I understand that everyone has their own opinions on the whole registry thing, but in my circle of family and friends, a registry is expected and almost demanded! It isn't frowned upon and is the norm for an engaged couple in these parts. I have already had numerous requests from people to have the right to an early sneak peak or to have "first dibs" on choosing our gifts!
Mr. Ball Cap and I decided on Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's, and MyRegistry.com. MyRegistry allows you to add items from any website on the Internet onto one universal gift registry. It is free to set up and it also allows you to sync other existing registries you may have out there (from Macy's for example) all to one page. This site fit our needs well. As Mr. Ball Cap and I are well into our 30's, we have accumulated quite a bit of household things during our life. While we do need to replace quite a bit, there are other items that would be more practical for us. We'd love to be able to register at Lowe's or Menard's, but sadly, they do not offer registries. By using MyRegistry, we can add any item from these stores (or any other online store) to our registry and our guests can go to one site to see it all.
There are other websites out there that claim to offer the same service. We attempted to use Gift Registry 360 by the knot but had difficulties. We added the button shortcut to our favorites as directed, but each time we tried adding a gift, all we would get was a request to log in to the main site. I finally did a troubleshoot search and discovered other brides were having similar issues and frustrations and recommended MyRegistry instead. So far it has worked like a charm.
I do foresee one major downside to using this more modern registry method and that is it increases the chance of receiving duplicate items. If a guest chooses to purchase our carpet cleaner off of Amazon.com, they have to manually click the box on our MyRegistry page to indicate they purchased the item. If they don't go back and do this, it will still show up as a needed item. There is no automatic updating like a Target or Bed Bath and Beyond registry. I understand many of our guests may not like this type of registry but I think we are providing enough options to appease everyone from Aunts to friends.
If I had to go back and re-live the registering experience again, I would do a few things differently:
1. Just say no! I would have told our Bed Bath and Beyond service rep that we did not want so much hand holding or demonstrations on table linens, cookware, knives, small electronics, etc. We got sucked in early and didn't know how to get out of it! While some of the info was helpful, it ended up taking the fun out of it and burned us out after 2 long hours. And the fact that our rep had some serious halitosis going on didn't help.
2. Do a better job at pre-planning. Mr. Ball Cap and I really should have decided on our bedroom color scheme ahead of time. We weren't sure if we were sticking with what we had or if we should change it up. We wasted some time on that and wandered aimlessly around the bedding section with no clue what to do. Turns out - we are sticking with what we have! I can finally add sheets to our registry.
3. Register for some things on my own. Mr. Ball Cap has little to no interest in bake ware and miscellaneous kitchen gadgets (pineapple corer!). Instead of dragging him around the store for those kinds of items, I should have gone back on my own. While he isn't a Debbie Downer, he does have a limited attention span when it comes to these types of things. I, on the other hand, could look around for hours!
We are still fine-tuning the registries now that we have been to both stores and need to add several more items to MyRegistry. Do you want to see some of our favorite items so far?!
Miss Sunhat's picks:
Image via Macys.com
I am currently obsessed with owls and these salt and pepper shakers are adorable!
Image via Milo.com
Mr. Ball Cap saw this buffet server in the back corner at Macy's and knew I'd want it. I am a crock pot fanatic and having a buffet server with three pots was something I just had to have! We host Thanksgiving every year so this will get plenty of use.
Image via Williams-Sonoma.com
I have always longed to own a piece of Le Creuset cookware. The colors and quality are fantastic. I can imagine making a pot roast or whole chicken in this dutch oven. My mouth is watering thinking about it!
Mr. Ball Cap's picks:
Image via BedBathandBeyond.com
Mr. BC's eye's lit up when he saw this. We've only heard good things about the Presto Pizzazz Pizza Cooker so we are excited to try it out.
Image via BedBathandBeyond.com
This retro air popcorn machine is super cute. The online reviews are not good but we'll give it a shot. Wish we had more room for an old-fashioned popcorn cart!
Image via Williams-Sonoma.com
Mr. BC is a jalapeno lover. We attempt to grow them every year using upside down hanging planters. Lately he's been making his own poppers so this jalapeno roaster will come in handy. Just core and stuff the peppers, pop them into the roaster and set it on the grill!
I have no shame in that our favorite items are all kitchen or food related. That's who we are!!
Although the initial process wasn't as fun or exciting as I had hoped, I am having a great time reviewing our lists and adding more items online. I've promised MOB I won't stalk our registries once they are completed and the shower invites go out. That will be a tough one!
Did you have any frustrations while you registered? Any other good tips to know?
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