Now that it’s been a year since my baby shower, I’m sharing everything you need to know about baby registries and how to make the most of them. As a first-time mom, I was determined to get as many of those must-have products for my baby girl — even if they were still left on my registry. From price matching to knowing the ins and outs of each registry program, I made sure no money was left on the table and today I’m sharing these details with you.

Where Do I Sign Up For A Baby Registry?

There are several options for creating a baby registry these days. Where I live, the big three are Babylist, Amazon, and Target. While there are still plenty of other choices (Crate & Barrel, Walmart, Pottery Barn Kids, etc.) these were the most prominent in my experience. That being said, as a mama who has been there — I urge you to make a registry for all options. This may sound excessive, but creating a baby registry is completely free. As time goes on in your pregnancy and you begin building out your nursery, you’ll be glad you have those registry perks to lean on at so many locations.

I’m going to outline the baby registry sites I used, including perks, cons, and tips to maximize each one! Let’s dive in, shall we?

Babylist Registry

Babylist is the perfect universal baby registry platform. Unlike other sites, Babylist allows you to add products from anywhere for your guests, family, and friends to shop. For example, most other sites’ registries are limited to what is available on their website. So if they have a product you like, but not the color you want, you’re out of luck. With Babylist, you can add the basics and also some of your more far-out wishlist items like specialty sports and character onesies or toys! If an item on your registry is available at more than one place, Babylist will list out the comparison prices for you so you can shop the best deal for the same item.

In my personal experience, most of my family and friends didn’t shop for me through Babylist, but I’m still glad I created one so I had access to the perks!

Babylist Perks

• 15% off Completion Discount* valid for 60 days before and 90 days after your baby’s expected arrival.
• Group gifting option that allows others to put money toward bigger items on your registry.
• Free Hello Baby Box when you create your registry that is full of samples, coupons, and baby essentials.
• Babylist-exclusive products & variants as they partner with any of your favorite baby brands.

Babylist Cons

• The Completion Discount is only eligible for products on the Babylist website — very limited selection!
• Gifters must go back and manually select when they’ve purchased an item from your registry.
• Gifters have to copy and paste your shipping address from Babylist to whichever site they buy their gift from.
• Gifters seem less likely to trust Babylist over other, more well-known platforms like Target, Amazon, and Pottery Barn Kids.

As mentioned above, I recommend making a Babylist Registry along with any other registry. It’s great to have multiple options for your family and friends to shop. While Babylist does have one of the longest windows to use your Registry Completion Discount, it is also one of the most limited selections of redemption options compared to sites like Amazon and Target. You also only get to use that 15% off once. My recommendation is to make a shopping cart of the Babylist items you haven’t received, but make sure to check all other options for a better deal before using your discount. After you’ve explored all options, you know you’re in good shape to finally use that one-time 15% off.

Create your Babylist registry here!

Amazon Registry

Since you can find almost anything on Amazon, it makes sense to set up a registry here as well. From major brands to small businesses, family and friends can browse all your registry items with ease. I will say, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of my baby registry wants in one place. There really wasn’t much I couldn’t find from my Babylist Registry and duplicate it here!

This was the registry that my friends and family opted to shop by far. As a first-time mom, I loved this registry more and more as my postpartum journey went on — so let’s get into it!

Amazon Perks

• 15% off Completion Discount of up to $300, so you can buy $2000 worth of items on your registry before it goes away!
• Group gifting for larger registry items to help your guests to contribute toward those bigger ticket items.
• Free Welcome Box full of baby samples for Prime Members.
• Extended Returns on anything purchased on your registry — 365 days!

Amazon Cons

• 15% off is only available for eligible items, and the items must be on your registry when you check out to ensure you save your 15%.
• If it’s not on Amazon, you can’t add it to your Amazon Registry.

As mentioned already, my friends and family loved shopping my Amazon registry, and in the long run, I think I loved it the most as well. The completion discount is the best deal of any other registry program I tried. $300 in savings? We love it! As a first-time mom it was so nice to just add newborn and pumping needs to our registry and check out after we got home from the hospital to still enjoy that discount a little longer.

One ineligible item that surprised me was books! With so many (like me!) following the “book instead of a card” baby shower trend, I figured children’s and baby books would be considered for the 15% off, but unfortunately they weren’t. That said, I still highly recommend adding books you’d like for your baby to your Amazon registry! It makes it that much easier for your guests to grab their book before your shower and in my experience it cut down on duplicates. If you’re a Disney fan like me, I’ve got a full list of Disney baby books here if you need some inspiration for your baby registry! If you want the ultimate guide to Disney Parks Little Golden Books, I outline them all on my blog here.

Create your Amazon registry here.

Target Registry

Setting up a Target Registry was a must for me because I frequent there often and I know it’s an easy place for people to shop in store or online from anywhere. Similar to Amazon, very rarely can you not find top baby registry must-haves at Target. Even if it’s not available in your local store, it can be shipped to you with ease.

