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I went to my friend's baby shower this weekend and realized that even her own family didn't buy any of the big items. As a matter of fact only me and two other girls got big items off of her registry. It made me wonder if Michael and I need to start buying some of these big items, maybe buy one a month so that it doesn't hit so hard at one time if people don't buy them for us.
We are going to have a family shower, a friend shower, and a work shower. Our showers start in April. How much of your registry was remaining after the showers? Would you recommend waiting or starting to buy some of the big items?
We bought our crib, changing table, and dresser when I was about 5 months pregnant. We figured we wouldnt get them at the shower and I didn't want to stress about it! We actually only got two "big/pricey" items at our showers: the travel system and video monitor. The rest was just small stuff (but lots of it!) We used gift cards that we got to get things like the swing, etc. Some people did go in on gifts together (play mat, bouncer seat) but like I said most didn't. I was also surprised that a lot of people didn't buy off the registry. HTH
We bought all of our nursery furniture (DH's family is going to give us money for it though), our travel system, bouncer and swing, breast pump, and cloth diapers. I have had 2 showers already and no one has hardly bought anything from it. This happened with our wedding registry so I wanted to be prepared and got the most important big stuff out of the way. We do have a couple big things on the registry and someone did buy our car seat from it, which is the only big item we've received. I have two showers left and really don't think much will be purchased off our registry. Thank goodness the places give coupons for the things leftover, LOL!
It really depends on your family/friends. We didn't buy any big stuff before the shower, but that's because I knew my family would get them for us. I have a very big family, too, though. Base it on how they normally buy gifts for other family parties like this, KWIM?
I'm working off the assumption that we are not going to get many big items either, so I plan on checking my registry often in April/May and if I purchase something, I'll just buy it off the registry so hopefully people won't buy duplicates.
I'm only having one big shower cause I hate being the center of attention, so I veto'ed the second shower idea. It's mostly all family anyways.
I havent had my shower yet (its March 13th) but we have gotten our crib (bought by MIL and GrandMIL), our travel system and bedding bought by my mom and dh and i have gotten our dresser and some storage accessories. I know my Aunt is getting us a pack and play. We've also received a baby bathtub and some clothes so far as gifts.
Other then that i dont really expect alot off my registry, i'm hoping for the bouncy seat and/or swing. Those are the only other "big" items on it anyway...
thank you for the info ladies! I guess we beter start buying these items then. We've already bought our furniture and carseat. I'm having the bedding made. I thought if we took care of the largest items that other family members would help with some of the rest. Guess not. On a good note though....she has enough clothes from everyone to last her first year of life and we haven't even had a shower yet.
We bought our furniture (crib, dresser, changing table, bedding) and put everything else on our registry. We got everything we needed from showers. I would wait to buy too much until you see what you get from your showers!
As someone upthread posted, I think it depends on your family/friends. All of the big items off of my registry were purchased - my parents bought Siera's furniture for us as a gift, travel system by an uncle, etc. Only little knick-knacks were left and I used the gift money I received at my shower to buy them.
We bought our furniture, our convertible carseat, and our stroller (it was a really expensive umbrella stroller that you had to order online only at the time). We left the rest of the big stuff and received almost of all of it at our showers.
How about this? You could buy the big things you are worried about, but still leave them on your registry. Then if people do end up getting them, you can either return yours and return theirs and get a credit. Believe me, there will always be little things you need each month. It would be nice to have a little credit built up!
We bought the furniture and the travel system. I think we got everything else. I wanted to buy the furniture early so we could get the room together anyway, but we also bought pretty expensive furniture so I wanted to get it myself.
Where did you/are you registering? For example, BRU will give you 10% off the items left on your registry, so you could always see if they get bought, and if they don't, you'll get them at 10% off. (Which isn't as good as it sounds since I always get 10% off coupons for the things I'd be buying anyway.....car seats, swings, bouncers, etc lol)
We waited till after my shower to buy mostly everything because BRU offers you 10% off once your shower date passes. It really comes in handy especially off the big ticket items. It's really hard waiting though. I wanted to shop all the time. My mom and my sister ended up getting us the nursery furniture and they came in about a month before the shower so that atleast gave me something to work on until the shower.
