It’s amazing how much free stuff is out there for new moms if you know where to look. I have some great friends that are cheap frugal like me that have shared some great advice on how to stock up on free baby things. It was a great starting point! I also found some great ways to get free stuff on my own along the way. In this post, I’m going to share 5 easy ways moms can get free baby stuff.
I’ve personally done everything on this list throughout my pregnancy. And truthfully, it was all surprisingly easy.
5 Easy Ways Moms can get Free Baby Stuff
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1. Register Everywhere
Whether you’re having your first baby or your 4th, whether you’re having a shower or not, register everywhere!
When you create a registry (at most places) they give you free things!
High-quality, useful, and awesome free things! Plus, a ton of coupons so you can save money on things you’re going to need to buy.
And don’t worry, no one ever needs to see your registry! Every baby registry that I’ve come across has had an option to make the registry private. So you get the free goodies, and no one ever has to know that your registry exists.
I created registries at:
- Amazon
- Babies R Us
- Buy Buy Baby
- Target
- Walmart
I shared my Amazon and Babies R Us registries with my family and friends (and for me, those registries gave the most benefit). And I kept the rest of my registries private so no one else could see them.
I was considering registering at Kohl’s as well, but they weren’t offering any free gifts with the registry, so I didn’t.
Buy Buy Baby, Target, and Walmart had really nice goodie bags that they gave away with their registries. The bags included bottles, pacifiers, samples (like diapers, wipes, lotions), and lots of coupons.
Babies R Us had a similar gift bag. They offer a 15% off completion discount that definitely came in handy. They also have their registries set up so that 10% of the total purchases from your registry back as a store credit — even if you make those purchases yourself! In my state, this is where most people think to shop for baby so it was an easy choice to make this registry one that I actually shared with my family and friends.
And then there’s Amazon.
They really knock it out of the park when it comes to registry benefits. I started looking to Amazon because they had lower prices for some of our big ticket baby items, like our crib. Then I realized that that if I added those items to a registry first, we’d get lots of benefits when they were purchased.
First, there’s a 15% completion discount.
I also earned $100 worth of free diapers and wipes through my Amazon registry. It’s a little harder to do that because you need to have $1000 worth of items purchased from your registry.
For us, this is our first baby, and we needed everything. Our crib, glider, high chair, monitor, and other big items were all purchased through this registry to help us get there.
I also shared this registry with family and friends along with our Babies R Us registry. There were several small things purchased from this registry that helped us hit that $1000 mark.
Then, Amazon offers an awesome welcome box when you create your registry. It’s much better than the gift bags that the other stores offer.
All Amazon welcome boxes vary a little bit, but mine included a cute swaddle blanket, a full sized pack of huggies wipes, bibs, pacifiers, lots of samples like diapers, soap, and lotions.
Update: I’ve been getting a bunch of questions about the specific products we registered for. We worked hard to find a balance between high-quality and affordability. So, here are the big ticket items we picked:
The only catch about these Amazon benefits is in order to get these perks, you also need to be an Amazon Prime member. We have been Prime members for a while and it’s always been worth it for us. If you use Amazon on a regular basis, I’d bet Prime is worth it for you too. It’s at least worth looking into.
Bonus: If you’re a Prime member you can sign up for Amazon Mom and get 20% off subscriptions to diapers, wipes, and baby food.
2. Free Breast Pump
You probably know that you can get a free breast pump through your insurance, but do you know how easy it is? For me, it took 2 phone calls. If you’re even considering breastfeeding, you should get the free pump.
First, I called my insurance and asked them what I needed to do to get my free pump. They told me that I just needed to order the pump from one of their affiliated retailers. They gave me a list of stores that I could get my pump from and gave me the phone numbers to those stores.
Then, I called the first store they listed, which happened to be Yummy Mummy. I’d highly recommend Yummy Mummy if they accept your insurance – they have great customer service. I gave them all of my insurance information and selected the pump I wanted. (If you’re interested, I went with the Medela pump. That’s the pump my friends recommended when I asked them.)
I called in my order when I was 4 months pregnant, and it came in the mail a few month later. I encourage you to make the call as soon as possible because it does take awhile to process. Make sure you call your insurance first to find out what their process is!
