Has anyone every done a birthday registry?

[tig_536]

Just wondering is anyone has ever done a registry for a child's birthday. And if you did How did you let the guests know? The reason I ask is because someone asked if I was going to register somewhere. At first I thought no, but then I checked into it and you can at Target and at Pottery Barn Kids.
Just wondering

Jenny

 

[Msslaydbug]

I personally would never do a birthday registry - that seems a bit tacky to me !

 

[QJ411]

A GF of mine did for her DD's first bday and I thought it was sort of odd. THEN, when my DD's 2nd bday came around, everyone started calling me for suggestions and asking me what does DD REALLY like? So I turned around and did the same thing. I didn't include it in the invites, I thought that was too much. But in the invite I did put our website that DH created just for DD's bday party info. On the site, there was info on the party, directions, photos of DD, and then I put a little note saying:: Thank you to everyone asking what special gifts they should get for DD, to make things easier, I've created a "Wishlist" at so and so site. You don't have to buy from the list, but you can use it for gift ideas. Thanks again for wanting to make DD's bday extra special!" Or something to that effect.
I went to Oompa.com and I made a wishlist for everything that I think DD would enjoy. Like puzzles, puppets, books, etc. Since there were SO many toy recalls recently I was very picky on which toys she could play with.

We only invited family & very close friends only so I wasn't worried about anyone taking offense b/c they'd tell me straight out. Had I invited play date pals or class mates, I wouldn't have given them the wishlist link. Everyone used the wishlist and afterwards, so many people pulled me aside and said thank you for creating that wishlist, it took the guess work out for me!

HTH, good luck w/ the planning!

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

We did one for my dd7 and dd4's bday w/ family members we did register alot of stuff but dd had fun and she got most all of what she wanted plus a couple of gift cards. We did the registry at TRU but we also made a wishlist at target.

 

[dumboiu]

I personally would never do a birthday registry - that seems a bit tacky to me !

 

[gonemousin']

My DD's never done an actual gift registry, but we have done "wish lists" on Amazon and American Girl at the request of relatives and friends who don't live near us and prefer to order online and ship the gifts to us. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with a full blown registry, and I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable announcing the registry in a birthday invitation, but making a wish list on Amazon was a good alternative. I only distributed the "Amazon" list to the friends and family that specifically requested it.

 

[KelNottAt]

I think it's tacky. Very tacky.

 

[meandtheguys2]

Ew. Not cool. Some of the best stuff we've every received is stuff we never would have thought of asking for. It doesn't kill anyone to think for themselves.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

I personally would never do a birthday registry - that seems a bit tacky to me !

I think that really depends on your family's dynamics. I do actually keep an active up to date "wish" list for both of my kids on Amazon.com to be used for the holidays, birthdays, anything else people feel the need to purchase a gift for my children. Why do I do it? Because I live in MA and I have siblings and parents that live anywhere from an hour away to Florida and other states where they do not travel for every occasion. Its done for convenience purposes. Grandma can (and has) on occasion for no reason other than she wanted to, ordered something to surprise the kids and this allowed her to have the element of surprise.

 

[ceecee]

I personally would never do a birthday registry - that seems a bit tacky to me !

I agree!

 

[taitai]

Yeah, I agree with the posters who say it is tacky. I would not do it.

However, full disclosure, we always put "no presents, please" on all of our children's birthday invitations.

taitai

 

[TaraPA]

I think it's tacky. Very tacky.

Ditto. To me it implies that you are expecting a gift & you don't trust anyone to have good judgement when choosing one. It's much more personal to have the child's parent call & ask what your child would like, and to give them suggestions. Now of course everyone WILL bring a gift and WILL ask what your child wants, but that just seems more reasonable than implying that they are entitled to a gift from the registry.

Just my opinon.

 

[Kellydelly]

Very tacky!

 

[Todd&Copper]

My first impulse was to say that it is tacky, but then I thought back to the hideous gifts I received from [I assume] well-meaning gramma and aunt & uncle, and after reconsideration it may have saved me the hurt/anger of getting a carnival-quality teddy bear on my 13th birthday (I did not collect bears and was too old to play with it, and it wasn't even a half-way decent one) or the inflatible 2' tall dinosaurs Gramma gave me for my 18th (they were not a joke; she was completely serious; she spent somewhere between $30 and $35 to buy them off of QVC or HSC; she bought them b/c I liked dinosaurs - I was considering studing paleontology in school, not regressing to a pre-K state). A gift registry might also have helped my aunt and uncle learn that my birthday was the 24th, not the 23rd, which made their gift of a "what happened on your birthday" book worthless.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

My first impulse was to say that it is tacky, but then I thought back to the hideous gifts I received from [I assume] well-meaning gramma and aunt & uncle, and after reconsideration it may have saved me the hurt/anger of getting a carnival-quality teddy bear on my 13th birthday (I did not collect bears and was too old to play with it, and it wasn't even a half-way decent one) or the inflatible 2' tall dinosaurs Gramma gave me for my 18th (they were not a joke; she was completely serious; she spent somewhere between $30 and $35 to buy them off of QVC or HSC; she bought them b/c I liked dinosaurs - I was considering studing paleontology in school, not regressing to a pre-K state). A gift registry might also have helped my aunt and uncle learn that my birthday was the 24th, not the 23rd, which made their gift of a "what happened on your birthday" book worthless.

That's hilarious!

 

[LisaNJ25]

I personally would never do a birthday registry - that seems a bit tacky to me !

I agree.. I also wouldn't buy from the registry if there was one.

 

[DVCJEN]

It's in poor taste. I would not buy from a birthday registry just because the idea was so tacky and I would not want the person registering to think I supported the idea.

 

[mjantz]

I think that really depends on your family's dynamics. I do actually keep an active up to date "wish" list for both of my kids on Amazon.com to be used for the holidays, birthdays, anything else people feel the need to purchase a gift for my children. Why do I do it? Because I live in MA and I have siblings and parents that live anywhere from an hour away to Florida and other states where they do not travel for every occasion. Its done for convenience purposes. Grandma can (and has) on occasion for no reason other than she wanted to, ordered something to surprise the kids and this allowed her to have the element of surprise.

Agreed. I keep a combined wishlist for both kids on Amazon. I do it more so that anyone looking at their birthday or Christmas lists can see a picture of what they want. If you know nothing about Hannah Montana & your granddaughter, who lives in another state, has asked for a Hannah Montana doll, having a picture can help a lot.
And, BTW, both sides ask for birthday & Christmas lists.

I would never send it out to school friends for their birthdays but for family its invaluable IMO.

 

[belle&sebastiansmom]

It's in poor taste. I would not buy from a birthday registry just because the idea was so tacky and I would not want the person registering to think I supported the idea.

Ditto!!

 

[momto2inKC]

I'll join those who think it's tacky! I would never do a registry for a birthday, nor would I buy a gift for someone else off of a registry. It implies that you are *expecting gifts and that's just tacky!