Episode 11 - 5 Common Baby Registry Strategies: Which Should You Use?
Presented by Pabbot and THE BABY GEAR GAME PLAN
Shownotes
In this episode of Baby Registry Breakdown, titled "5 Common Baby Registry Strategies," hosts Paris and Kevin delve into various approaches to creating a baby registry. They share personal experiences, discuss the pros and cons of each strategy, and offer practical advice for expecting parents.
Key Points Discussed:
Minimalist Strategy:
Focuses on registering only the essentials.
Helps avoid clutter and unnecessary items.
Important to define what "essentials" mean for your specific lifestyle and needs.
Performance Strategy:
Prioritizes products that perform exceptionally well.
Emphasis on quality and functionality.
Often involves more research to find the best products in each category.
Shopper Strategy:
Driven by personal preferences and aesthetics.
Can lead to a registry filled with items you like but may not necessarily need.
Risk of disappointment if the chosen items do not perform as expected.
Doomsday Prepper Strategy:
Involves registering for a wide range of items to be fully prepared for any situation.
Can lead to over-preparation and storage issues.
More appropriate for those who may have limited access to stores or delivery services post-birth.
Algorithm Strategy:
Relies on recommendations from baby registry platforms like Babylist.
Quick and easy but may not always provide the best options.
Often includes mid-range, popular items which may not be the latest or most suitable products.
Additional Insights:
Paris and Kevin highlight the importance of understanding the overlap between certain baby items, such as bouncers and swings, to avoid redundancy.
They discuss the challenges of storing baby items, emphasizing the need for clean, climate-controlled spaces.
The hosts caution against relying solely on algorithm recommendations, as these can be influenced by paid promotions and may not always be up-to-date.
They suggest a combined approach, starting with essential items and then refining the registry based on performance and personal preferences.
Practical Tips:
Editing and Organizing:
Keep a private list for items you are undecided about.
Periodically review and edit your registry to ensure it meets your needs and preferences.
Research and Decision-Making:
Take the time to research each product category thoroughly.
Don't hesitate to replace items based on new information or changing needs.
Conclusion:
Paris and Kevin recommend a balanced approach to creating a baby registry, combining elements of the minimalist and performance strategies while being mindful of personal preferences and practical needs. They stress the importance of continuous learning and editing to create a registry that truly meets the needs of both parents and baby.
For more in-depth discussions and personalized advice, consider reaching out to a registry consultant who can provide expert guidance and help create a tailored baby registry.
Tune in next week for more insights and tips from Paris and Kevin!
Need help with your baby registry? Schedule a 30 Minute Baby Registry Consultation.
Highlights
[00:01:00] - "Certainly. In a basement. Strollers, car seats, high chairs, but not that you would really be storing..."
[00:23:00] - "Let's talk about another strategy and that is the algorithm strategy. I think this is one of the most common now..."
[00:24:00] - "It's stressful. And then it's just screw it. Give me the house order and you just end up sending that out..."
[00:27:00] - "So the algorithm is the complete opposite of that. The algorithm is telling you. You get this and it's up to you to switch it out, right?"
[00:29:00] - "We also know each category inside and out, it would be a waste of time for us to try to use the algorithm."
[00:32:00] - "Get your rough draft down. And then edit, worry about getting it right the first time over. Just worry about getting the stuff on it."
[00:34:00] - "If I've got something on there. And then I stumble across something. That's the same thing, but I think I might like this a little bit better..."
[00:37:00] - "I think our recommendation would be based on your situation to go with a combination of either minimalist to performance..."
[00:38:00] - "What I would do is I would go through, I would put everything on there that I think that needs to be on there..."
[00:39:00] - "I think that's an okay approach. But if it was me, I would just call us up and have it done way better than what the computer algorithm..."
Transcript
Paris: [00:00:00] I'm not going to lie. This is not one of my favorite strategies at all.
Kevin: You're not going out to the nightclub, right? It's kinda nice to get out of the house, even if it's to go to the local grocery store.
I think adding the design process to the baby registry consultancy process is really
Paris: put it on the other list, the private list. Yeah. And then you would just let it steep for a little bit
Kevin: the doomsday prepper approach, like where it's I'm going to
The thing with baby items is you want to store them in a nice clean space.
Welcome to baby registry breakdown. Today we're talking about five strategies for approaching a baby registry. That's five baby registry strategies that you can possibly use when you start making your baby registry. Today, I'm joined by Paris Scott, baby registry consultant, owner of Pabbot
and I am Kevin Scott, also a baby registry consultant. Paris. What is the strategy that you like when it comes to starting a baby registry? Just your overall [00:01:00] approach.
Paris: One of my very favorite strategies. We will call minimalist the minimalist strategy. It's one of my favorites because it just, It gets down to the basics of what you need.
It's only what you need. I'll only the things that are necessary.
Kevin: What some would call essentials, right?
Paris: Yes. Yes, the essentials. Yeah.
Kevin: The essentials just aren't the same for everybody. We talked about this a little bit last episode, so when you're doing a minimalist registry where are you starting to get the sense of what you need at minimum?
Paris: You can look at your lifestyle. A daily basis. You can also look at.
Kevin: I know when I'm looking at creating a very minimalist registry. One of the first things I'm looking at is what are those big decisions you're making around childcare? And that really has to do with, whether or not you're breastfeeding and maybe what your strategies are going to be around, sleep in the early months and also childcare outside of the home.
Those are three big things because I think those are really going to affect what's essential to [00:02:00] you. Obviously, like you said too lifestyle, and that really is more looking at like how mobile you are, because if you're someone who's staying at home all the time, that's a big difference from someone who's out and about all the time.