This was probably my next most popular registry for guests! Let’s get into some of the pros and cons of signing up for a Target Registry, and I’m going to share a few tips I found while trying to prep for baby.

Target Perks

• Wide selection of your favorite baby registry finds all in one place.
• FREE Welcome Kit when you sign up for a Target Baby Registry.
• 15% off Completion Discount that can be used TWICE — STORE WIDE.
• Returns allowed up to a year after purchase.
• Those with a Target Card can get an additional 5% off when shopping for you.

Target Cons

• Selection within local stores isn’t as great as what’s available online.
• Once you activate your 15% off completion discount, it will automatically apply to your next two orders unless you toggle it off before checking out.

Remember how I mentioned the lack of book discounts over on Amazon? If you still have books on your registry after your shower, I recommend checking for them at Target and including them in one of your completion discount purchases! If you’re lucky, you can stack your 15% off, another 5% off as a Target Card member, and if there are any book deals running, you’ll save there too. I loved being able to snag the last few books I wanted for my daughter with so much additional saving.

Target is also amazing about price matching! EVEN IF YOU’VE ALREADY PURCHASED THE ITEM FROM THEM. Example: I ordered my Babyletto Kiwi Glider/Recliner from Target  (You can also find it on Bloomingdales and All Modern!) and I saw it was available for 10% off on Amazon — that was $80 off by the way! I simply walked into my local Target, let them know that there was a deal going on for the same recliner on Amazon, and after they could confirm it through their own search, I was able to get the $80 back. Once I had success with this experience, I went back through my remaining registry items that were available on Amazon and Target, and cross-checked pricing. If something with cheaper on Amazon, I made a point to price check with Target before buying so I could save even more than I would’ve with my 15% completion discount and 5% Target Card discount! When you’re trying to get everything you need and want for baby, saving any extra money goes a long way.

Create your Target registry here!

Pottery Barn Kids Registry

I don’t know about you, but when I think of baby and kids’ bedding, for some reason Pottery Barn Kids always comes to mind. From the time I found out I was pregnant, I was spending time on the Pottery Barn Kids site picking out patterns! (We ended up going with this super cute Rifle Paper Company print by the way.) Pottery Barn Kids is also where we ended up grabbing our stroller and carseat from, so PBK definitely got their share of our baby spending dollars!

Believe it or not, I did not end up sharing my Pottery Barn Kids Registry with anyone. I made one because I knew there were items I’d want to buy from there and I wanted to have the completion discount available if we ended up buying them ourselves in the long run. Let’s talk about the Pottery Barn Kids Registry!

Pottery Barn Kids Perks

• Free Nursery Design Services.
• 15% Completion Discount on eligible items* up to 6 months after your event date.
• In store and online shopping experiences for your baby shower guests.

Pottery Barn Kids Cons

• No welcome box for signing up for a registry.
• No group gifting option.
• Limited gifting options — only so much is available that you’ll need for baby at Pottery Barn Kids.
• Completion Discount eligibility is extremely limited — think almost anything you’d probably want to save on!
• Shortest return policy of only 90 days.

In my experience, my Pottery Barn Kids registry was just for me. It was so I could check to see what items on my wishlist would actually be eligible for that discount before I checked out. Now, Nuna girlies, I hate to burst your bubble — your Nuna wishlist will not be included in this discount. The same will be the case for almost any trendy baby brand you’re probably planning to shop from Pottery Barn Kids. We went with the Nuna Droplet Dot Taupe Carseat and Stroller — which we LOVE, but we would’ve loved a 15% discount, too.

I was pleasantly surprised to find our daughter’s bedding from Rifle Paper Co. was included in the completion discount, so I was able to save some there. If you want to peep our daughter’s nursery, you can check it out here! Point of the story? If you’re looking to shop certain things from Pottery Barn Kids, just make a registry so you can check for a completion discount late. You never know!

Sign up for your Pottery Barn Kids registry here.

When it comes to planning for your little one, less is more isn’t the case for baby registries! Since making each registry is free, I highly recommend signing up for any baby registry program that features a product you’ve got your eye on. Shopping options helps friends and family to find something special for you that they can feel excited about, but you’ll also have access to those extra completion discounts, return windows, and other perks. During postpartum, you really never know what you’ll need, so being able to return things or buy new things at a discount is so important!

I had so much fun putting together this baby registry guide because I learned so much while preparing for my little one, and I don’t want these tips to goto waste! I’m hoping to be able to share even more nuggets of motherhood knowledge here on my blog as my daughter gets older. For now, here are a few of my Motherhood blogs worth checking out:

• My favorite diaper brand — Coterie Diapers (Discount code available!)
• My Nursery Reveal!
• Baby’s First Christmas Gift Guide!
• Learn & Grow with LovEvery!
• My Favorite Bassinet & Crib Mattress Brand — Newton Baby (Discount code available!)

Which Baby Registry(s) Did You Choose?