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8 Tips to Get People to Buy from Your Baby Registry
8 Tips to Get People to Buy from Your Baby Registry

8 Tips to Get People to Buy from Your Baby Registry

From what to say to friends and family to tips and tricks for creating an easy-to-shop registry.

author-Jennifer LaBracio
By Jen LaBracio, CPST and Latifah Miles
Fact Checked by Shannon Vestal Robson
Updated On
Updated On
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In This Article

Spread the Word
Add a Registry Greeting
Make Your Registry Easy to Shop
Stay organized with categories
Use must-haves
Register for Things People Are Excited to Gift You
Add a Wide Range of Prices—and Don’t Forget Group Gifts
Other Hacks and Tricks

Worried that you’ve spent hours building a baby registry that no one will end up shopping? We get it, many parents-to-be have this exact concern. And while the solution sounds simple—just tell people about it!—lots of parents stress about adding the “right” items to their list, what to say to encourage people to stick to their registry and how to say it without coming off as rude or pushy.

Before trying to figure out how to get people to stick to your registry, it’s important to reframe your thought process around gift registries (if you’re feeling uneasy about being strict about what you ask for). Etiquette-wise, they’re very much acceptable—and actually encouraged. And while some friends and family will go off-registry no matter what, most people very much appreciate the gift guidance that a baby registry provides. In fact, in a recent poll of actual Babylist gift-givers, we learned what kinds of gifts they look for when shopping someone’s registry, including sentimental picks, parent-loved faves, baby toys to encourage development and practical products. 

Follow these tips on creating an easy-to-shop baby registry and how to keep gift-givers from going rogue.

Spread the Word

Once you’ve finished building your baby registry, it’s time to spread the word. People can’t shop your registry if they don’t know it even exists! Here’s how to share it—without feeling awkward about it:

👉🏽 Share your personalized QR code—it makes finding your registry super easy. Just click the share button, pick your code color and download. Then add it to your shower invite, a text, email or even a social post.

Babylist QR Code.

👉🏽 Having a baby shower? Include your registry info—and maybe your QR code—on the invitations. A quick one-liner like, “Maddie and Mike are registered at Babylist” will do the trick. (You can also order free registry insert cards to include in your shower invitations if you like.) And if you’re sending virtual invites, you can simply include a link straight to your registry. 

👉🏽 Tell people about your baby registry—especially the important ones. Good ol’ word of mouth for the win. Telling folks you have a baby registry and that you’d love for them to gift from it can be just as effective as including your registry information on your shower invitation. Better yet, have your pregnancy support crew do the heavy lifting—ask close friends and family about it and encourage them to spread the word.

No matter which method you choose, be sure to check your visibility settings—if your registry’s public, guests can find you by name on Babylist.com. If you don’t want to have your registry totally public, you can leave it “Hidden” and require a password for friends and family to access it via your unique registry URL. This registry visibility how-to walks you through what to do.

Add a Registry Greeting

One easy way to personalize your Babylist registry? Add a greeting—a short message for gift-givers that’s the first thing they’ll see when they land on your page. It’s a low-key way to say, “Hey, we’d really love a gift from this list!”

You can take the messaging in any direction you’d like, but try to be as clear (and as kind) as possible so people get the hint. Here are a few examples:

  • “Thanks so much for visiting our registry. We spent a lot of time picking out things we’re excited to use when baby arrives. We’re so grateful for your love and support!”

  • “You found our registry! If you’re looking for gift ideas, you’ll find a few below. These are the things we think will help most as our family grows. Thanks for being part of this exciting time!”

  • “Welcome to our registry! We’re so grateful for your support during this exciting time. If you’re thinking about a gift, we’ve listed a few things we’d love. We can’t wait for you to meet baby!”

👉🏽 To create a registry greeting, click on “Edit details” on the top right of your registry screen and click “Greeting” to write your personalized note.

Greeting Screenshot.

Make Your Registry Easy to Shop

The easier your registry is to browse, the more likely folks are to click “add to cart.” Here are a few tips to make your registry super shoppable:

Stay organized with categories

When building your baby registry, create categories to keep everything organized. Categories group similar items together, making it easier for people to find and shop for the gifts you hope to receive. You can choose from a long list of preset category options (think baby gear, transportation, clothing and accessories, etc.) or create your own, like must-have registry items or nursery staples.

