Baby Stuff: Where to Shop

Some of this information is pretty obvious, I'm sure... but there are some special considerations to think about when buying baby items - either for yourself or as a gift.

Amazon.com - for almost everything. First, you won't be leaving the house much in the first few months, so wouldn't it be lovely if a kindly UPS delivery person dropped essential baby items on your doorstep? Join Amazon Mom to get additional deals and discounts. It's free to join and you get free Prime membership (free 2-day shipping) for a year - that's $70 right there. You'll then get an automatic 15% discount on things like diapers and wipes. With the Subscribe+Save feature, you can get an additional 15% off these items in addition to the Mom discount, for a total of 30% off. Subscribe+Save has no obligation - you can cancel/suspend any time or make changes to your delivery schedule as needed. Subscribe+Save works on tons of items throughout Amazon (totally separate from Amazon Mom) including soaps and shampoos, vitamins, cleaning products and other stuff.

I also used Amazon.com for our baby registry. It was very user-friendly and included great features like a 10% completion bonus on most unpurchased items in the month before and after baby's birth. It also generated a lovely thank-you list that made writing up thank-you cards very easy. Returns/exchanges were fairly convenient too. Most items can be returned/exchanged within 1 year of purchase.

Target - in store and online. They have pretty decent baby department (even compared to superstores like Babies R Us), plus one of the easiest return policies around - 90 days and you don't even need a receipt - if you have the card used for the purchase, they can look it up with that. Online, their selection is even more vast. I found a huge array of nursing tank tops and bras online, at great prices. Free shipping on orders over $50, although you will pay sales tax.

Zappos.com for baby clothing, shoes and diaper bags. They also have a small selection of maternity clothes. Can't beat their free shipping both ways, making returns very easy. They also have video reviews which are very helpful for "test driving" items such as diaper bags. Their prices were very close to Amazon's and they also frequently upgrade your shipping to 2nd-day UPS. I bought 2 diaper bags here, after shopping with them for shoes in the past.

Carseats (Infant in specific)

So I am working my way through research for the first major baby-related purchase, the carseat. This goes along with my car transition (from G35 6MT to RAV-4), but I'm not going to call that a baby purchase for now, since cars are not technically baby accessories.

I started out at BabiesRUs online and cross-checked the top-rated model there against Amazon. On both sites, it was rated 4+ stars (5/5 stars on BRU.com). Then I read up on the chapter on carseats in Baby Bargains... almost all 67 glorious pages. I skimmed the bits rating models and brands I wasn't considering. Happily, the model I selected is their top pick as well.

So now, to make the purchase... of my Graco SnugRide 35 in Brunswick brown and green argyle or the Graco SnugRide 32 in Zurich brown and green. It's funny how one has the tan base/frame and the other has gray.

BRU.com has the same model in a stylish black and white houndstooth pattern for $10 more that includes a free Carter's mini diaper bag. I'm going with the Brunswick pattern since I think the brown is slightly lighter colored and thus not as sunlight-absorbing as the black. Were I more fashion conscious, I'd go for the black though.