I tried it: Why doing my baby registry in person was the best decision I made

Confession: I’m a serial over-analyzer when it comes to shopping. I do it with kitchen appliances, I do it with clothing, and I definitely do it with gift-giving. No matter what I’m about to purchase, chances are I do more online research than is even close to necessary. In fact, I end up confusing myself even more with all the super-similar-but-also-so-different options out there.

So, of course, I’d follow this pattern when prepping for my first kid, right? After a few days of delving into the specs and design details of car seats and baby food makers feeling none the wiser for it, my husband stepped in and made a suggestion that saved hours of my time (and, probably, his time): Why not register for gifts somewhere that had experts—the real, live, human kind—to help guide me through it all?

Enter: buybuy BABY.

Serving as the mothership for all those mamas and mamas-to-be who love to shop but need a little gentle corralling, buybuy BABY had everything I needed and, most importantly, knowledgeable staff that helped me navigate the right picks for our family. Because while you may be able to sort through some of the differences between the UPPAbaby® MESA and the Chicco® KeyFit® infant car seats on your own, for me it took someone who knows what they’re talking about to explain it and be able to provide that information quickly. Bonus: No Google tabs had to be opened on my browser. Imagine that!

And car seats, I learned, were just the beginning. As I wandered up and down buybuy BABY many aisles, I was able to touch, feel and see what the products were really like. This helped me to make those game-changing decisions, like what color mamaROO® I preferred to stare at in our family room every day, what type of baby lounger seemed comfiest and which pack ‘n play looked sturdiest for those jaunts away from home.

I even found it way easier to navigate which toys to pick when I saw them in person. While I’ve settled on the fact that I’m into low-tech learning (speaking of, I’d like an adult version of the SKIP*HOP® silver lining cloud activity gym, please), the Baby Einstein™ 4-in-1 kickin’ tunes music and language discovery gym was the light-up, music-making playmat of my husband’s dreams—I had to tear him away from it. Plus, I am fully ready to admit that I got lost in the huge selection of adorable baby clothing because, sure, my little guy probably didn’t need tracksuits and tiny tuxedos, but my friends loved buying them for him. That’s a win-win in my book.

All of this is to say, I had a huge realization: Registering in person meant I could actually decide which products I wanted and add those very products to my online registry, all while sizing them up and learning about them in real life. What more could a mama-to-be want? Now go forth and give those aisles some facetime. I’m glad I did.

Make sure to shop these items during buybuy BABY’s Spring Sale starting 3/27-3/29.

This article was sponsored by buybuy BABY. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Motherly and mamas.

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