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I overbought in all categories because I just didn't know what I was doing!

For example, I had a complete travel system, but ended up needing a different stroller because we walked so much and the one we bought wasn't very practical on public transportation.

If I could do it all over again, I would have done it differently, that's tof sure!

I did a lot of research before I made our registry, so we haven't found that we regret anything yet. We tried to keep big stuff to a minimum since we have a small house. At risk of sounding ungrateful, the stuff that sat around unused was mostly stuff that we didn't register for. We got about a million blankets, hard-to-put-on outfits in tiny sizes, and stuffed animals! I purposefully didn't register for a lot of toys or things like the jumperoo because I wanted to see if we could get through those months without them. So far, so good! But if you have the space, some of those things can make life alot easier. For example, we did end up getting a swing, and that has been a life saver.

I regret buying our Mamaroo and Mai Tei, although I suppose there is still hope for both.

I will also disagree somewhat with the idea of keeping everything in the box until you use it. I found it very stressful to be figuring out how to work things, washing stuff, etc, while dealing with a newborn. In fact, the task I most regret that I left unfinished was figuring out my gear. I literally had the stroller bassinet on backwards while going to the doctor since I couldn't figure out how to take it off. Lol. Breast pump was daunting, and I needed it right away. I could go on and on. All of these tasks seem insurmountable after having a baby. So maybe get familiar with and set up the stuff you know you are going to use.

Swaddle wraps and receiving blankets - when LO was newborn she needed to be in swaddle sacks that she couldn't break out of so swaddle wraps were useless. One or two muslin wraps are useful for draping over the stroller or carrier for sun protection but I ended up with at least a dozen.

If you can, I would suggest borrowing a swing and/or bouncer before buying to see which your LO likes. We got a swing and she haaaaated it. Fortunately it was $30 second hand, so no big deal, but I would have been annoyed if I'd got an expensive one!

I also used the pretty change pad cover exactly twice before I realized that having a fabric cover is just asking for poopy grossness and extra laundry and switched to using the bare plastic pad and putting a cloth diaper underneath if it was cold.

Pacifiers, sippy cups, and a "fancy" pack n play. LO pretty much wanted nothing to do with pacifiers once he turned 1-2 months. We also registered for (and received) quite a few sippy cups and all of them were huge fails for our LO. We ended up using the Take & Toss sippy cups, which were the ONLY ones LO would drink from for months. The "fancy" pack n play with all the bells and whistles was also a huge waste for us. We never used any of the extra attachments (they just sit in our basement collecting dust); we just needed the pack n play itself.

A cradle and mattress were the biggest waste. My sister insisted we needed it and because of that my mom insisted she buy it. DS hated it and only slept in the p&p which was what we originally planned to use. You can definitely also wait on things like the high chair or jumperoo or anything that you can buy used for considerably cheaper.

@spaniellove: I only regret NOT registering for A&A swaddle blankets. We started with one and quickly realized we needed more! I think having six from day one would have been awesome. We also didn't think we needed a swing until around 3 months (I think) when DH ran out and urgently bought one! Registering for one would have been nice, not so someone could have bought it for us, but so we could have used the completion discount when we bought it ourselves.

The only actual registery items that were not useful were plain white onesies (for some reason I registered for a million in every size), and the baby bath towels (so crappy).

We received about a million bibs, and a million receiving blankets. I originally thought neither were useful, but now at the 11 month mark I'm eating my words. With LO eating solids like crazy having 32 bibs keeps laundry under control! And we actually found the receiving blankets useful in a couple different ways - like lining out changing pad, so we don't have to remove and wash the actual cover as often! Those are things people will buy even if you don't register for them.

ETA: we also never had a jumperoo. And keeping things in the original packaging is a great idea.