First registry experience

bburkel

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond last night to start our first registry.   It was overall a good experience and the woman who helped us was great, but I had no idea how long it was going to take, and we only got through about half of the store.  The consultant told us to register for 2 items per guest.  So, in our case, that's 600 + items!  We got about 125 items last night, so I guess it's a good start, but we definitely have a lot more work to do.

SSaltzman87

I'd say that the 2 items per guest rule applies if you've NEVER lived together, or in the very least on your own. Like my 2 very best friends that are engaged and will be moving in together in a month and have never lived on their own, I could see them having very large registries for that reason. Don't feel that yours has to be ginormous just because the BBB lady said so. 600+ items is absolutely insane to me even if you're just starting out.

FI and I have lived together for almost 3 years, we'll have around 120 guests so registry gods say we should have 240 items. Between our Macy's & Crate and Barrel registries we only have 120 items, including multiple sets of flatware.

melb2013

Wow I think 2 per guest is overkill.  Register for what you want and need.  It always annoys me when I see registries with a huge amount of items that I know the couple didn't want- they felt like they needed a larger registry.  If people run out of registry items, they'll give you money and you can use it for whatever you want.

PJBHL5

yeah, that's a LOT of registry items. I'd actually say 1 per 2 guests is more accurate. Only a small %age of guests even shop off a registry anyways.

Annas2013

I agree with pps that 2 items per guest is excessive.  Heck, neither my FI nor myself have ever lived on our own (not including college), and we aren't going to register for that much stuff.  How long did it take you to register?  

bburkel

It took us about an hour and a half to get through the kitchen section.  We pretty much gave up at that point and decided we'd come back and do the rest later.  We bought a house last year, but have been holding off on getting a lot of the non-essentials so we'd have items for our registries.  We both have huge families, and it's pretty standard for both sides to throw pretty big showers, so it'll be good to have a large selection for people. 

We are also going to be doing Menards (I do a lot of woodworking projects) and Target, but I think the Target one will probably be pretty small.