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Expecting a baby? Congrats! Now it’s time to get saving before the little one comes. A great place to start is the Target Baby Registry.

A few minutes of your time setting it up can let your family and friends know what things you need or want for your new arrival and save you all kinds of money from Target (which you’re gonna need with a baby on the way).

For more money-saving deals, tips, and coupons, download the KCL app.

Related: Getting Married? Check out these tips for a Target Wedding Registry.

 

1. Create your Target Baby Registry for the swag and these benefits:

A person using the Registry tablet at the Target guest services desk.

The first thing you need to do is create a baby registry at Target.com or in the Target registry app.

Starting your baby registry at Target comes with a slew of benefits, like:

  • Universal registry: If you love something from another store that Target doesn’t carry, you can still add it to your Target baby registry.
  • Group gifting: Does everyone at work want to pool their money together to get you a big item, like a crib or a car seat? They can easily do so with Target’s baby registry.
  • Year-long return policy: Usually Target’s return policy is 90 days or 120 days for RedCard holders. But anything purchased from your baby registry has a one-year return window.
  • Checklist: Especially if this is your first baby, you might not know everything you need. The checklist feature helps you make sure you’re not missing anything big.
  • Welcome Kit: Target’s baby registries come with a Welcome Kit with over $100 worth of free samples and coupons. Make sure you claim it!
  • A year’s worth of special Target baby coupons for Circle members (more on that later).

TIP: With the Target registry app, you can build your baby registry by scanning items while you’re walking through the store or browsing online.

 

2. Claim your Target baby registry Welcome Kit in-store, or reach out to customer service.

A Target employee handing a woman a free baby gift bag.

After you’ve given Target the basic info it needs to start your baby registry, you should be prompted to click “Get Welcome Kit.” Your Welcome Kit is a bag full of over $100 worth of free samples and digital coupons. Target usually offers to ship your Welcome Kit with an online order of at least $35, but this isn’t an option right now. Instead, here’s what you can do:

  1. Claim your Target baby registry Welcome Kit in-store. But before you head there, call your local Target to confirm they have Welcome Kits in stock. Target seems to be having a nationwide shortage, even in stores. My store hasn’t had any available for some time now, so it’s worth checking before you trek all the way there.
  2. Reach out to Target Customer Service. I checked for Welcome Kits at my store multiple times without luck, so I decided to contact customer service and fill them in on my troubles. To make good, they emailed me a $10 Target Gift Card (but this could totally depend on who you’re talking to). They also added all the Target Circle Offers I would have gotten in my Welcome Kit to my account, so I could access them online and in the Target app.

After I reached out, customer service added the following Welcome Kit offers to my account:

  • 20% off Isabel Maternity
  • 10% off Huggies Diapers and Wipes
  • $2 off Dreft Detergent
  • 10% off One Skip Hop item
  • 20% off Johnson & Johnson
  • $1 off Gerber Apparel & Bath
  • $1.50 off Aquaphor Baby
  • 20% off Aveeno Baby
  • $2 off Philips Avent Bottles
  • 25% off NUK Baby Feeding Accessories
  • $2 off Baby Dove
  • $3 off Babyganics
  • $5 off Honest Club Box and Super Club Box sizes
  • 20% off Burt’s Bees Baby
  • $2 off Mommy’s Bliss Baby Vitamin D Organic Drops
  • $2 off Pedialyte Powder
  • 20% off Evenflo Feeding Anti-Colic Balance Baby Bottles
  • $10 off Baby Trend Deluxe II Nursery Center
  • $1 off SheaMoisture Baby Item
  • 10% off Evenflo All4One DLX Car Seats

 

3. Get a year’s worth of coupons through Target Circle starting after your due date.

join now circle sign with target bullseye dog

To receive a year’s worth of exclusive Target Circle offers for baby, here’s what you do:

  1. Download the Target app and create a baby registry
  2. Join Target Circle
  3. After your due date, you’ll start to see monthly offers appear in your Target Circle offers section under “Baby”

These deals include high-value coupons on items like diapers, wipes and more — geared toward baby’s various milestones. I’ve also received offers that added up to more than $50 in savings, plus you’ll get coupons emailed to you related to your samples. For example, the sample-related coupons I received were:

  • $5 off Pampers diapers with purchase of 333-count or larger Pampers wipes
  • $1.50/1 Pampers Swaddlers
  • $1 off Pampers wipes 56 count or larger
  • $2 off Dreft Newborn Liquid laundry detergent
  • $0.25/1 Dawn product
  • $0.50/1 Cascade Dishwasher Detergent, Rinse Aid, or Dishwasher Cleaner
  • $0.50/1 Boogie Wipes, Boogie Mist, Boogie Drops, or Boogie Bottoms products

 

4. Expecting twins? Set up two registries for double Welcome Kits.

Contents of a free Target registry baby bag laid out on a wood floor.

Yep, Target will give you a free gift bag for each baby you’re expecting. However, you have to create a separate baby registry.