👉🏽 To access categories from your computer, click on “Registry” at the top left of your screen. Scroll down and click the pencil icon next to “Categories.” From there, you can add a category, use the preset options and rearrange the selections. 

👉🏽 If you’re using the Babylist app, simply select “Registry” in the menu at the bottom of the screen and click “Organize Registry” at the top right of the screen. You can then edit, add and rearrange the categories from there. 

You can also mark any category as private (useful if you want to add more personal items to your registry or save things for later but don’t want everyone to see them), remove categories altogether and rearrange entire categories by tapping and holding the category title and slide it up or down.

Use must-haves

In addition to creating categories, you may also want to consider marking some items as “Most Wanted”. This is a great way to give your friends and family a polite heads-up on the priority gifts on your list. 

If someone is shopping your registry but isn’t quite sure what to choose, the most wanted list can nudge them in the right direction and make it easy for them to choose something that they know you’ll love—and that you truly need.

👉🏽 To mark an item as a must-have, click on the pencil icon next to the item and slide the bar titled “Mark as Must Have”. Gift-givers can see it marked as a must-have on your list.

Register for Things People Are Excited to Gift You

When we asked gift givers what makes the perfect present, their answers landed in four feel-good categories:

✨ Keepsakes

🧠 Developmental gifts

❤️ Parent-loved favorites

🛁 Super-practical baby gear

Gift-giver poll graphic.

That means the way you set up (and talk about) your registry can make it easier for loved ones to find a gift that feels just right to them. 

Looking for inspiration? Our guides are a great place to start:

Here are a few ideas that fall into these categories:

Add a Wide Range of Prices—and Don’t Forget Group Gifts

One of the biggest hangups many expecting parents have (and for good reason) is feeling uncomfortable asking others to spend a lot of money on a baby gift. A good way to relieve this anxiety—and increase the chance that someone will purchase from your registry—is to add some pricing variety.

Big ticket items like car seats, strollers and furniture can still have a spot on your registry. But there are lots of other useful items you can add that are much more affordable. And for those more expensive items, try marking them as a Group Gift. This feature allows multiple gift-givers to contribute toward the cost of one Babylist Shop item. Friends and family can spend any amount they’d like, and every contribution is given in the form of a Babylist gift card. There’s even an option to customize the amount of your Group Gift funds to a specific amount (we recommend the regular price of an item + 10% for estimated tax). 

👉🏽 To mark an item as a Group Gift, add it to your registry, click on the “Group Gift” slider bar, then set your goal amount and save your changes.

And whether your friends and family are looking for something under $25, under $50 or less than $100, here are some suggestions that span multiple prices for inspiration:

And don’t forget to add gift cards, help and favors and cash funds to your baby registry, too. These unconventional adds are good options for gift-givers who may prefer to give cash or favors rather than a traditional baby gift but aren’t quite sure how to do it.

Other Hacks and Tricks

We asked real parents how they encouraged their friends, family members and coworkers to buy off of their baby registry. Here’s what they told us.

  • Even if you know the sex of your baby, consider keeping it a secret from everyone else. Lots of parents of multiple kids said they found that once people knew the baby’s sex, they were more likely to go off-registry and purchase whatever they wanted. The second time around, they kept the sex to themselves and found that folks gravitated more toward gifts from their baby registry.

  • Tell the right people. Moms, mothers-in-law and close friends were the key to encouraging folks to shop the registry, according to many parents. Be sure to tell them how hard you worked on choosing your registry picks and how much you’d appreciate any gift off of your list—then let them spread the word.

  • It’s common to be offered hand-me-downs from friends and family (outside of the gifts they’ll buy you). For the items you’re willing to accept secondhand, add them to your registry and mark them as “Open to secondhand” to let people know you’re open to receiving that item as a hand-me-down. If your family or friend has that item on hand, they’d be happy to gift that versus going off the registry and spending money on an alternative.

  • Don’t forget to give it time. Many parents keep a close watch on their baby registry and start to stress if nothing is moving as baby’s arrival date inches closer. Many people wait until closer to baby’s due date to buy a gift, and some even may choose to send something after your little one is born.

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