What do YOU buy as the parent? Registry question.

snowbound · October 2013

This may be embarrassing but whatever. I was wondering what do you, as the parent, purchase prior to baby arrival/shower and what do you leave up to the registry? I was hoping to register for everything and pick up the remaining items from the registry myself after the shower. How would this work for some of the pricier times, though?As I read through various posts I feel like I am way off base on this one. Is that a selfish way to go about it?

youleen · October 2013

That's what I did the first time around. My coworkers pitched in for one of the more expensive items which was really nice of them.

Some places give you a discount if you can hang tight until the baby's due date for remaining registry items.

snmetz7 · October 2013

I plan on doing what you mentioned above. people wont buy things that they are not comfortable dishing out the money for. As long as you have a RANGE of items so that someone who wants to spend $10 CAN then I don't think its selfish. But this is coming from someone who knows that my dad plans to buy the crib and mom plans to buy a glider and I would rather have chosen them myself and they buy off the registry then for them to just pick something.

Mamamonzo · October 2013

We registered for everything but the bedroom set. It was already offered to us that the In laws would buy that. however, I wouldn't have put that on the registry anyway. Everything else is fair game and it people don't get it, get what you really need after the shower! That's our plan!

KatieKim0815 · October 2013

I bought our stroller. I didn't want anyone knowing I was spending $550 on a stroller. I also bought things like blankets and stuff that I wanted. Yes, you get a ton at showers but I was looking for certain ones. Also we were team green fo our first so we didn't get a ton of clothes at showers like you do if you know the sex so I bought clothes for the baby.

lyndsey774 · October 2013

This may seem trivial, but my advice is to get really nice PJ set for the hospital for after you give birth. There will be lots of pictures of you and the baby and its nice to have your own clothes, instead of a nasty hospital gown.

snowbound · October 2013

lyndsey774 said:
This may seem trivial, but my advice is to get really nice PJ set for the hospital for after you give birth. There will be lots of pictures of you and the baby and its nice to have your own clothes, instead of a nasty hospital gown.

Off topic but you made me think of this. I was considering getting my own gownie/pillow case. The pillow case for obvious reasons and the gownie because I'm not a huge fan of those hospital ones that leave your rear-end hanging out.

https://www.gownies.com

Sisimama10 · October 2013

I brought my own pillow and case. And a blanket too.

Emily041285 · October 2013

My parents specifically said they want to purchase the crib (and hey, if they're offering I'm going with it). But I did put it on the registry, because like pp have said I want the points!

My DH and I have already purchased the stroller because it was on sale and the monitor (last year's model was half price). And I really want to purchase clothes but I'm trying not to until we know the sex.

I'd say add everything you plan to purchase on there. Even 10% off to complete it helps!

ksulli · October 2013

We didn't wind up buying much because we were horribly spoiled by our families. We paid for the furniture, my breast pump (b/c we had a discount program at work, otherwise I'd have registered for it) and her bedding because we didn't know boy/girl before she arrived. That may have been it.

spano41 · October 2013

I'm putting everything on the registry because it's a good way to organize my thoughts. I expect some people will want to buy big ticket items (depending on what your definition of big ticket is). I usually spend $150-200 on family members showers so I will definitely put things in that range but obviously there will be lots of stuff that is much cheaper. I haven't put any clothes on there because I think people like being able to pick out what clothes to get, plus we don't know the sex yet. I will also put the crib and recliner we are looking at because I'm pretty sure my mom and grand parents will want to get some big items and it is much easier on them if I just tell them what I want. If no one gets them....no biggie, at least I have them picked out to buy myself.

mandiroo · October 2013

With DD, we bought the furniture set and my mom made the bedding. We also bought our pack n play cause the one I wanted was on clearance way before our shower.

All of our items were put on the registry. We had 2 showers (each side of the family threw one since their in different states). All big ticket items were bought by family and friends, including my pump, rocking chair and our bassinet, which I really didn't expect. We just had to go buy a few of the smaller items and were able to do with gift cards given to us. You never know what people will get or how generous they may be. I put everything on my registry mainly so I could keep track of what items I wanted and was so surprised by how much was bought.

