added, no matter the store. Takes 2 seconds.

Then (this kinda sucks) you need to go through your BRU registry and click the "Add To My Registry" button for each item on your BRU registry. Takes some time if you haven't done it since the beginning. But it's nice having everything visible in one place once you get caught up. Then you can sort everything how you'd like for yourself or how your guests will view it.

This still doesn't mean they are "synced". I manually add/delete/change quantity of things off MR if I add/delete /change on BRU.

As far as your synced registries at Amazon or Target, I also was frustrated with the frequency of their auto-updates. Every time I make a change on Amazon, I go to the "Synced Registries" button on left of your MR page. Click which one needs updating, and press the update button. That again, takes 2 seconds.

Or, "be tacky" :P and list 3, haha. IMO though, 3 is fine...5 or 6 (as mine would be) not so much . But hey,
whatever works...it's your registry, Momma!

missimone · September 2013

flufy82, sorry for being redundant if you already got a clear answer, but we registered at BRU today and the "consultant" recommended to have 5 items x the number of people you're inviting to the shower. Supposedly, 5 items is the average purchase made from a registry and this will also give plenty of options. Good luck!

jblank03 · September 2013

Oh goodness, I'm worried now! We registered at buybuy baby and amazon this weekend and have around 75 items total. I think I'll end up having 3 showers, one thrown by my sister, one by my MIL (it's going to be a joint shower for my SIL who's due 10 days ahead of me, kinda cool!), and another from people at work. I also don't enjoy the whole registering process and am sure we haven't registered for everything we need, but it's just so overwhelming (FTM obviously..) so I'm going to keep an eye on both registries and I guess add stuff when one gets lower...

slmille4 · September 2013

I have around 100 items but that includes all big stuff and small stuff. I'm worried about how much larger stuff I have on it tho.

nancyvi · September 2013

COgirl29 said:
I've heard similar things about myregistry.com as peanutmuse. You can do the same thing with amazon registry if you want to add a few items from random websites (I added sheets from etsy on my amazon one) but also registered at BRU if people wanted to go into a store.

This exactly. I have about 70 items on Amazon and 40 at BRU. I'm having two baby showers so that seemed like a good number and check list.

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