Thank you to Gugu Guru for sponsoring the post. All the opinions, criticisms and observations are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this site possible.
Gugu Guru baby registry
I’ve been the glassy-eyed pregnant women in BabiesRUs overwhelmed at the idea of registering for an amazing little person I hadn’t even met yet. Should I get bottles? How many? Crib or bassinet? Do I need both? I like that giraffe towel but wait I like the owl swaddlers. They aren’t from the same animal theme. Dammit.
I just wanted someone to stroke my hair, sing soft kitty and feed me donuts while telling me it’s going to be okay.
If only there was a place that made it easy to figure out what you need, want and love when preparing for a baby. (I think you see where I’m going with this, don’t you?)
It’s an innovative baby registry “discovery” website that helps you build a baby registry based on your lifestyle and personal style.
Highly personalized recommendations
I decided to take their quiz to see what my personal style was. I figured it would be tricky to hone in on what I like considering that my taste runs the gamut. Yeah, no. It turns out I have very specific taste and my opinions on their style boards ranged from “love it” to “hell no” with many little variances in between.
Are you an athletic hippy mom that lives in a hot climate with a small car and a tight budget? Or are you a four season couch potato that lives in the suburbs with urban taste and tons of cash? (That last example was me…minus the cash.) Even though you may have the same due dates, your baby registries will probably be wildly different.
All you do is click on the images and decide if something is “Not My Style”, “Somewhat My Style” or “More My Style”. Then you move onto lifestyle choices. “Carrier?”, “Sling”, “Options for Both?”
Stumped on what the best choice is?
If you are like I was and you have no damn idea what the difference would be, they even have a “help me choose” button that lists the pros and cons of each choice. For instance, I never thought about the pros and cons of a swing vs a bouncer.
Could I trip it up?
I know my baby stuff so I kept changing my answers to see if the site would recommend crap. I was surprised to find that not only did it recommend good products but all the latest and greatest good products – it even had recommendations from Etsy stores. It both impressed me and gave me the night sweats when I considered all the back end programming work to keep that so current. I tip my hat to their researchers and web weasels. I’ve even tried selecting “twins” to see if that would throw them for a loop. Nope, they got Natalie from Twiniversity to make those recommendations. Touché.
In the original version, you had to create a registry halfway through the quiz (those web weasels need to feed their families too), but with the recent release of their EXPLORE feature, anyone can search, sample the goods, and easily see what new products are available.
Easy Peasy
Once you’ve built you registry, you can have a Gugu Guru team member review before publishing or just go ahead and publish it to share with your friends and family so they can start shopping. Each product even has “Must Have” or “Nice to Have” option to help your friends and family decide what to purchase first. (Fear not, I’m sure Auntie Deb will still go rogue and insist that a heartfelt random gift of her liking is more appropriate. So start practicing your “how thoughtful” game face when she gives your baby a bedazzled cat sweater from PetSmart.)
Plus, you can even add a product from any website to your registry using their “Add a Product” tool.
Give it a shot
So, if you’d like to skip aimlessly wandering around a big box store with a scanner or scrolling through a gazillion Amazon pages, you should pop over and see what Gugu Guru recommends. If you are still shutting down at the overwhelmingness of it all, they even have a concierge service that will hand pick every item for you. (I’m not sure if they’ll stroke your hair and sing Soft Kitty, though.)
Hey Kim, thanks for the heads up. Gugu Guru was having technical difficulty last night (it’s the worst nightmare of anyone who runs a website) but they are fixing it. Sorry for the mess up!
I checked it out post-baby and ended up creating a new baby registry (told myself “it’s for when I have the second one”). Brilliant and what a great interface!
I’ve been trying to compute the test results but the “recommendations” calculation has been stuck on 98% for over 30mins. Nice idea but isn’t working.
Hey Kim, thanks for the heads up. Gugu Guru was having technical difficulty last night (it’s the worst nightmare of anyone who runs a website) but they are fixing it. Sorry for the mess up!
I wish I had used it for my first pregnancy but Inwill definetly use it for my next. I love how it curates your registry based on your specific needs!
Thank you! We can’t wait to hear what you think!
What an awesome site! Love how customized the site is and how they curate the best stuff, especially from small businesses.
Really appreciate this comment – thank you!
Gugu Guru is so awesome!
So are you, Lauren! Thank you! 🙂
I checked it out post-baby and ended up creating a new baby registry (told myself “it’s for when I have the second one”). Brilliant and what a great interface!
Thanks so much, Eleni! You have no idea how much that means to me! 🙂
What a great idea! This seems way more fun than just using a store registry.
Thank you, Anna. We tried to make it fun – I hope you’ll give it a try!
Love this idea!
Thank you, Susanne!!
I adore Gugu Guru! It makes my life so much easier!
Awww so glad to hear this.
Love Gugu Guru! I find the best products, both as a seasoned second time mama and as a soon-to-be auntie!
Yay! Congrats on being a soon to be auntie and thank you so much for your comments!
Gugu Guru is such a fantastic idea, I am so happy I came upon it! Will definitely use this for my next pregnancy!
Thank you, Kait! Can’t wait to hear what you think. 🙂
I am such a fan of Gugu Guru! I love, love, love their support of small businesses!
Thank you, Olivia!