How to Build a Baby Registry

When to start

Most people build the registry in the second trimester, after the anatomy scan around week 20. By then you know more, you have more energy than you'll have later, and it's still early enough that a shower host can share the link with the invitations.

Finish it by the end of the second trimester. Big items like cribs and gliders can take weeks to arrive, and the third trimester is for installing the car seat and packing the bag, not for comparing strollers.

Where to put it

There are three sensible choices, and the honest answer is that many people keep two. A universal registry lets you add anything from any store and take cash contributions toward big items; a retailer registry is simpler for the people buying and easier for returns.

If you only keep one: pick the one whose returns you can live with, because there will be returns. We compare the big three in detail in the next guide.

• Amazon Baby Registry — the widest catalog and the fastest shipping; a completion discount on what's left over; extended returns on registry items. Check the current terms before you count on any of them.
• Babylist — a universal registry that pulls from any store, plus cash funds for the expensive things and options like meal help. The best fit for a registry with an opinion.
• Target — in-store returns, a completion coupon, and a catalog your relatives already know how to use.

The four rules

• Expensive and boring first. The car seat, the stroller, the crib, the mattress. These are exactly what a group of friends or a set of grandparents wants to buy together, and exactly what you'd least like to pay for yourself.
• A spread of prices. Something at every level, so the coworker and the grandmother can both find the right thing. Diapers by the case are the perfect mid-range item: everyone knows they'll be used.
• Quantities, not singles. Register for three sleep sacks, a dozen burp cloths, cases of diapers in two sizes. One of anything that gets washed daily is not enough.
• Group gifts for the big three. Turn on group gifting or a cash fund for the car seat, the stroller and the glider. It makes an intimidating price approachable and it's how those items actually get bought.

What a working registry looks like

The mistakes

• Only wish-list items. A registry of rompers and a designer diaper bag leaves you buying the car seat yourself.
• Newborn size in quantity. Some babies skip it entirely. Register lightly, then 0–3 and 3–6 months.
• Two of the same big thing. One stroller, one carrier, one monitor. Add later if you actually want another.
• Nothing under twenty dollars. The people who love you include students and coworkers. Give them a way to show up.
• Forgetting yourself. Postpartum supplies and food are the most useful gifts on any registry. Put them on it and say why.
• Never finishing it. A half-built registry gets half-bought. Use our checklist, walk it top to bottom, and call it done.