3. Free Formula
You guys, it is so easy to get free formula!
I’m planning to breastfeed, but I wanted to have some formula on hand just in case I need to supplement in the early days.
But also, formula is really expensive. I didn’t want to go out and buy formula that I didn’t even know if I would use.
So, I signed up on both Enfamil and Similac’s websites. It took about one minute each. I did this a few months ago and a couple weeks ago both formula companies sent me a free starter kit in the mail. Both boxes the newborn formula bottles (like the ones the hospital uses) and TWO full containers of powdered formula! Plus several coupons for big discounts on future formula purchases.
I was really surprised that they send you so much for free! Super easy. If you’re planning to formula feed, or if you just want to have a little on hand just in case, you’ve got to do this!
4. Free Diapers
So, first of all, if you’re having a shower, do a diaper raffle! Diaper raffles are super common these days and most guests participate (some even with the giant diaper boxes) and it’s totally worth it.
Secondly, sign up for the reward membership for any type of diapers you use. Huggies and Pampers both have rewards points that you can collect by entering the codes from the packages of diapers you’ve purchased. Then, once you get a certain amount of points, you get a free (large) box of diapers.
If you’re using a different brand of diapers, check their website. Chances are they offer a rewards program as well.
5. Free stuff from the Hospital
If you plan on giving birth in the hospital, make sure you take all the free stuff with you when you go!
Of course, this is going to vary by hospital. But, chances are that anything open in your room is free for you to take. After all, they’re charging you enough for your stay, they can at least throw in a few bonuses.
Depending on your hospital, you’ll most likely be allowed to take the rest of open packages of diapers and wipes, the baby blanket and hat, the sitz bath and squirt bottle, and any pump parts that have been opened for you to use.
Unsure of what you can take? Feeling worried that they might end up charging you for something? Just ask the nurses what you’re allowed to take for free. They’re used to it and they know the hospital’s policy. It certainly couldn’t hurt to ask!
And if you have friends who have used the same hospital, of course ask them what their experience was.
After talking to my friends who have given birth at my hospital, I’m planning to bring an extra bag to the hospital to carry my goodies home in.
Bonus Tip: Accept those hand-me-downs!
We’re having our first baby. We didn’t have any baby stuff. I’ve said from the beginning of my pregnancy that I’ll happily take anything that anyone wants to give me. And we’ve gotten some really nice hand-me-downs!
Some close friends of ours were moving away and gave us all of their baby boy clothes (we’re having a boy, by the way!) from newborn to 2T. Beautiful, barely used clothes. That’s going to save us so much money.
Another close friend of mine passed down her Ergo 360! An Ergo! That’s worth $180! I was over the moon about that one.
Yet another close friend (I have a lot of great friends, if you haven’t noticed) passed down her changing table and high chair. The changing table goes perfectly with the colors of our nursery furniture and the high chair is going to be an extra to use at the grandparents’ house. Uhh… awesome!
A few other friends have passed down some really nice clothes, blankets, toys. An old coworker of mine gave me a few bags of baby sized hangers. Maybe that seems silly, but we don’t have to buy baby hangers now and it made organizing baby’s closet a lot easier.
The point of my story… don’t be too proud to accept used things that people want to give you! I know a lot of people that don’t want their baby to have anything used. Those people are going to end up spending A LOT more than they needed to.
And if you’re willing to accept the hand-me-downs, you might just end up with some pretty amazing stuff.
So, it isn’t really that hard to get free baby things. These 5 easy ways moms can get free baby stuff are a great place to start.
Have you tried anything else to get free baby stuff? Let us know in the comments below.
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Oh man. Cannot say enough about the hand-me-downs. With the exception of a car seat and consumable/disposable goods, you shouldn’t have to buy anything new for a baby. (You will, especially if it’s your fist. But you won’t have to.) Kids that age go through everything so quickly it hardly gets any wear. Just accept the hand-me-downs gladly and be prepared to hand them off to a friend with a younger babe when yours outgrows stuff. Meanwhile, you’ve saved the money for when your kid gets big enough for implacable mud stains to be a daily occurrence.
Absolutely! Love the hand-me-downs!
All great ideas! I did all of them with both of my kids. I love registry completion codes. 🙂