baby gifts for myself-what should I do??

amother

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 4:30 pm

I live OOT and am be'ezrat Hasham due to give birth to twins in the next six weeks or so.
I ahve no family coming to help me,but fortunately a wonderful community of friends.
I will register online for gifts,but what I need most are cash gifts to help us pay for night nannies,cleaning help and postpartum doulas.
Is there a tactful way or website where people can contribute to a specific 'fund'? adn then we can ahve access ot the $$ to use at our discretion?
Anyone know of such a thing?
Please share if you do-thanks.

louche

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 5:32 pm

Asking for cash in lieu of gifts, or even mentioning gifts at all, is considered rude, tacky, and very, very declasse. We've all been there, needing cash much more than exquisite and exquisitely expensive baby outfits that will be outgrown before they're ever worn. But that's how it goes. You can try returning gifts to the store for a cash refund or store credit.

The only acceptable way is if ppl ask your mother or mil what they can get you for the baby, THEY can say "the best gift is cash."

ShakleeMom

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 7:54 pm

buy second hand online! Have all your equipment ordered, cleaned, and lined up and ready. The total will cost you about $500 if you shop smartly (I can help you).

Are these your first children? If yes, it will cost you more because you need to accumulate lots of stuff such as undershirts, which would normally be passed down.

You really don't know what people will buy you. And if they do, you can probably exchange. If you can't, bite your lip.

wtvr ↓

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 8:00 pm

There is a website myregistry.com that allows you to consolidate all your registries from all stores. Ie- you want stoller from Baby's R Us, but crib from Target. You also have an option to put a "cash gift fund" named whatever you want, and it works through paypal. ( There may be a small transfer fee.)

While I think it's tactless to ask for cash, perhaps if you name it something cute, and write up something, and have items in addition, than maybe you can get away with. Tell pple who ask you that you're registered with myregistry.com, and then they have the option to either buy a gift or contribute to the "nightnurse fund".

Good Luck and B'shaa Tova!

Mirabelle

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 8:05 pm

louche wrote:

I agree 100% and am in a similar situation. Also my parents moved to a new community recently and have made a lot of new friends, so a lot of those people have been asking them what I need. As louche said, you can have you MIL and mother spread the word that you really need money or gift cards. I think gift cards are more classy than cash and you can spend Target gift cards on whatever you want, even diapers and wipes!

hinda

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 8:51 pm

I heard very mixed reviews about my registry.com even though it ranks well witht he better business bureau and seems like it would be convenient,at least in theory.
Does anyone have real experience with using that site? A friend who used it to buy stuff for a baby shower for a friend seemed to say it was hard to use,so id love some first hand experience.
Any thoughts?
So cash is only for those who can be told by others or insist from us we tell them what we really need-got it!

↑ wtvr

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 9:39 pm

I've never used it, so I don't know. I just heard about it, and when I browsed, I saw that they have this "cash option".

Is someone making you a shower that you are aware of?

shabri

Mon, Sep 14 2009, 7:35 am

Are there ant places that you can register and then return stuff for cash? I know bed bath & beyond does that for wedding registry. This way, you can register, they can buy a gift and you (or DH) can return the gift and get cash.