Building a Baby Registry - Start with Your Values
I recently sat down with a friend who is expecting her first child. She was having a hard time figuring out where to begin with creating a registry. I knew exactly how she felt! How is anyone supposed to know what they need when they’ve never had a baby before?? I wanted to help her out by sharing the little bits of knowledge I’ve accumulated around “baby stuff” over the past year+. I’ve put together a list of items that I found particularly helpful and included specifics, to the best of my ability. This list is developed using my own set of values, which I’ll talk a bit more about as we go, but hopefully you can identify your own and find items that align to what matters most to you!
Quick disclaimer: I have only ever had one baby. I’m not a pediatrician, a doula, a teacher, a doctor, an early-childhood expert, or anything even remotely close. However, I am a “social-solver” and I did get a lot of feedback from people who ARE in those fields when I was building my own un-perfect registry.
Values Alignment
Let’s begin with, “What do you care about?” Thinking about your values can actually help you make quicker and more impactful decisions. People value a variety of things when it comes to their purchases. Those values may may also shift over time or from purchase to purchase. Give yourself a little bit of time to center on what those are for you. A few to consider:
Sustainability: This could factor into how many items you add to your list and what you choose to live without, the sourcing of the products, how far away items are coming from, the likelihood that it will end up in a landfill, whether or not you opt for brand new vs. second-hand items, etc.
Health: Do you want to actively avoid toxic materials, such as plastics containing BPAs, etc.? Are the items on your list best for the baby’s physical development?
Baby-centered: Is it important to you to purchase items rooted in early childhood research and philosophies, such as Montessori, etc.?
Size: What do you realistically have room for? How big is the nursery, closets, storage areas, garage?
Aesthetics: Does beautiful design factor into your purchase decisions? Do you have a particular “style” you want to align purchases with?
Cost: Where does cost rank compared to your other values? Perhaps this plays a bigger role in some decisions and a smaller role in others.
Convenience: How easy would it be for guests to get the items on your list? Do they have a decent return window if you don’t end up needing something?
Ease of use: Determining your level of comfort with complexity. Do you want to put something together from scratch? Do you want to clasp 9 buttons in the middle of the night after a blowout? You decide!
Gender preferences: If you know the gender/s of your little one/s, are you comfortable with particular color palettes, designs, and items often given to them or would you rather keep things neutral?
Shopping preferences: Are you committed to local businesses over global online retailers? Do prefer to spend your dollars with Black-owned businesses? B-corps? Women? Whatever your preference, it’s good to be aware of it prior to building your list and realize a lot of the people shopping for you have never thought about this before.
You will likely notice some themes in my own recommendations around sustainability, health, and thoughtful design. I also did my best to seek out brands that aligned to similar values but gave myself some flexibility in order to allow the experience of shopping to still be convenient for others.
Where to build your registry?
Now that you have taken the time to center on your own values, it’s time to start thinking about how you want to put together a registry. A few common options are Amazon, Buy Buy Baby, Target, and BabyList but there are certainly others. Feel free to dig into options that make sense for you. I went with BabyList because I could add options from some of my favorite local stores, or smaller retailers that aren’t available on Amazon/Target. That turned out to be a great option for me. I knew that some of my friends and family would rather use Amazon, so I ended up adding a secondary list of options there. Even though I’m not a huge Amazon fan, I was glad to make it an option for those that were choosing to help us prep for our little girl.
The Items
Once you’ve landed on a location to host your registry, it’s time to start thinking about the items and services that are going to help you nourish that lil’ nugget in the coming weeks/months/years. I’ve broken my recommendations up in sections and share some of the “why” or “why not” behind my thoughts. Some items you’ll need, some are very helpful - but certainly not required, and some things are just nice to have. Feel free to use this list as a starting point. Ask your trusted friends and family what they would add and if they had any brands/items that worked well for them. Everyone will have opinions, some welcome, some perhaps not as welcome. If you’re rooted in your values it will be easier to decide what ones you’ll want to listen to. ;)
Question for parents who already have babies, or those who care for babies, what did I miss? What would your top registry items be? Drop a comment below. I would love to continuing adding this list to be helpful for expecting parents!
