BabyCenter selects products based on the research of our editors and the wisdom of parents in the BabyCenter Community. All prices and details are accurate at the time of publication. We may earn a commission from shopping links.
Editor’s note: Buy Buy Baby’s parent company, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 23, 2023. All stores will close by June 30, 2023. If you already have a Buy Buy Baby registry, learn more about what the closure means for you. Need help switching your registry? Take a quiz to be matched to the best baby registry for your needs.
Going from having zero baby gear to being fully equipped to take a tiny baby home from the hospital can be quite the leap. Luckily, you have nine months to prepare (mentally, too) and stock up on everything you could possibly need. A Buy Buy Baby registryOpens a new window takes away some of the stress by focusing solely on baby-related stuff, so you won’t get distracted while you’re building your registry. Plus, it tries to make the baby registry process even more attractive by throwing in discounts and coupons. Gotta love that!
The benefits of a Buy Buy Baby registry
Free Shipping Rewards Program: If you (and friends and family) have purchased at least $1,500 worth of gifts by the time your due date arrives, you get unlimited free shipping for your baby’s first year. You can start using it within a week of giving birth, just in case you realize you’re missing something important on baby’s first night home.
Completion discount: A few weeks before your due date, Buy Buy Baby sends you a coupon for 15 percent off everything left on your registry.
Welcome Box: Buy Buy Baby gives you a mix of samples and coupons in their Welcome BoxOpens a new window which you can purchase for $10 and have shipped to your house or pick up in stores, pending availability. Within seven days of your Welcome Box being shipped or purchased in-store, $10 in rewards will be applied to your Buy Buy Baby account. You must, however, have a Buy Buy Baby Registry to receive that perk.
Price match: Show a competitor’s price for an identical item and Buy Buy Baby will match it.
Group gifting: Baby products that are $250 or more will automatically be eligible for the online-only group gifting feature. Your friends and family can choose how much they want to contribute, and this amount is converted into credits in your “My Fund” section. From there, you can decide which product to use those credits on.
How to create a Buy Buy Baby registry
To create your registryOpens a new window, you will need the usual information: your name, address, email, password, and due date. Once you’ve plugged everything in, you can start adding items to your registry. Search around the site if you already know what you want or use the registry checklist to make sure you’ve covered the essentials.
Using your Buy Buy Baby registry
Once we signed up, Buy Buy Baby sent us to our registry’s main page where we could add items and get suggestions. There’s an “analyze your registry” button that breaks down the gifts by price range — from “under $25” to “$200+” — with a recommended number of items that fall into each range. If you completely follow the button’s advice, you’ll end up with close to 250 items on your list, but it’s a helpful starting point if you haven’t started looking at baby gear yet.
Advertisement | page continues below
There’s also a baby checklist that gives you the “essentials” in product categories like nursing, bathing, toys, and more. Below that, there’s a second list with items you’ve already registered for in more categories like car seats, furniture, and clothing. And did we mention there’s a thank you list, too? It’s a lot of lists, which might be helpful if that’s what keeps you organized. If not, it might stress you out more to see all of these suggestions in so many different places.
Even though we aren’t raving about the registry’s design, we appreciate Buy Buy Baby’s selection. It has all the major brands and covers every kind of product you could need. Adding an item is easy, and you can even invite your friends to give you suggestions about what to register for. The seasoned parents you know will tell you what you’ll actually use and what you won’t.
How to return a registry gift
It doesn’t matter if you bought a product online or in person; both can be returned easily within a year of the purchase date. For online orders, look for the return label included in the box. On the original packing invoice form, circle the item you want to return. Choose a reason for the return (represented by a number), include your phone number, and close the box. Attach the label and schedule a FedEx pickup or drop the box off at your local FedEx location.
To return something in person, just bring in your item and the gift receipt to exchange it or get a credit. If you don’t have a receipt, an employee can look up your registry number to find the product. And what if you don’t have a receipt and your gift wasn’t purchased from your registry? You can still return it for 80 percent of the item’s value.
Pros
- Specializes in baby products
- Accepts coupons from sister brands like Bed Bath & Beyond
- Has a 15 percent completion discount
Cons
- The Welcome Box costs $10
- Limited store locations might make taking advantage of perks more difficult
- Certain brands are excluded from 20 percent off coupons
Our review
Buy Buy BabyOpens a new window is the kind of brand you think of when envisioning a traditional baby registry. It’s solely baby focused and has a huge selection of products to get you started with parenthood. The store is big on coupons (and even accepts expired ones!), which we love, and it offers parents benefits like a 15 percent completion discount, free in-store registry consultation, and easy returns.
However, some of Buy Buy Baby’s perks — like in-store only coupons — involve actually stepping foot inside a store. There’s only one problem with that: Buy Buy Baby only has 135 stores around the country. To take full advantage of your registry, you need to be near one of those locations.
If you can get to a store, you can unload all those in-store only coupons from your mailbox, but be sure to read the fine print, since Buy Buy Baby limits which brands qualify for coupons. For example, the popular brand Uppababy is on the exclusion list. If you’re hoping to use your 20 percent off coupon to save on the big ticket items, do your research to make sure your desired stroller, car seat, or crib is eligible.
Buy Buy Baby’s shipping process also fall a little short compared to other registries. You qualify for free shipping on orders over $39. When you think about Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping, Buy Buy Baby’s $39 order total seems steep.
We don’t suggest using Buy Buy Baby as your only registry, but it could be good to use in combination with another one. There are some good benefits — like the completion discount, coupons, and free shipping rewards — but they aren’t better than some of your other registry options (like Amazon).
What Buy Buy BabyOpens a new window does have is a pretty good selection of brands and competitive prices, which is why it would be great as your secondary registry.
This article originally appeared on What to Expect.