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It is annoying when you make a list of what you want and people go out and get you what they think you need

I will say that for two of my showers, we got a lot of gifts that we registered for but people went and bought elsewhere (Target or amazon, etc). Also people do wait till the last minute to buy gifts, so don't lose hope yet!!

I had no less than 3 people ask me what I wanted that wasn't on my registry. I kept telling them, nothing. I just want stuff I registered for! lol!!!!

we also spent a ton of time putting together our registry, so it will be annoying if it's completely ignored, but hopefully not.

things to keep in mind (which i'm reminding myself as well): the baby might be your highest priority now but it's not everyone else's, so a lot of people will procrastinate ... they might buy from the registry, but not mark it off ... where you registered might not be convenient to them (too far, they don't like shopping online, they don't want to pay shipping fees, etc.), so they'll shop elsewhere ... they might think they know better than you what you might need/want and choose their own gifts ... people love to buy cute baby clothes and they will typically choose that over other functional items ... older people sometimes don't like registries

I only found it annoying when they bought things similar to what was on my registry but not specifically what I asked for. I did a lot of research for every product and wanted a certain type of product (BPa free, more Eco friendly etc). A few people just bought the version they liked/used instead...like spoons, plates, bottles, baby wash etc.

Our shower was today! I put a lot of time, and thought into our registry as well, and only got maybe 1/4 of the stuff we registered for. We got a ton of random stuff!

Yeah, I got annoyed. But then I told myself that no one had to get me anything and that I have no right to be annoyed. .... but I was still annoyed.

Not really. We ended up with some stuff off of the registry (which was short) and lots of gift cards and also clothes and diapers. We bought all the major stuff.

Honestly, after giving birth was when I really figured out what I'd prefer to have anyway. The registry was just a start, but there's no way I would have known that, even though I did what I thought was a lot of research ahead of time.

It can be annoying but I'd just go with it.

No one really bought from our registry, because we didn't have a shower (weird Jewish superstition) - it was totally annoying, and we mostly got 3-6 month clothes for the wrong season. I wished people would have bought from our registry or just given us gift cards, because we spent a TON filling in the gaps after Little C was born.

Yes! As first time parents, we really needed most of the stuff that was on our registry and people just ignored it. My mom pretty much thought I was a brat for being annoyed over it. We got a ton of clothes (without receipts) and didn't get a single pack of diapers. It was so frustrating!

At least 80% of the items people got us were from the registry, and said they told the cashier but for some reason they didn't come off the registry. Therefor we had triples of things but pretty much everything was bought from our registry.

I have always purchased gifts from a registry when possible . . . if I am going off-registry (and there is a registry available), it is a gift given in addition to the registry gift.

ETA: Yep, it's annoying!

No, but they didn't have a choice. My mom chose not to include the registry information on the shower invitations. No clue why ..

The morning of my shower, only 3 things had been bought off of the registry and I knew who they were from-- my mom, grandmother and sister in law. But as other people have said many people bought registry things but from other stores. Some also did buy from BabiesRUs but it didn't show as purchased on the registry. I got a few gift cards too. In the end, we got everything we needed without spending very much of our own money at all (less than $100). We also got tons of (too much) clothes. Some of it was not returnable because we couldnt' figure out where it was from or it was from an outlet/on super clearance. If I were giving advice to baby shower attendees, I would definitely say that people should stay away from tons of baby clothes since as a mom, I really would rather pick out my own clothes and it is so hard to predict sizes until the baby is here. We will end up giving a lot away, I am sure.

We got a lot of stuff off of our registry, but I agree that a lot of people don't necessarily follow registry "protocol", so I did get some duplicate items or alternate versions of items that we'd registered for.

I didn't mind most of the stuff that was purchased off-registry. My favorite was what is referred to as the "keepin' it real" kit - it included favorites like epsom salts, tucks pads, blow-up donut, etc. Opening that in front of my great-aunts was interesting.

I was not as thrilled, however, with the decorative items - picture frames, etc. The thought was really nice, but I just feel like it's so hard to purchase nursery decor for someone if you don't know exactly what their taste is like.

I was a little annoyed about the off registry stuff. I got a ton of clothes like an epic truckload of clothes, diapers, and wipes. I needed more gear stuff like a crib mattress, changing pad, etc. Days before I delivered him, we were getting the last of the gear stuff. I had plenty of diapers and wipes to get me through the first month or so. It was helpful, but not what I saw as important needs.