Unfortunately, this means you’ll need to create an entirely separate Target account for any additional baby registries to get another kit. But it’s a minor inconvenience to get more free stuff.

 

5. Create your Target Baby Registry with the Checklist feature.

A person's hand holding up their phone to show their baby registry on the Target app.

Never had a baby before? You might not know what you need. Luckily, when you create a Target baby registry, you’ll get access to the Checklist feature. Checklist reminds you to register for items across a number of categories like:

  • Strollers and car seats
  • Gear and activity, including things like play yards, baby swings, and baby carriers
  • Nursery furniture, like baby cribs and gliders or rocking chairs
  • Diapering, so you don’t forget to pick up the extras like baby wipes, changing pad covers, and diaper rash cream
  • Nursery bedding and essentials
  • Feeding
  • Nursing
  • Bath, for things like baby bath tubs, hooded bath towels and bath toys
  • Health and safety, including things like baby gates, baby monitors, and other child proofing products
  • Clothing, which isn’t just baby clothes, but also things like gentle laundry detergent
  • Toys and books, including baby toys like teethers, rattles, and soft plush toys

Parenting, which is a category that reminds you to get all sentimental with photo albums and cameras, and to study up with parenting books.

 

6. Use your Target baby registry for baby shower thank you notes.

A group of women sitting in a living room during a baby shower, watching the expecting mom open her presents.

The Target baby registry makes it easy to keep track of who bought what. Which is super helpful, because odds are you were a little distracted at your baby shower and didn’t write everything down.

When you go to write your thank you notes, simply enter the gift tracker part of the app. There you’ll be able to see the gift, how many were purchased, and who purchased it. There’s even a checkbox to log if you sent the thank you note yet!

PRO TIP: Group gifts won’t show up in the gift tracker, so be sure to send those thank yous separately.

 

7. Take advantage of the 15% off coupon at the 8-week mark.

A toy giraffe held next to the Target registry app displaying that item.

Eight weeks before your baby is due, Target will email you a 15% off coupon that you can use on the items that weren’t bought off your registry. The coupon is also available in the registry app. Here are the rules:

  • Your registry has to have items in it and your registry has to be active for at least 14 days before Target emails the coupon (which they do eight weeks before your due date.) For example, if your due date is Dec. 1, make sure there’s stuff in your registry by the end of September.
  • You can use the coupon once online and once in the store.
  • The coupon doesn’t expire until six months after your due date, so you don’t have to use it right away, which allows you to continue to add items to your registry if you forgot something.

You can even add items to the registry after the baby is born!

 

8. Stack your savings with the 15% off Target baby registry coupon.

A Target baby registry app coupon and a Target RedCard being held next to a basket filled with baby items.

Not only can you use the 15% off for everything that’s left in your registry, but you can stack it with Target Circle offers and your 5% RedCard discount to save even more money.

 

9. You can’t use the Target baby registry coupon on everything.

A person's hand holding up a baby-themed Target gift card in front of a display of gift cards.

Some items aren’t eligible for the Target registry coupon, including:

  • Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn
  • Hatch Maternity
  • Dairy milk
  • Clinic and pharmacy products
  • Gift cards
  • Honest Baby
  • HALO baby
  • Hudson Baby
  • Infant optics
  • Lamaze
  • Luvable Friends
  • Mega Bloks
  • Monica + Andy
  • Philips Avent
  • Q by Quincy Mae

You can find a full list of exclusions here.

 

10. You can return items from your Target baby registry for a year.

A man talking to an employee at the Target guest service counter.

I mentioned this above, but it’s a point worth celebrating twice! As long as an item is on your baby registry, you’ve got a full year to return it after your due date.

 

11. You can make Target baby registry returns without a receipt.

The baby registry return instructions on the target app displayed on a cell phone, held net to a Skip Hop baby activity center box.

No receipt? No problem. If the item’s on your Target baby registry, you won’t need a receipt to make your return. Just make sure you have your registry app ready.

 

12. You can return used items off of your Target baby registry.

Two baby outfits laying next to a target bag. One of the outfits is being lifted with the label reading cat and Jack clearly visible.

The Target return policy allows you to return Target-brand items for up to a year — even if they’re worn or used. Target brands for baby can include:

  • Cat & Jack
  • Cloud Island
  • up&up

 

13. The gifter will not know you returned their present.

A person's hand holding up a return receipt in front of the Target registry counter.

Let’s say you super hate that onesie your great-aunt bought, or you got so many size 1 diapers there’s no way you’ll go through all of them.

You can make returns from your Target baby registry without worries — the gift giver will not be notified. That way, you can take the refund money and put it towards something else you need more without hurting any feelings.

 

14. Your Target baby registry expires 18 months after your due date.

A mom looking at an information card about a crib next to her baby sitting in the basket of a Target shopping cart.

People will be able to look up your Target baby registry and purchase gifts for up to a year after your due date. You will be able to access your own registry for up to 18 months after your due date.

 

Any baby registry hacks we missed? Leave them in the comments!

Get the Absolute Most Out of Your Target Baby Registry