We all know that babies = gifts 🙂 I personally love buying gifts for my cousins’ and friends’ babies and kids! Yes, I am also a ninang (godmother) to no less than 25 kiddos! Knowing very little about kids, I usually just get what is cute, or ask the toy store what their latest kids’ craze are, or simply ask the mom what they need and like.
Now that I’m about to have a newborn myself, I realized I am just dumbfounded as to what are the things we actually need to have! Ohno! With all the apps and online research I have been doing, I got about 5 different baby checklists of the must-haves and nice-to-haves. FIVE! Like any parent, as much as we would love to give everything to our baby, we also want to be practical and get the necessities first. Since it’s our first time, I know this will be tough. I’ve read so many articles and watched vlogs of the things first time parents bought but didn’t use– making me more confused than ever!
Thankfully, we’re surrounded by parents of different ages (not to mention my mother-in-law who’s a baby nurse! Yay!) 🙂 We got a lot of help getting the big ticket items– like the crib, mattress, stroller, and carseat– from our family alone! They share their experiences so we know what to expect, give us ideas on items we need to invest in and the ones which we can probably do without (don’t buy a lot of newborn sized clothes, as they outgrow it in a couple of weeks… Your baby will be living in onesies and pajamas for the next 3 months…) And knowing our situation now, they give us scenarios and suggest what we need to do (read: TEAMWORK) to get through the first few months of sleepless nights without hating each other. These make us more excited!
So I narrowed down my list and put together a gift registry under Baby List. This website lets you register what you want from any retailer or independent sellers like Etsy and combines them into one master list for your friends and family to see.
Like any registry, it still lets the givers reserve the gift so it’ll be removed from the list, avoiding duplication. It also allows the giver to choose between having it delivered to us or buying it from the physical store themselves.
Upside is, you’ll be able to add in exactly what you want. You won’t be limited with the brand or style a certain retailer carries. The giver will also have a choice (say for example, the product is available in more than one store) where to purchase the item from, as they give price comparisons.
What I love most about this is that they offer help and favors, which are certainly needed especially when the baby comes! I know our friends can appreciate that we value any help the can extend– whether it’s a cooked meal when we can’t cook ourselves, or a visit and babysitting time so we can relax or take a nap when we need it most. I remember our wedding registry at Honeyfund, which I really loved, as it told our guest what we needed and where their cash gifts were going to be spent on.
I guess the downside of Babylist is not having the same incentives as other retailers. Certain stores like Babies R’Us or Target give discounts when you complete buying the items in your registry. This will help score you some money when it comes to buying personal mommy stuff (breast pads, napkins, etc.) To me though, this isn’t a big deal. We need all the help we can get, both in material supplies and moral support, that I would rather have this combined, convenient and practical list for our friends and family. 🙂