Natalie Gordon runs an amazing resource for expectant moms and dads: Babylist.com is a totally custom baby registry that let’s you ask for anything that you want: maid service, spare batteries, those cute hand-crocheted booties from etsy, and a crib? Yes times four. She offered us her best insight in how to get your baby shower attendees to get you the stuff you really need. And we said, yes times four!
How to get them to stick to your baby registry list
I was already obsessed with keeping your friends and family from going rogue when I received this email from one of our baby registry users:
“With our first baby, hardly anyone used our gift registry and we ended up with a lot of… well, a lot of crap. Do you have any advice on how to get people to actually use the registry?”
Yes! There are things that you can do to nudge people into buying off of your baby registry. We have a lot of data (over 8k baby registries created with over 400k items and over 55k purchases).
1. Choose stuff at different price points
Your co-worker who isn’t coming to the baby shower still wants to get you small gift. Having “gifty” things at the $10-15 price-point is perfect. Great ideas – board books, bubble bath, baby hats, cute onesies, bath-time toys. Here are a few good ones:
- Burt’s baby bee bubble bath
- Sticky bellies monthly milestone stickers
- Dandelion baby mittens
- Soft bath toys
- Adorable Xylosaurus onesie
- Cloth peek-a-boo forest book
30% of items purchased off of baby registries are less than $15.
Someone (maybe your grandma or your mother-in-law) will get you the big-ticket items. Cribs, crib mattresses, bedding, highchairs are all things that those close to you want to help out with. Make sure to ask for the big things so a generous relative doesn’t end up getting you 20 different small things. Here are a few bigger ticket items to consider:
- Dwell Studio mid-century modern crib (vintage style not actual age)
- Skip Hop polka dot mod crib bedding
- Graco car seat
- Ergo baby carrier
- Beaba Babycook baby food maker
- Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair
10% of items purchased off of baby registries are more than $100.
2. Add a note
Some registries let you add a note to each item. Use it! If you were buying a gift for a precious newborn to welcome it to the world would you really get it something “boring” (aka useful) or something “lovely” (aka impractical). Does anyone really want to buy you a humidifier? Not really. But with a note like, “This will be a huge help if Junior gets a cold. And we’ve even heard that it helps babies sleep better!” Now your friend is able to get you the gift of SLEEP! It’s priceless.
If an item has a note beside it, it is 50% more likely to be purchased off the registry compared to an item with no note.
3. Ask for gift certificates
Do you have friends who leave things to the last minute. Give them an out by asking for a gift certificate. They can print it out the morning of the shower and avoid a last-minute rush to a store.
9.0% of baby registries include gift cards.
4. Make sure everything is in-stock
Before you send out your registry info check that everything on your registry is still in-stock. Baby clothes are notorious for going out-of-stock when the seasons change.
These are great choices (though $980 for a crib? I’m thinking even a generous relative’s cash can be used better … ours is an all-wood, no-VOC crib from Walmart for $200 and looks super stylish). The other thing is avoid bubble bath. Babies’ skin is super sensitive, and bubble bath dries it out.
How we made sure we got everything on our registry? We didn’t find out the sex of our baby. People didn’t buy clothes and monogrammed things and toys… they bought us what we needed! It was awesome.
Jane, I know $980 yikes! Maybe as a “going in together” gift?
I love the “add a note” tip to get a boring old humidifier.
These are all perfect tips.
I will only add that when you are opening everything keep track of the gift cards. With my second baby…. or maybe it was my first…..? I lost about 150$ of gift cards. I think I threw em out.
Keep the receipts too. exchanging can be fun also.
Yes, do hold onto those gift cards. Even the smaller ones can be good for an emergency pacifier or pack of diapers.
Very cool!
We totally lucked out: Because we were moving when I was 7 months pregnant and had a shower in TX (where we lived) and WI (where we grew up and where our families are) before the move, people knew we didn’t want to have to move much. So they almost all gave us gift cards, sometimes accompanied by a small item from our registry for fun. It was seriously perfect. We didn’t get unnecessary stuff, and once we were in CA, we took this mass of gift cards and got everything off our own registry which was really fun.
BabyList is awesome! Many of my friends are artsy like myself, so they liked being able to buy registry items from Etsy (and of course I loved receiving unique handmade baby goodies).
I would suggest putting newborn diapers on the registry. It’s not the most exciting gift, but my little man arrived 2-1/2 weeks early so if it wasn’t for the diapers someone gifted us, we would have had none when we got home from the hospital!
As someone who worked at babies r us at the baby registry I can suggest DO NOT PUT CLOTHES on it. (atleast not in store clothes) Reason being: (lets say) your pregnant in summer so you come in you scan all those cute dresses and sun tops and shorts… well baby is due in winter.. Those clothes WILL NOT BE THERE.. I can tell you how often I got yelled at because it was summer and the winter coat momma put on her registry wasn’t in stock. Another great tip.. LOOK UP THE REVIEWS… I saw many people purchase those baby baths with the show attachment or the spa setting…. They don’t work. Think practically not fashionably..
Hello I have a question regarding “Etiquette” for baby shower items I pick. I having difficulty locating any articles online on what items not to register for? I would like to register for items we need like a Thule storage box for the roof for our small car. Also a few decorative items for the nursery like an area rug, picture frames, fabric storage boxes, cute pillows, a nice floor lap and a wall art hanging. As well as a dog bed for our first fur baby to have a bed in the nursery. Along with these items I’ve registered for baby items like a stroller, bassinet, bottles & diapers
Hi Juliap, That all sounds good. Pick out what you want and need and add it to your gift registry list and then your friends and family will choose if/what they want to purchase. You can use a service like BabyList to add items from all over the internets or a mega-registry like Amazon that has pet goods as well as baby items.
What about putting a note on the shower invitation saying something like ‘if you bring a gift from the registry, you’ll be entered to win a special raffle gift’…then have a gift card or something nice to give them. Is that rude?