Wow, registering is so confusing, overwhelming, and no one told me how TIME consuming! As a new mother-to-be I am going to have a handful of showers with family, friends, and co-workers. I live in a small town with very few shopping choices. We decided to register on Walmart.com and at our local Babies R Us. So, I’ve had the opportunity of registering solely online right in my living room and solely in the store with one of those scanner things.
First off, I registered on Walmart.com for several of my big ticket items like my crib, changing table, and mattress. These were things we needed just to get started and Walmart has really great prices as far as furniture goes. I surfed the site and I must have looked at every page a couple of times! I asked my friends at work, who were also new moms about what they couldn’t live without and for some of the items I just went with my gut! For the crib and changing table, especially, I really liked that other people who had bought the items had rated them and told their likes and dislikes. This helped in my decision making as well.
Registering in the store was a totally different experience all together! First off, my husband and I made a BIG mistake going on a Saturday afternoon. The store was packed, we felt like we were in other people’s way, and we really needed to talk about the items together and we felt awkward hashing it out in front of what seemed like everyone who lived in our community! So, we stayed for about a half an hour, and then decided to come back early in the morning the following Saturday. That was a much better experience! We were able to really look at the products and discuss our likes and dislikes while no one was there.
Babies R Us provided a book to help guide us on what we should and shouldn’t register for. I found this helpful too, although some of their ideas of “needs” are a little over the top. My frugalness just couldn’t see registering for some of the items they recommended.
One thing great came out of going to registering over two days though. I had my eye on some bottles but really didn’t know much about what I should get. I was able to go home and do a little research before I went back to register the second time. I love the internet! I have found so much information to help me guide some of the decisions that I’ve made. Some of the things we registered for are on both lists. We actually duplicated several items, but this is because our local friends only have one option for shopping and my co-workers have another. I’ve just been taking things off the opposite registry as we’ve received things to keep from getting duplicate gifts. So, all in all it was not such a bad experience. Once we got going we were on a roll!