Good morning and a Happy September Sunday!

I’m hopeful that today’s post serves as a helpful guide in assisting a new mama-to-be choose where to complete a baby registry. My husband and I registered at both Target and Amazon and I am listing out their similarities and differences, as well as pros and cons to both places.

As an early disclaimer/spoiler: both “WIN” in my book- I still love both retailers and I am glad we chose to register from two places rather than just one, simply for making sure our most wanted items were in stock somewhere and to also allow people shopping for us to have online and in-store options for shopping to suit their preferences.

Similar Features of the Two Registries

1. Completion Discounts: both offer completion discounts of 15% off on any items not purchased off the registries around 2 months before baby’s due date. For both places, though, the discount is limited to 2 uses.

2. Helpful checklists to follow: As first time parents it was helpful for us to have a guide as to what needs purchased to prepare for our baby’s arrival. Both retailers offered this feature so we could make sure we included all the essentials.

3. Received Notifications: both apps notified us when a purchase was made off of the registry and also when an item we chose went out or stock later, so we could choose an alternative or find it on the other retailer’s site.

4. Ship to Us Options: Both Amazon and Target had us plug in our address (which they kept private) that allowed anyone gifting to us from out of town send it directly to our house.

*** The #1 difference between Amazon and Target is that Amazon sent us a free welcome box full of baby goodies like a swaddle blanket, bottles, and samples once $10 of product had been purchased off our registry. I’ve heard that some people have gotten a welcome bag from Target too, but we never did. If anyone knows if I have to do anything to obtain this send me a DM. But when we went into the store to start the registry they didn’t give us anything and they never sent us anything once people started purchasing gifts either.

1. Easy to Use App: when we went to our local Target to begin our registry, we were simply told to download the registry app which has a built in scanner. We scanned the items and they saved into our registry. We could go back in to the app once we were home if we wanted

2. Able to See Items In Person: Target’s in-store baby section is beyond helpful. They had really great resources to help us compare and choose products we think will be best for us directly on the displays. It was nice to be able to see things in person too- like the stroller and car seat.

3. Able to Flag Most Wanted Items: I chose our top 10 most wanted items to highlight on the registry that anyone shopping for us could see. 9/10 of our most wanted items were purchased for us which was extremely helpful and wonderful.

1. Complaints about Shipping: I had numerous people let me know that if they had anything ship from Target.com they ran into a weird issue. One friend’s package was lost and never got to her so she had to call and they resent her the item. Two or three other people told us that when the items they chose arrived the boxes and packaging were so damaged they had to return them or go exchange them in store because they were embarrassed to gift something that beat up.

2. You Have to Use a Separate App: though the app was easy to use, the Target registry app is completely separate from the regular Target app for some reason.

1. Product Selection: Amazon has a seemingly endless selection of products. Seriously their inventory is enormous. At times it was overwhelming but we were glad to have such a massive selection to choose from.

2. Registry in the App: it was so easy to begin our registry and continue to add things because it is in the already existing Amazon app and linked to our account. On every item searched there is always a little blue link to “add to baby registry”

3. Thank You Card Checklist: Since items were exclusively purchased online the Amazon app kept track of who purchased what and had a section for me to check off when I sent a thank you card to that person for the gifts. They also stored the addresses for me to send the cards to which was so helpful.

1. Only Certain Items are Eligible for Completion Discount: When I went to begin purchasing items myself to redeem my completion discount I was disappointed to find that even if an item had been on my registry for all of these months it may not be eligible for the 15% off.

2. It was Important to Choose Prime Items: I found that more non-Prime items went out of stock or changed prices or shipping times a lot more frequently than Prime items. I wanted to keep things easy for people shopping for us and didn’t want anything to be delayed, so I found myself substituting things a little bit more often.

That’s all I have for today. If you have any follow up questions feel free to reach out! To reiterate, I would recommend to new parents having two registries (but no more) to take advantage of retailer perks, ensure that you get the items you want and need, and to give your gifters shopping options.