Put Services on Your Baby Registry    – Info Tips and Tricks

We’ve written before that the best gifts for new parents are services, not things. But your friends and family may not realize this, and so at your baby shower, they hand you a bonnet adorned with little duckies, something your new bundle will wear for one adorable Instagram photo and then never see again. They mean well, but could use—and would probably appreciate—some direction.

It’s becoming more and more common to put services on your baby registry. Sure, a fund to hire a postpartum doula may not prompt as many awwws as infant knee pads, but you’ll certainly be more grateful for it in the exhausting days and nights ahead. As parents, we need to become more comfortable with asking for help, and when we do so, we need to be specific.

I find that registering for (or crowdfunding) services makes even more sense if you’re having a second or subsequent child and already have all the burp cloths you need. Some companies let you set up your own contribution page, or you can use a universal registry like Babylist, which allows you to have your entire wishlist in one place.

Here are some ideas for what you can register for.

Life Insurance

Really. When creating a baby registry with Babylist, you can now select a Prudential policy and ask friends and family to contribute towards the life insurance premium. Having life insurance is especially important when you have kids, but it’s still an area where a lot of people think ,“Oh, that’s for future me to figure out.” Putting it on your registry could be a smart first step in getting the process started.

Meal Delivery

When taking care of a new baby, you often forget to do basic things for yourself, like figuring out what you’re going to eat. Take that responsibility off your plate (heh) by registering for a meal delivery service or a meal train. Munchery has a group gift tool where you can set up a personalized contribution page and send it out to as many friends as you’d like, or there are meal train organization sites like Meal Train or Take Them a Meal.

Doula Support

For new parents who don’t have that elusive “village” that moms and dads who move to other countries sing so many praises about, a postpartum doula can be a wonderful fill-in. She (or sometimes he) can teach you how to care for your newborn, showing you had to burp and bathe him, while also being there as another pair of hands so you can rest a bit.

House Cleaning

The last thing that’ll be on your list of to-dos while caring for your new bundle is dusting your baseboards. Or wiping your mirrors, disinfecting your toilets or vacuuming. Plan ahead by crowdfunding a few house cleaning sessions.

Parental Leave

It’s backwards that here in United States, only 12 percent of employees have paid family leave, according to the United States Department of Labor, but until we see major policy changes, some new moms and dads are finding that crowdfunding is the only way they can afford to spend time with their newborns. Take 12 is a maternity leave registry site that lets your friends and family help you maximize your time at home. That, to many, is the most valuable gift of all.