Where to Register for Your Baby Shower (Revisited)

A relatively long time ago (February 17, 2011), I wrote a post about the most popular places for an expectant mother to register for her baby shower.  That post included the following stores:

Pottery Barn Kids
Buy Buy Baby
Target
Kohl's
Babies 'R' Us
Giggle
The Land of Nod
Baby & Child (by Restoration Hardware)
Serena & Lily

I broke out the pros and cons of each store, quite succinctly I might add...so check out the post (here).  But, after 1.5 years of baby shower attending, I have some important real life experience to share.

First, that list is really two separate lists: the regular stuff stores (sell regular baby stuff) and the fancy stuff stores (sell fancy baby stuff).  Although, some of the regular stuff stores carry fancy stuff.

Regular Stuff Stores:

Buy Buy Baby

Target

Kohl's

Babies 'R' Us

Fancy Stuff Stores:

Pottery Barn Kids

Giggle

The Land of Nod

Baby & Child

Serena & Lily

The average lady should choose one of the regular stuff stores for her registry.  She can also choose one (or more) of the fancy stuff stores, but not only a fancy stuff store.  The fancy stuff stores are good for bedding, specialty toys, nursery furniture, etc., but not the basics.  Not the essentials.  They don't carry the diaper pails, breast pumps and bottles. 

Second, the regular stuff stores, in addition to being less expensive than the fancy stuff stores, also accept coupons.  And, not just that, they give out tons of coupons.  So they actively assist in bringing down the cost of their items.  This is fabulous for the shower guests, who get more bang for their buck, and fabulous for the mother-to-be who is likely to get more swag because money goes farther.

Here are some great resources and strategies for getting coupons for the regular stuff stores:

Buy Buy Baby - First and foremost, Buy Buy Baby is an affiliate of Bed Bath and Beyond and it accepts Bed Bath and Beyond coupons.  So, get on the Bed Bath and Beyond mailing list to start collecting those 20% off coupons that are accepted at both stores.  Next, Buy Buy Baby advertises (with coupons) in most pregnancy and parenting magazines.  You can peruse some of these type magazines in Barnes and Noble and when you come across one of these awesome coupons, spend $3 on the magazine and save yourself 20% (probably more than $3) on the baby shower gift.  Buy Buy Baby also price matches. 

Target - Did you know that Target has a whole section of its website dedicated to printable coupons?  Now you do.  That section (here) has a separate section of baby product related coupons.  Bing!  Target also has in-store circulars (those flimsy magazines with all the current steals and deals of the day) and Sunday newspaper circulars.  Both types of circulars often include Target coupons.

Kohl's - I'm not as aware of Kohl's having any paper coupons, but the Kohl's website is constantly running promotions for 15% off everything...sometimes 30%, so check.  Especially on weekends and holiday weekends, Kohl's prices can't be beat.  Kohl's also does price matching.

Babies 'R' Us - Get on the Babies 'R' Us email list asap (via the website) and find yourself the recipient of all the up-to-the-moment deals and printable coupons.  Also search the internet.  Websites like retailmenot.com and savings.com often carry Babies 'R' Us printable coupons.  Google the phrase "Babies R Us coupons" and look at the image results (versus the web results).

Last, there is one major regular stuff store that I didn't put on my original list: Amazon.com.  It's not a regular stuff store in the sense that there are no brick and mortar locations.  But, it is a regular stuff store in the sense that it has all the baby essentials...and some.  Amazon.com also hosts a universal registry, so you can add items to your baby registry from ANY website and include those items in the single Amazon.com registry so shower guests go to one website and see it all.

Any experience registering at any of the stores that you'd like to share?  Good, bad or ugly?