Paris: And the kind of mobile.
If you are going to the restaurants and out shopping or, out. Out and about that to you? No more. Urban. In urban areas or if you're, backpacking or camping or, doing things more out in nature. Those are two different kinds of,
Kevin: yeah.
And sometimes there's just bigger circumstances too. They just override everything.
Paris: Yeah.
Kevin: That would be something like, when you're expecting multiples or, maybe your, maybe you have a disability that you need to consider. A lot of those factors can pretty much override what some of the other things would be in terms of the gear you need and what would be essential for you. Absolutely.
Climate can be another major thing in determining what's essential.
Paris: Yep. Yeah. And the essentials is, once you identify what those things are or what. Your needs are then, what is essential?
Kevin: Yeah.
Paris: You can just weed out the rest of it.
Kevin: The fact that essentials aren't the same for everybody is really what makes it makes a lot of those Pinterest, [00:03:00] those blog checklists problematic because. It can really be far off from where you are, depending on your circumstances, and your approach. And that's one of the reasons I think that we take such a technical approach. When it comes to deciding what the essentials are and prioritizing those items on a registry. But.
You do need to dig a little bit deeper to see actually, truly what is essential for you, but it can give you just a rough idea as a starting point.
Paris: Another thing, when it comes to, a minimalist registry. Yeah. When it comes to the essentials, when you find out what those are, when baby arrives, you might find that something that you didn't think was essential. It turns out that it might actually be for you,
Kevin: right?
Paris: There's an, there's a margin of error there, but you won't have wasted your time or money on products that you won't use.
Kevin: Yeah. I think it's okay if you just have to quick, online order, some things that are going to help you out with your process. I think it's a lot more difficult when you're having to [00:04:00] head back to the store or having to head back to or having a lot of big boxes picked up at your house and make like major exchanges on like the core items.
Paris: Yeah.
Kevin: I think that's a big difference.
Paris: Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin: But the minimalist. So the minimalist isn't really necessarily what our main approach would be to a baby registry. It is how you approached our twin registry for the most part.
Paris: Yeah.
With the combination of the next category.
Kevin: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, which is performance. Performance is a second category and this is the one that we probably lean to the most when we're consulting, although it may, depending on your circumstances, it may involve a mix of other these other categories and that it really just depends on, like I said, your circumstances and your goals for your registry and your baby gear.
Paris: Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin: Definitely not one size fits all.
Schedule a 30 Minute Baby Registry Consultation.
Paris: And performance that it's.
PR performance. Optimizes the if you can you combine different aspects of registry.
Kevin: Yeah. You want to do another take on that one?
Paris: Yeah. On a baby registry. The performance strategy really optimizes the gear on a registry. So that's combining different items that serve a similar purpose, you combine them into [00:05:00] one or you look for things that would be a combination of those things.
Kevin: Okay.
So you're looking for items that maybe serve multiple purposes. Yes
Paris: exactly, serve multiple purposes.
Kevin: see when I, when I think of performance overall, though. I'm thinking
Does it work well for me? That's the main question you're trying to answer. Does it work well for me?
For instance, if you're out on the trail a lot. It would be that jogging stroller. That's just like maneuverable and can take different terrain.
It would be something like that. Versus.
Yeah. Versus like maybe a luxury option or a budget option, if those are your priorities in terms of a strategy, performance is not as much about price, not as much about status.
Paris: Yeah. And also does it line up with my future goals? Like maybe you want to have multiple kids, maybe you intend to have a large family or at least one more after the first. Does this stroller work long-term? Is it an option [00:06:00] that will grow with you?
Kevin: Yeah. The reason that we have performance so often as like the centerpiece of a lot of our strategies, even though it might combine luxury, even though it may combine budget, even though it may combine minimalism. When it actually comes down to it. In day-to-day life with your baby. You end up wanting performance.
So it's like you have to start with performance to be happy in the long run but also maybe achieve some other goals that you want to,
that you want to create with your baby gear planning.
Paris: Yeah.
Kevin: Ultimately, if you get something that's budget and it doesn't perform. That's going to be something, you're not happy with.
Paris: Yeah.
Kevin: We look at so many baby products on a daily basis, so many new things coming up that we're reviewing. Performance, I think is always one of the main things that we're looking at. Absolutely. Yeah. It's performance and value are right there but value may not necessarily be a goal.
You may, it may just [00:07:00] be like, I can do whatever I want here. I just want the best for my baby. And then you're really looking at, maybe some other metrics beyond performance.
So performance is optimizing around care. Yep.
What are some products that you really are looking at closely when it comes to performance? There's just a big difference in how well the product's going to do.
Paris: I would say one of them is bottles, but as we know, you don't get to necessarily choose that. Unfortunately. But there are some bottles that are leaps and bounds above the rest.
And it's clear. Sure. But you don't necessarily get to choose that. Aside from bottles, another one we'd look for performance wise is strollers. Yeah. Strollers. We really look into strollers. There's all different kinds, everything under the sun, every price point, but not, they're not all right for everyone and they all do different things. It just matters what's important for you.
And that goes for both strollers and wagons and [00:08:00] you know everything in between there.
Kevin: I think performance is where your lifestyle really comes in because especially when you think about travel systems, one of the biggest questions is what type of car seat do you go for a rear facing only infant car seat.
Do you go for an all in one car seat? If you're going for an all-in-one, then you're giving up some things that you would get with the carrier in the infant car seat. If you go with an infant car seat. Obviously,
This podcast episode is for entertainment purposes only and is not medical, financial or legal advice.
