did you get stuff from babyshower registry?

I must preface by saying that I was grateful for all my baby gifts and I got a LOT of stuff. However, I really panicked when, by the end of my last baby shower, only 25-30% of my registry had been bought up. What was the point, I wondered? I didn't register for crazy expensive things, just the stuff I really thought I wanted and needed. I did get enough gift cards and cash at my showers to buy out what was left on the registry, but buying it myself kind of felt like defeating the purpose of registering. I do wonder about the etiquette rule about not putting registry information in the invitation. That's supposed to be a big no-no for etiquette and I didn't include it. However, a lot of people commented that if they had known about the registry, they would have at least looked at it. I'm starting to think that rule is impractical and we moms might get more of what we pick out if we include this information in the invitation.

Most of the gifts we received at our shower were from our registry. But I think one reason for that was we decided not to find out the sex of the baby until I delivered, so we didn't get a lot of clothes--just a few gender-neutral things that we had registered for. That is one of the disadvantages of everyone knowing the sex ahead of time--they all see little pink frilly dresses or blue baseball outfits, and they think "Oh, how cute!" The next thing you know, you have a PILE of dresses.

I think what to buy depends on the circumstances. For my sister's shower, which I was unable to attend (since it was being held in New York, and we lived in New Orleans), I wanted to get her something really special. She had chosen the Pottery Barn Kids "Moons and Stars" bedding for the nursery, and I found an adorable sterling silver baby rattle from Tiffany that was shaped like the Man in the Moon. I knew she would appreciate it, even if it was something she would never have registered for, and she told me she cried like a baby when she opened it. My niece is now five years old, and while most of the baby things have been given away or are in storage, she still has the rattle in her room, and she will have it forever.

But that isn't something I would do for just anyone--I just wanted to do that for my only sister. If it were a friend or a more distant relative, I would probably get something from their registry.

I live super far from family and friends. They gave me an "online shower" in which they bought things from my registry and had them mailed to me by the store. I got everything I needed. It's not the nicest thing to do, but, You could let the person giving the shower put something like this on the invitation "Tina has decided to register at "blank store" because there are specific things the baby needs. If you are at a loss at what to get, please visit www.blankstoreregistry.com"