My family is making a lot of the big purchases for us, just like they did with my sister when she had her baby - but she had to make a lot of the other big purchases herself (aside from crib & stroller).
DH & I had decided we would start putting money away for those things into our savings account, the exact amount when we saw something we wanted, just in case we didn't get it at our shower... That way, if we don't get it, the money is all sitting there in savings and its not one big blow to the budget - and if we do, that's just extra diaper money! LOL
Now, though, we've discovered that July (the month between our shower & EDD) is actually a 3 paycheck month (DH gets paid every 2 weeks) so we'll have an entire paycheck that doesn't need to cover any bills or anything - we're using that money for anything we don't get at the shower.
Maybe you'll get that lucky, but if not, we determined that putting the money away was better than buying it out right - then we don't have to deal with returning anything if somebody did, by chance, buy one of the bigger items on our registry
GL hunnie!
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my SILs sister had her shower this weekend and my SIL said she got NOTHING she needed. She literally got a towel, 5 bottles, no bibs, no wipes, not diapes...nothing. I guess no one even looked at her registry. But you will get money and gift cards to buy the stuff you dont' get so that helps some!
thank you everyone again...We are registered at BRU and Target. I know both stores offer the 10% after her due date. I think I might need to go on there and change her due to when they are going to c-section me. That way I wont have to wait 3 extra weeks to get the coupon. I'm thinking that putting the money back in savings for it just in case we don't get it might be the better idea. I'm truly thankful for all the advice. I never thought it woul be that big of a deal till the other day.
I wasn't expecting to have a shower, as all our family friends are in another country.
My parents bought the crib/change table and stroller. I bought the carseat and nic nacs as I wanted them during the pregnancy.
I did have a very small shower in the US like 4-5 people but didn't get much but I wasn't expecting to! The family I was nannying for bought me a PNP and a bunch of clothes that was the "biggest" gift I got.
Our family brought us most of the bigger items like carseat/stroller, pack n' play, bouncer, but we were also given a lot of gently used items like crib, swing, changing table, etc. so that helped us out tremendously.
As for my actual showers, hardly anything was purchased off the registries. I found out that people just can't resist buying clothes for little girls (which I have been grateful for since one of my close friends IRL has actually had to go out and purchase a lot of clothes for her son since not many people gave them outfits).
I think you've been given some excellent advice about waiting until after the shower, but maybe start putting some money away with each paycheck just in case and using that with the 10% discount
Oh Amanda I forgot to mention that with BRU as long as you tell them you've already had your shower at the store they can print you out the completion recipt and you can shop. You don't have to wait for them to mail it to you.
We bought the ottoman/glidder (for $40 off craigslist), the dresser/changing table ($100 off craigslist ), and his aunt is letting us borrow the crib. My SIL also gave us a breast pump, bottles, and a bunch of other odds and ends. I would just start savings some exta money and whatever you dont get on your registry, you can go buy. We are waiting until after our showers before we go drop a lot of money.
Oh Amanda I forgot to mention that with BRU as long as you tell them you've already had your shower at the store they can print you out the completion recipt and you can shop. You don't have to wait for them to mail it to you.
That's what I did. The only thing is you have to buy it all on that one day, so the first day I went I was just going to get the small stuff because DH didn't feel like shopping all day. So we had to go back again.
Oh, and, things have to have been added a month before. So if you add something to the registry right before the shower, you'll have to wait a month. Which wasn't an issue for us since I had my registry finalized long before that.
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Baby essential items...suggestions needed
That's what I did. The only thing is you have to buy it all on that one day, so the first day I went I was just going to get the small stuff because DH didn't feel like shopping all day. So we had to go back again.
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