RegistryUpdated 2026-09-03
When to Make a Baby Registry, and How to Share It
The registry has a season. Start it too early and you'll rebuild it after the scan; start it too late and the crib arrives after the baby. Share it wrong and it reads as a bill.
Here's the timeline most families end up following, and the handful of rules that keep the sharing graceful.
The timeline
| When | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| After the 20-week scan | Build the registry in one or two sittings | You know enough, and you still have the energy. |
| By the end of the second trimester | Finish it; order or register for the long-lead items | Cribs and gliders take weeks. Third-trimester you has other jobs. |
| Six to eight weeks before the shower | Give the host the link for the invitations | People shop early, and shipping needs time. |
| The shower, usually the third trimester | Let the host run it; keep a list of who gave what | You'll want it for the notes and the returns. |
| After the due date | Use the completion discount on what's left | Diapers, wipes, the second set of everything. |
| Within a few weeks of the birth | Thank-you notes | Short and specific. 'The sound machine is on every night.' |
How to share it
- Put the link on the shower invitation, or let the host share it. That's the traditional route, and it works because someone other than you is doing the asking.
- Add it to your registry page's own share options and to a pregnancy announcement only if that's the norm in your circle. In many families it reads as a request; in others it's expected. You know yours.
- When someone asks 'what do you need?', send the link and say what you'd most love: 'the diapers and the meal cards would honestly be the biggest help.' It gives permission to buy the boring things.
- Don't post it broadly on social media. If people want it, they'll ask, and the ones who ask are the ones who'd like to buy something.
- If there's no shower, share it when people ask, and let one close person know it exists so they can pass it on.
The etiquette that people get wrong
- Register at a range of prices. A list that starts at three hundred dollars tells your coworkers not to bother.
- Don't register for things you'll return for cash. Register for things you want; use the completion discount for the rest.
- Keep the list current. Take things off when you've received them elsewhere, or you'll get two.
- Say thank you for cash contributions exactly as you would for a gift. Name what it went toward.
- For a second baby, it's fine to have a small registry. Diapers, the things that wore out, the things you skipped last time. Say 'sprinkle' if that's easier than 'shower.'
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