Baby Registry Ideas for Condo Families and Family Travellers

baby registryToday I want to share with you our favourite baby registry items if you live in a condo or if you like to travel. It has been 6 years since Chris and I sat down to create our own baby registry but this year, I had two babies come into my life and they had me researching ALL things baby again. One of my college roommates welcomed a baby boy and my cousin in Colombo also brought a bouncy baby boy into the world this summer. I was even supposed to be in the delivery room for the arrival of one of them but he decided to come a bit early and so I only made it in time for the baby’s first night at his Rhode Island condo. I ended up ordering a lot of my presents from Amazon because it’s where we tend to shop the most and with our prime membership, I was able to get the baby items in hand rather quickly. Read on about Amazon’s new Baby Registry in Canada and enter for a chance to win a $100 gift card!

 

Disclosure : This post is in partnership with Amazon Canada but, as always, opinions are TOTALLY ours! 

 

I remember when we created our first baby registry eight years ago, we only wanted the necessities and kept in mind that we were living in a downtown Toronto condo. Back then Amazon wasn’t shipping to Canada and so I had my college roommates (yes, one of whom now has a baby in Rhode Island) drive over my travel-friendly baby gear because it was easier than trying to find them in Canada. As I started researching the baby items to add to their baby registry, I realized that it was all available in Canada now!

 

Why Build an Amazon Baby Registry 

amazon baby registry

Building a Canadian Amazon Baby Registry is actually really brilliant because it allows friends and family from all over the world to easily purchase gifts. It also takes away the intimidation factor for your kid-free friends because now they can shop from the comforts of their offices/homes instead of having to walk into a baby store, getting all frazzled and sweaty. Additional benefits of creating your baby registry on Amazon include Prime members saving 15% on eligible baby items when you complete your registry (Non-prime members save 10%). You also have 45 days to return most items purchased from your registry and Prime members can select a free gift once $25+ is purchased from your baby registry.

Baby Registry Must Haves for Condo Families and Travellers  

We’ve been raising our city kids in a two bedroom, 1037 sq ft condo since they were born and we’re also travellers who took our young kids on a 5 month trip. This means that as much as we love a good splurge, that splurge has to fit into our COMFORTABLE minimalist lifestyle. Space is precious and having numerous baby items that do the same thing is absolutely uncalled for because no one loves clutter. Kids = clutter in general but what I want to tell you is that you can still enjoy that mess-free space during the baby stage because they don’t need buckets of toys filled with a gazillion tiny pieces…not yet anyways! I’m going to share with you the baby items that will work for small spaces and for travel but I’ll also tell you when it’s worth sacrificing extra space because there will be days when you will be glad to have less space in exchange for peace and quiet!

You can find all these products listed on our Amazon store

 

