Babies can be quite expensive, especially for new parents. There are quite a few ways to help alleviate the cost of a new bundle of joy, and one of those happens to be having a bunch of awesome family and friends that want to throw you a baby shower.
If you are so lucky as to have loved ones that want to help you out, you still need to make sure you are letting them know what you actually need. However, creating a baby registry can be a bit overwhelming for a new mom – I know it definitely was for me!
I have listed below my top five items to include on your baby registry, based on our own experiences. I am hoping that what was helpful for me and my family will also be helpful for you. I also included links to find the models that we personally used if you need suggestions. Please know, I included the links only to be helpful – I am not receiving compensation or any types of perks for sharing these links with you.
Pack-and-Play with Bassinet and Changing Table
Our Pack-and-Play was definitely our favorite baby item that we received at our shower. My mom graciously purchased this model for us, which is equipped with a changing table and a removable bassinet that could be flipped to create two different types of sleepers. It also had an insert that allows newborns and young infants to sleep at a higher level than the standard playpen.
We have a three-story house with our living room on the second floor and all of our bedrooms, including the nursery, on the third floor. Being the super exhausted parents that we were, our Pack-and-Play was a lifesaver because we were able to keep it on the second floor in our living room. This allowed us to have our little guy nap and rest throughout the day right near us and made it so we didn’t have to go upstairs each time we wanted to use a changing table. The removable bassinet was also great for staying overnight at a family member’s house or for allowing our little guy to nap next to us (in the bassinet on the floor) while we took a nap on the couch.
Stroller with Car Seat and Base
Strollers can be expensive, which is why they are another big item you definitely want to put on your registry. There are so many strollers to pick from with a lot of different features, which can make it tricky to find one that is perfect for you. We asked for this stroller because it seemed functional and came with a car seat and base that we could use for our little guy’s newborn and infant stage. After having it and using it for over a year, we know it works well for us, and we would get it again.
Diapers and Wipes
Babies go through SO MANY diapers. It is really hard to get too many diapers for your little one. My main suggestion with putting diapers on your registry is to ask for different sizes. Depending on how big your baby is at birth, they may not use very many newborn size diapers. You will want to have several boxes of each size so you don’t get in a yucky situation as your little one grows, sometimes overnight!
As far as brands go, each baby will respond differently to the type of diapers. I have heard some parents say that certain diaper brands that have worked great for our little guy did not work for them and that they prefer a different brand. You may want to be non-specific about brands in hopes that you will get a variety of diapers so you can see which brand works best for you when you actually have to purchase your own diapers.
In addition to diapers, you will also want to make sure you have plenty of baby wipes as well. The best thing about baby wipes is that you really can’t get too many. These are ideal not only for diaper changes, but also for cleaning up messes and trying to keep your messy toddler slightly less messy.
High Chair
Since you will eventually be using your high chair two to three times per day, you want to make sure that you get a model that works well for your family. We asked for this model, because it could be used as a stand-alone high chair or a booster seat. It also matched our dining room decor, which was an added bonus.
High chairs can get very messy, so I would suggest picking a model that seems easy to clean up after a meal. I also would suggest to make sure that the high chair will be a good height compared to your dining room or kitchen table where you will be using it.
Convertible Car Seat
Once your little man or little lady outgrows the infant car seat, the next step up can be quite a pretty penny. Our little guy is quite big for his age, so we needed to transition him to a bigger car seat a bit earlier than expected. We opted for the Graco 4Ever Extend2Fit All-in-One Convertible Car Seat because it had great reviews and worked well for larger kids (which is a necessity for our little man). We did not originally have this on our baby registry, but looking back, we really wish we did.
The nice part about a convertible car seat is that it is really the only car seat you will need to buy/receive because it can be converted to fit your child at many different stages. This should be the only car seat we will need, which comes as a major relief to me, given the amount of stress I put into researching and purchasing this car seat in the first place!
I truly hope that this list helps make your task of creating a baby registry a little easier! I’d love to hear your comments about your top items for your baby registry.
Best of luck on your journey into parenthood!
~ Candace 🙂