KatieGummow · October 2013

hbell12 said:

This may be embarrassing but whatever. I was wondering what do you, as the parent, purchase prior to baby arrival/shower and what do you leave up to the registry? I was hoping to register for everything and pick up the remaining items from the registry myself after the shower. How would this work for some of the pricier times, though?As I read through various posts I feel like I am way off base on this one. Is that a selfish way to go about it?

This is what I am doing. MIL told me that she wanted to buy the cribs (it's her "thing" she does for grandbabies), and my mom told me not to get any of the big stuff. Lots of people chip in for things, and you may end up having more than one shower, so I would just register for everything. The only things I didn't register were things for me, like pregnancy pillow, maternity stuff, nipple covers, etc (too personal for me). But do what makes you comfortable!

christinaramirez08 · October 2013

With my first I registered for absolutely everything and ended up getting almost everything I wanted. That includes the crib, changing table, stroller, carseat, etc. All big ticket items were purchased by my family. If I bought something it was because I wanted it and not because I needed it

Register for everything if this is your first.

Twirple · October 2013

You should definitely register for the big stuff. When I was pregnant with DS, we had my side of the family pool together to get our crib. My martial arts class surprised me with a baby shower one day and they pooled together to get the Pack-n-play and the car seat. We honestly didn't expect people to get us the big items, but it makes some people happy to combine resources to get you something more expensive that you will really use, rather than clothes and pacifiers, that might get lost!

snowbound · October 2013

Twirple said:
You should definitely register for the big stuff. When I was pregnant with DS, we had my side of the family pool together to get our crib. My martial arts class surprised me with a baby shower one day and they pooled together to get the Pack-n-play and the car seat. We honestly didn't expect people to get us the big items, but it makes some people happy to combine resources to get you something more expensive that you will really use, rather than clothes and pacifiers, that might get lost!

This is what I'm hoping will happen. DH's family is pretty big and pretty generous. I was hoping some of them would pool together to help with some of the higher ticket items. Thanks for everyone's input. I don't feel so "selfish" now.

Mustardseed2007 · October 2013

karissamonzo said:

We registered for everything but the bedroom set. It was already offered to us that the In laws would buy that. however, I wouldn't have put that on the registry anyway. Everything else is fair game and it people don't get it, get what you really need after the shower! That's our plan!

This is exactly what we did. Even the comment about our inlaws actually. They bought the bedroom set for us as well. They bought it during a time that when you bought all the pieces of the set you got a free upholstered rocker and so we got that too.

Kiahsimpson · October 2013

The only big item that we are leaving up to family/friends is the stroller and car seat, only because people have already offered. But, even though we aren't purchasing it, we are leaving it off the registry. We will put some things that we would like to have but don't feel are a necessity for us on the registry (like a monitor). If we end up with one, awesome, but if we don't, we can manage.

RedBird11 · October 2013

Thank you @hbell12 for making this post. I have been wondering the same thing myself. I feel so clueless. And thanks for everyone who answered!

KendraL86 · October 2013

I plan on buying almost everything myself. I am a FTM and feel uncomfortable suggesting to people that they buy me pricey items. I am buying all the big stuff. My registry will have the small items (nose sucker, bottles, etc).

RebeccaY1 · October 2013

I made a complete registry with all items that I would want or need. That way there is a price range of items - everything from $2 to $400. I feel that people will decide what they want to buy, and they might purchase things that aren't on the list. After the shower I will then see what we get as Christmas presents. In the new year I will look at the registry and decide what else is needed or wanted and make those purchases.

ksr53777 · October 2013

We registered for everything and then bought what was leftover. I know some people have mentioned they don't want people buying big ticket items because they would feel guilty, but I think that's something that varies from family to family. In mine, it's very common for families to go together to buy the gift, so it's not a big deal. For example, at my cousins baby shower, my mom, myself and my two sisters went together to buy the stroller. We were much happier pooling our money to buy something we know she will use instead of lots of clothes/towels/etc. that are much easier to pick up here and there once the baby is born.

matryoshkadoll · October 2013

For my first baby, some relatives bought the most expensive items ($100-200). I really wasn't expecting anybody to buy them, I just wanted the discount. I think it is good to give a range of price options because you never know what people might want to spend.

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