Hellobee Boards

I went through a list of what baby "needs" and what we were being given second hand and scratched the things we were being given off. Everything else I looked at I asked if we thought we'd use it, and when, and if the answer was yes, more than 3 times, we registered for it. Mind you we got A LOT given to us and our registries combined have maybe 50 things on them, ten of which are already bought and some are just luxuries,

Well I have no idea if you WANT advice from someone who hasn't even HAD a baby yet, but I have done countless hours of research and reading reviews and talking to people and decided on the list of gear we'll be getting. We have a private amazon wishlist so I don't forget what we chose. Feel free to ask if you care to know.

As far as good websites, http://www.lucieslist.com/ was one of the sites I found helpful.

And I really liked the registry on diapers.com as opposed to BRU. They have a good return policy and their online registry is just easier to navigate.

agree with mrs. yo yo -- checking out amazon reviews is a great place to start. i lived on amazon when registering!

I actually did copy a lot off my friends registry. She was having her second baby so she had plenty of real life experience with the stuff. So I looked through her registry, asked questions, and then looked up reviews for everything.

I started with 'just cloth diapering', but that led me to lots of related stuff.

And then I went to register for a crib, which was the thing I most wanted to set up NOW, and then I hunkered down and continued registering at that same store for all the other stuff, just to keep it simple.

Then I asked my Mom what she thought of my registry and she had some criticisms, but they were all things that I had already thought about.

The good thing about registering so early is that we can change things all the time and no one will see it! I say go for it and have fun!

what do you guys think of a feature, where readers submit their actual registry? just submit a link to your registry, some basic information (due date, gender) and we'll publish all the links?

@Mrs. Bee: That's an awesome idea!

@Mrs. Bee: That sounds like a good idea!

I started my research by looking at one big thing at a time, I researched the crap out of car seats, then once I decided on one, moved onto strollers, then once I got that picked, switched to cloth diaper research. It seems a lot more manageable when you hit one item at a time. Full disclosure though: I started when TTC, which took us 13 months, so I had a huge head start.

As far as other items, I am just looking at the small stuff now, I started by making note of what people were planning on handing down to us, then compared a bunch of different "must have" and "unnecessary" lists, and have been making my registry list from there. I am also not registering for any clothes, blankets, or towels/washcloths, because I know you will get a ton wether they are on your registry or not!

@Mrs. Bee: Love this! Wish I had been able to use it 4 months ago when registering! Will be submitting ours soon

i feel like i've researched a LOT. i did check out all the guides posted on hellobee. started with those and looked reviews up wherever i could find them (mostly on amazon). i looked at the reviews and i typically read the negatives because i want to see if i could live with the negatives. if i feel the negative is too negative, i do searches on others.

i did look up friends' registries to see what they registered for and also asked them what they could do without or what they couldn't live without.

sigh. so much work. i think i spent a good week on updating my registries and i'm still updating as i go!

So glad to see all these suggestions. I was just thinking about asking where everyone turned to research their baby gear. Can't wait to see the registries.

I second the suggestion for lucieslist. That's the main website we've been using to put together our registry. We've also asked close friends who have a similar lifestyle to ours what their recommendations are. I do have to say that the first time we walked into BuyBuyBaby to start registering it was a completely overwhelming experience. We walked out of the store shell-shocked an hour and a half later with about 10 totally random items on our registry. We've found it's much better to add items online from home. Standing in front of an entire shelf lined with bouncy chairs is just too much!