  • Mini Cribs : We don’t have space for a large crib in a condo so the Davinci mini cribs are a perfect solution. Our kids were in them until they turned 2 years old and we then transitioned from crib to toddler bed or bunks! We actually got a mini crib (which converts to a toddler bed) and mini change table (we only tossed the change table out this summer – 8 years later- because the drawers were great for storage but eventually broke. You will need to add mini crib sheets your registry if you aren’t planning on using flat sheets you already have at home.
  • Change pad : Unfortunately the Cooshee change pad we love is no longer in productions but this Keekaroo Peanut one looks to be very similar. Our kids would stop crying the moment we placed them on it and it was so easy to clean versus the cloth ones out there.
  • Baby Monitor : Living in a small space one might think you don’t need one but we’ve used it during our travels and when we needed to see how they were doing without having to walk into their room, waking them up. I’ve written more about how to choose the best travel friendly baby monitor and why the Motorola baby monitor is still a favourite.
  • Stroller : This is another area we splurged on and I was amazed to see how many new travel friendly strollers are now available. Living in a condo, an EASILY foldable stroller is mandatory but you also want to keep in mind that you’re probably walking a lot and so it has to be comfortable/reclinable and give you a large basket to store your groceries in. We owned quite a few strollers over the years and the UPPA Baby Vista was our favourite. The Baby Yo-yo Zen is probably what we’d buy for travel but the UPPA is what we’d have for our every day needs.
  • Baby Carrier : We loved baby wearing during our travels and when we were going on subway rides. After all these years, the Baby Bjorn Miracle Mesh Carrier (not other versions though) is still our favourite and friends who aren’t confident in wrapping, tell me it continues to be the best baby carrier for short peeps with back issues.
  • Baby Bathtub : Condo tubs and sinks are small so you could get away with it like we did when we travelled and used hotel sinks, but it’s nice to have a tub come every day bath time. We had the Fisher Price bath tub with the removable infant insert and so the kids used it until they were around 2 years of age. However, I think this inflatable tub is a better option as we’d be able to store it away and travel with it easily. That said, I have heard that it requires a fair bit of blowing – just a heads up! I’m sure you’ll want to add a few bath toys but don’t go overboard, babies are happy to play with tupperware containers or random non-sharp items you have around your house. Wash cloths and baby towels are nice to add to your registry though!
  • Swing or bouncer : This is where we sacrificed space for the first year because it saved us from having to rock them. The Fisher Price swing set was gifted to us from our friends and we loved it so much! We also tried a bouncer but it wasn’t as good as the swing which would rock the baby to sleep during those day time naps.
  • Baby Clothes : Everyone loves to give clothes so let them have fun choosing it but you may want to add a few zippered sleepers (numerous midnight diaper changes with buttons get tiring) and definitely add a couple Sleepea Swaddlers from the Happiest Baby team because it enables you to swaddle in a few seconds!
  • Baby Nose Sucker : There are a couple different options in the market and having played with the new ones, I can tell you that the HydraSense Nasal Aspirator we used is still the most comfortable (once you get over the fact that you are indeed sucking someone else’s nose). It’s soft and you get to control the pressure levels, which is what I like.
  • Baby Car Seats : Urgh…how I hated car seats! The infant Gracco one wasn’t so bad because they would click into the stroller but once we had to move to the next stage they were bulky and a pain. I’m so glad to be in the booster stage now where we can  travel with our mifolds.  IF you’re planning to travel with your toddler and car seat, adding a car seat travel bag or a travel mate isn’t a bad idea. You need a car seat even if you don’t own a car is what we realized but keep in mind that you’ll move out of the infant one in a few months as they grow taller.
  • Diaper Bag : Think about who will be carrying this and purchase a neutral colour if preferred. The backpack diaper bags are definitely a great choice as it frees up your hands but this is also a spot where you may just want to use your current favourite purse or backpack if it has a lot of compartments. Asking for extras of the best baby soothers isn’t a bad idea either. These Avent pacifiers are the only ones my kids really liked and sure enough, it’s the one my friend’s baby took from the first week!
  • Breast Pump : This is a tough one as I have had friends whose babies have refused to take a bottle so you don’t want to waste your money but at the same time, I loved my Ameda Purely Yours (here’s a full review) because it gave me so much freedom despite breastfeeding both kids until they were nearly one year of age. Definitely add a few bottles, Avent Anti-Colic ones were our favourite for the infant stage (here’s a full baby bottle review)  but the kids also liked the Tommy and Playtex ones as they grew older.
  • Diapers : Whether you’re camp cloth, Huggies or Pampers… add these to your registry. Living in a condo and not owning a car, we actually had our diapers delivered to our home via the Amazon subscription service. A diaper genie is HIGHLY recommended but don’t forget to add a bunch of the refills too!
  • Travel High Chair : We loved our easy to wash and travel with My Little Seat and I see that there are many other brands out there these days. Definitely made it easy for us to hit up a bar or lounge where they didn’t have high chairs on offer.
  • Travel Crib : We used the Phil and Ted’s travel crib not just for when we stayed in hotels or apartments that didn’t offer cribs/pack and plays but also when we were out for late dinners at our friends’ places (full review here). It’s so easy to pop up and to travel with that it enabled us to be social despite having a newborn which is why we didn’t even think twice about the additional cost. The Bjorn travel crib also looks fab.
  • Play Pen : I initially didn’t think I needed one but as the infant started moving around and I needed to go pee, I quickly realized that a small play pen was very helpful. Ironically we used a doggy play pen (yes, it’s true- gulp) as it was easy to fold up when we had company however I now see products like this travel play pen on offer and given how easily they fold up, if you could convince your baby to nap in there as well, you could use this play pen as your travel crib too. Just an idea! You will need to line this play pen bottom with some of those kiddy tiles or blankets as it has a very thin bottom layer.

Looking for our 10 Must Haves for Travelling with a New Born? We got you!

Moms who drink
I was happy to be bottle feeding breast milk I had pumped on the Ameda Purely Yours into the AVENT baby bottle! I had him strapped in the Bjorn and was able to socialize at my friend’s baby shower!

 

I’m sure there quite a few things on your baby registry but the above items are the ones we really needed. There were a bunch of items we didn’t and so I thought I’d mention those quickly. We used a dishwasher to wash and dry our baby bottles, so there was no need for those additional brushes and drying mats. We used our tablets and phones instead of a white noise machine. Living in Canada we thought we’d need a baby wipes warmer but after a month we didn’t really bother with that luxury.

As you get ready to create your Amazon baby registry, remember to have fun with the process. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the numerous baby items on offer and let’s not even talk about the recalls that happen! Rely on your friends and family for advice but in the end, it’s really you and your partner (if there’s one) who will be using these items so get stuff that you think you’d like!

baby items for condos and travel

Enter below for a chance to win a $100 Amazon.ca Gift Card. One winner will be picked on January 6th 2020! 

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  • Aaron H
    August 31, 2020 at 10:48 am

    Great ideas. Helpful to many!

  • Lisa DT
    December 15, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    Good idea when we don’t know the circumstances of the parents to be

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