yesterday james and i (along with alice) went to buy buy baby to make our registry for baby #2. not that i was all that keen on even making a registry for our second kid because i feel weird even having a baby shower this time let alone asking people for things, but, i didnt exactly have a baby shower with alice (we lived in arizona with zero local family/friends) so i guess theres no way around having a shower. and people have been asking what we want/need for a while. since this is our second baby and 1. we already have quite a bit of the basics, 2. have a much better perspective of what a new baby actually needs, and 3. live a much different lifestyle than we did when we were expecting alice, we have a very short list of very specific items. actually its mostly diapers. i just checked and its literally more than half diapers. im just really boring, ok? also, babies use a LOT of diapers.
even though making the registry wasnt exactly my most favorite baby prep activity (mainly because we got stuck fiddling with different strollers for like an hour even though im not even 100% sold that we even need a new stroller), it was really amazing to see just how much things have changed in the past four years since the last time we made a baby registry. i mean, when i was pregnant with alice buy buy baby didnt even exist, diaper bags that dont look like diaper bags were like a brand new emerging trend, and there were like, no options for furniture that was affordable AND attractive. so that was neat. also the free goodie bag. buy buy baby doesnt mess around with the goodie bag.
but in all honesty, with the exception of a safe place to sleep and the obvious mountain of diapers, babies really dont need most of whats out there. even my super boring overly practical gender neutral registry feels pretty excessive (to me). and it kind of got me thinking about what i would really ask for, if we could eschew social conventions for just a minute. i mean, ive been a new mom before, i think i have a pretty good idea of what i actually want. and its not 300 different contraptions and appliances or a dozen tiny little hats.
(disclaimer, this post was NOT sponsored in any way by buy buy baby OR any of the companies/products i am about to mention, HOWEVER the links used throughout may or may not be affiliate or referral links depending on whether they offer that sort of thing)
so without any further ado, heres what id put on an honest baby registry:
1. an amazon fresh membership. we happen to live in an area where, given that you pay the appropriate membership fee, amazon will totally deliver groceries to your house. and you know whats REALLY hard to do with a newborn? going to the grocery store.
2. a professional house cleaning. ill admit that i am MUCH better at keeping a clean house than i ever was before, despite having a three year old and being six months pregnant. but nothing quite feels as good as a perfectly spotless spic-and-span clean that only a professional cleaning service can deliver. especially when youve just had a baby.
3. amazon giftcards. the thing with new babies is they frequently need weird random things that you really cant anticipate in advance. and then OF COURSE the first (or second, or third) store you go to looking for it doesnt have any and youve just run all over town looking for the pacifier that the hospital gave you and nobody has it. but chances are, amazon does, and you can avoid the whole ordeal and have those pacifiers in two business days. also, amazon was BY FAR my favorite place to get diapers cause the prices are fantastic AND you can buy in bulk without leaving the house.
4. giftcards for pizza. true story: when alice was born jamess (super weird) boss at the time gave us a $50 gift card for pizza. at first we were like "seriously? pizza?" but after a few weeks, we realized that was actually one of the most useful things anyone gave us. having a newborn is an exhausting and emotional experience for everyone but pizza really makes it all better.
5. wine. lots and lots of wine (or scotch. i also like scotch). i really shouldnt have to explain this one, but...
6. some adult company. seriously, come over and hold my baby and talk to me about something other than babies while i do something with two hands. i had a couple friends do this when alice was born and that was by far the BEST gift i got from anyone.
unfortunately, buy buy baby does not sell any of these things, so, we registered for diapers and a stroller...
sidenote: if you happen to be shopping for a friend thats expecting a baby, i promise you, one of these gifts will me much more appreciated in the long run than a giant stuffed animal or big, noisy contraption.
omg. yes yes yes and yes. the housecleaning one for sure. and we got a pizza gift card too which was amazing!
ReplyDeleteokay, but first I'm really glad that the store is called "buy buy baby" that's pretty clever. also, I bet this is a handy list for lots of people buying shower presents. I'm totally keeping pizza gift cards in my back pocket for when I don't know the difference between diapers.
ReplyDeleteha yeah, its the bed bath and beyond of baby stuff, super huge and super overwhelming but hey, they did have everything all in one store (so we didnt need two registries). seriously, especially with their first kid, people REALLY dont know what to ask for, give them pizza. they will appreciate that. i promise.
ReplyDeletei really hope pizza gift cards for baby showers becomes a thing. also probably my favorite wedding gifts we got were the gift cards for groceries.
ReplyDeleteMy registry is on babyli.st and you can totally add that kind of stuff to your registry.. I have things from amazon, etsy, ebay, all over!!!
ReplyDeleteI remember people telling me I needed to put all kinds of crap on my baby registry. I was like, no, I don't need rocker/bouncer/spinner/jiggler contraptions. I do need swaddling blankets, a baby wrap, and all the cloth diapers I registered for. Out of 3 different baby showers (people were REALLY excited our fertility treatments worked), I got zero cloth diapers with the assurance from everyone that I wouldn't like them, no swaddling blankets, too many disposable diapers (that I donated), and bottles (I was planning to breastfeed). Not only do I think your registry items are genius, I think people need to pay attention to what's on a registry and if they don't get the exact things on the registry, don't go for 180 degrees in the opposite direction!!! {rant over}
ReplyDeletepeople keep telling me about babylist! honestly i feel REALLY weird about even registering in the first place, and the majority of the people ASKING about registries are super old school (like, refuse to order things online ever old school), so really this list was just for fun.
ReplyDeleteoh gosh, how supportive! that reminds me of SO many of the horrible things my MIL did while i was pregnant/postpartum with alice because, like your family and friends, she REFUSED to consider that i had a different perpective/preference in childrearing. so fist bump of solidarity there! (especially because our kids turned out just fine!)
ReplyDelete