Registering with Buy Buy Baby

     Before being pregnant I rarely stepped foot into a baby store so the idea of registering for baby products seemed overwhelming at first. Just the choices of what store to register at seemed complicated. Sure you have the big company baby chains like Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby. If you want to be fancy and go the high end route- Bloomingdales and some other department stores have a "baby shop" and offer registries. Then there's Target, Walmart, Kmart, and all of those stores. Lastly, there's the internet and even more possibilities for places to register.  I settled on Buy Buy Baby and Amazon.

     I went with Amazon for one of my registries (yes, I did more than one). I like the convenience of the internet and Amazon has EVERYTHING. Plus prime members can get free shipping (depending on the product). The thing that sold me on an Amazon registry (other than the convenience)  is their "universal button." After installing it, you can browse other websites and link items from other sites into your registry. Sadly, I have yet to figure it out so that I can add the universal button so that I can attach a few items from other sites into my registry. I've gone though the directions a few times and even asked Teddy to do it for me since he's more computer savvy and we still haven't figured it out. If anyone knows how to set up the universal button please message me or comment back on how I can do it.

     For my other registry I wanted to pick a store. Some of my guests, like my grandma, don't have a computer nor would they know how to go about using an online registry so I needed a standard store option. I went with Buy Buy Baby for two reasons. 1) they accept Bed Bath & Beyond coupons and 2) I liked their inventory & customer service.

    Originally I though I'd go with Babies R Us but I hated their customer service during my initial trip to the store. There were limited associates on the sales floor and when I needed help and information on a stroller I spent 20 minutes waiting for help. Maybe it's a bit harsh to make a quick judgment on one bad experience but I also read a few negative comments online about their return policy. So I gave Buy Buy Baby a shot.

    Before beginning my registry I spent hours online ready product reviews, watching youtube videos of parent reviews, and even started following blogs like Baby Gizmo. By the time I went to the store to do my registry I had a huge list of my wants and needs. Turns out I didn't need to do all that research on my own. Buy Buy Baby gives you a booklet of things to consider and register for and they even offer you a personal shopper (free of charge) to walk the store with you, answer your questions, and to make suggestions of useful items. I also didn't realize that I could have done my registry bit by bit rather than spending a half day with a scan gun getting all the items that I wanted. It's ok. I took my mom, rather than Teddy, to complete the registry. We made a day of it. After the initial sign up at the help desk, I was offered water as we are shopping (we got two little bottles) and given a goody bag. I've included a picture of the items in the bag; it was a good mix of coupons, promotions of products, and some samples.

     As mentioned before I was offered a personal shopper but I declined since I already know many of the brands and items that I wanted. If I knew the store staff would be so helpful I would have started my registry earlier. Perhaps then Teddy could have come along to do part of it. He decided against it since he know I already had a ton of items in mind and he'd just be bored following me around the store. Had I not research everything first and just worked on sections of the registry at a time he could have been involved. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.