too much stuff from baby shower...way too much - Page 2

[texmati]

return, return, return-- I only once re bought something that we returned.

[donutmolly]

I would also say return! I found that Walmart has a great return policy, they just handed me the stuff back that wasn't in their system. Definitely do some research and take back whatever you think you won't need, or think about consigning it if you have a good children's consignment store in the area.

When DD1 was born, I didn't even have a shower, but family and friends sent oodles of stuff. At one point, I was sobbing because they put so many darn tags on baby clothes and I spent so long just cutting off tags! After that, I decided that everything which came with a tag that I could tell the store, or had a gift receipt, was returned, no matter how cute it was! The stores gave me gift card that I used to buy bigger clothes as she needed them for the next 18 months....

[melon]

Since you are broke (i feel ya!), do some online research and find out where they came from. Target, Walmart, Kmart and Kohls will definitely take back anything they sell, without a receipt. You will get store credit, but you can buy anything there, even food.
Babies R Us won't take back anything ever without a receipt. Their return policy stinks. You are stuck with that stuff.
I don't know anything about Buy Buy Baby except that they are owned by Bed Bath and Beyond, who will take back anything they sell without a receipt.

My son is 16 months old, and i still have stuff with tags we never used, mostly blankets. I sold most of the tagged clothing to cosignment, but I am pregnant again, so I plan on using some of the stuff i kept.... So if you plan on having another and forsee still being broke (like me), hang on to a few items that you can't return (like the BRU stuff). Usually, there's no shower for the second baby (god i hope not). But it will be nice to have a few brand new onesies, jammies and fluffy blankets around.

oh yea! and like a PP said, if you're not sure if it came from somewhere, try it. In my experience, they just hand it back and say "Sorry, this isn't ours."

[MegBoz]

Haven't read all the replies, but you can usually get store credit even without gift receipts! True, you don't know where it came from, but it never hurts to take it to Target & try - then you can use the store credit for stuff like groceries. I think Babies R Us isn't so forgiving about providing store credit without receipt, but it's worth trying.

I disagree with those saying "get rid of nothing." You do NOT need 50 onesies, 10 velcro swaddle blankets & 15 receiving blankets. You just don't - unless you only want to do laundry every 2 weeks! You can always confirm with some friends, family & books like "Baby Bargains" on what is a good amount of stuff to have. In the case of friends & family, you could lie & say, "I have X number of X item. Do you think that's enough or should I buy more?" That way you can get opinions without revealing your true intent.

Best of luck!

[Twinklefae]

I would keep all the receiving blankets and swaddling blankets - I know it seems crazy to need so many, but seriously, if you get a baby who loves swaddling and is a spitter, you'll be so grateful later! And selling them secondhand only gets you a $ a dozen around here.

I would take some of the onesies back to trade in for larger sizes though, but only to trade, not for cash.

At least it wasn't all stuffed animals!

[Lady Lilya]

Did you get any Miracle Blankets? I'd be willing to buy them off of you.

[RedOakMomma]

I wouldn't keep ANYTHING for two months unless you're pretty sure you'll need it. newborn-sized onsies are the most over-given, useless gifts ever. Same goes for receiving blankets. RETURN!

Remember...you'll have a new baby, and going to a list of possibly 5 or 6 stores trying to return items will be hellish while toting a baby.

Another thing...if you wait a few months to return items, especially clothes, you're only going to get store credit for the clearance prices. You'll end up losing a lot of value/money that way.

Return stuff now, while you have the time, energy, and no baby to tote around.

[lunarlady]

Return what you can, trade for larger sizes for some things that won't do returns, consign the rest. Don't feel bad. In 6 months most people won't remember what they gave you anyway.

[tjjazzy]

Originally Posted by taffywelsh

This advice is very good...
NOBODY gave me a gift receipt...there are tags on many of the items, but no way to tell where they came from...argh!
Aaaanyway

if any of it came from wal-mart, you don't need receipts. have a look around the store to see if some of the brands came from there maybe?

[sk8boarder15]

I got A LOT of stuff we didn't need either, mostly cheep plastic bottles, disposable diapers, and TONS of clothes. I already had ALL my nephews baby clothes, easily 50 items per size (newborn -12 monts and EVERYTHING in between). We were able to return some stuff at target... but not much. I found out that a facebook friend of mine is due three months after me and broke, so I have a giant box I'm filling for her. Oh and I couldn't keep the Cubs outfits as I'm a HARCORE White Sox fan!!! :P

If you can find someone who needs it that would be the route I would go as you won't get much trying to resell it anyway... I looked into that and there was just no way to get very much for it. I WILL resell our cloth diapers when we are done, as they resell great if you take care of them.