The Best Places to Create Your Baby Registry

There are a few different places you may be considering. Those places probably include the obvious ones: Babies ‘R’ Us, Buy Buy Baby, and Target.

When I was pregnant, I spent so much time looking at the different registry programs to find the one I liked most. And I didn’t want to jump straight to Babies ‘R’ Us. 

Since I took a lot of time figuring everything out, I thought it would be helpful to summarize my findings for everyone else’s benefit!  

Personally, I went with Amazon and Target for my registry. Not only did Amazon have the widest selection, but being a member of Amazon Family/Prime, I got a 15% completion discount. So, I’d recommend Amazon, but there are other good options too. I also went with Target because I knew it would be easier for some of my family to go into Target rather than try shopping online and hope it would be at their house in time. 

Amazon

Amazon’s baby registry is becoming more popular by the year. And it’s my personal favorite.  

The biggest benefit is that they give you 10% off selected items in your registry, or 15% off if you are a member of Amazon Family, which is a great service for diaper shopping.

Also, you can add products from any site, not just Amazon. So, it makes a great all-in-one registry compared to other places. For example, if you wanted something on the Target website, all you have to do is click a button and BAM! it’s on your Amazon Baby Registry!  

Another benefit is that prices tend to be cheaper on Amazon. If you combine the cheap prices, the 10-15% discount, and free shipping with Prime, it’s a money saver!  

I should mention that Amazon’s return policy is pretty cool too. Let’s be honest, we all receive stuff that isn’t on the registry, but you probably want to return it because you didn’t like it. For example, I received some froofy stuff for my son – not that it’s bad, just wasn’t my style – but I was able to return in to Amazon for free within 90 days after it was purchased. Added bonus, the gift-giver wasn’t informed that the item had been returned. That would’ve been awkward…

Lastly, Amazon carries pretty much everything under the sun. So this was nice to be able to only register at one place for everything you would need such as bottles, car seats, strollers, baby monitors, clothing, etc. 

Is there a downside, you ask? Yeah, probably. Some people just prefer to shop at the store rather than online. Of course, there’s an option to print the registry at the store, so the gift-giver can see what has already been purchased.  

Yep, this is my favorite registry website. Period. 

Buy Buy Baby

Buy Buy Baby is the baby offshoot of Bed Bath & Beyond; the benefit of this is that those 20% off BBB coupons that might stack up can be used at Buy Buy Baby, which might really come in handy. They will exclude certain high-end brands from the 20% off coupons, though.

From other moms that has a registry at Buy Buy Baby, they are known to have great customer service, a wider selection than Babies ‘R’ Us, not as great as Amazon’s selection. The other moms said that they offered free instore consultations with an expert, which seemed cool. However, they said that would get really pushy and annoying. Apparently, the ‘experts’ ended up walking around and adding things to your registry that you didn’t want. Super overwhelming in my opinion.  

Buy Buy Baby offers a completion discount that seems to vary between 10-15%, and you should get it a few weeks before your due date. Pretty standard. Their return policy is pretty good, and they’ll accept returns up to 90 days after due date even if you don’t have a gift receipt. So that’s nice. 

The problem with Buy Buy Baby is that they aren’t nearly as widespread as Babies ‘R’ Us, so if your gift-givers are going to be shopping in-store, this could really make the difference.

All in all, their registry isn’t bad, and most people seem to like it more than Babies ‘R’ Us. It really boils down to which is more convenient for you.

Target

Target is probably the most convenient place to open a registry since they’re all over the place. And the registries can be accessed online. FYI, their online selection is a lot better than in-store selection. 

As far as discounts are concerned, you do get a 15% completion coupon in the mail about 6 weeks before your due date for items not yet purchased. Unfortunately, it is only good for one day, but you can use it as many times that day if you would like. 

The return policy isn’t the best either. You have up to a year to return new, unopened items if you have the gift receipt. Amazon will accept opened and used items under most circumstances. 

Huge downside is that their selection of baby items is so much smaller. Personally, I found it very frustrating, especially because the stock of various Targets tends to vary wildly; some stores will have certain things while others will have completely different things, and the online stock tends to be gone.

On the whole, I wouldn’t recommend Target’s registry. The frustrations greatly outweigh the conveniences, and it’s just not worth it. But I registered some stuff there because I had family members that would rather go to a brick and mortar store, rather than shop online. 

So, Which Registry Should You Choose? 

In my opinion, I’d choose Amazon. Their registry is the best for a few reasons. 

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you get a 15% completion discount. If you’re not a member, it’s 10%, which is still good! And shipping is free. They also have the widest selection when compared to the other option, but the only downside is that they don’t have physical locations. That may throw off some of your gift-givers if they aren’t online shoppers.