Expecting a baby? Congrats! It’s time to start planning for your little one’s arrival. The first thing you need to do is create a Target Baby Registry (trust me, you won’t regret it).
Sticking to a budget is crucial when there’s a baby on the way. Target’s baby registry has so many tools, freebies, coupons, and opportunities to help you save more as you prep for parenthood. Between one year of returns (thanks to the Target return policy), Target Circle offers, and more built-in baby deals, you can make your baby registry do all the budget-friendly work for you.
There’s even a limited-time offer to claim a free 1-year trial to Shipt, which gets you unlimited free Target deliveries on $35+ orders.
Before you dive into our best Target registry tips and tricks, check out all the Target deals happening right now.
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:
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).
- Limited-Time Offer: Get a free 1-year membership to Shipt when gifters buy $200 worth of items off your registry by Sept. 30, 2023. More on this below.
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. Start a Target baby registry and join Target Circle to qualify for a free 1-year Shipt membership.
The Target baby registry has a new limited-time benefit: a free 1-year trial to Shipt ($99 value). This’ll get you unlimited free same-day Target deliveries on $35+ orders for a whole year. Just think of how many trips (and energy) you’ll save by having diapers delivered right to you.
To qualify for the free Shipt trial, you have to first create a Target baby registry and join Target Circle (if you haven’t already). Then, share your registry with family and friends. If they buy $200 worth of items off your registry before Sept. 30, 2023, you get a free year of Shipt.
How to Get Your Free 1-Year Shipt Trial
- Create your baby registry and join Target Circle. Be sure to start adding items to your registry by July 1, 2023.
- Share your Target baby registry with family and friends, and have them purchase at least $200 worth of items from your registry by Sept. 30, 2023.
- Redeem your free 1-year Shipt membership on your Target Registry dashboard by Dec. 30, 2023.
NOTE: Be sure to cancel your 1-year Shipt trial before the 12-month renewal period starts over. Otherwise, your Shipt membership will automatically renew and you’ll get charged a $99 nonrefundable fee. See the full details online at Target.
3. Claim your Target baby registry Welcome Kit in-store, or reach out to customer service.
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:
- 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.
- 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
4. Get a year’s worth of coupons through Target Circle starting after your due date.
To receive a year’s worth of exclusive Target Circle offers for baby, here’s what you do:
- Download the Target app and create a baby registry
- Join Target Circle
- 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 a 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 pack 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
5. Expecting twins? Set up two registries for double Welcome Kits.
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.
6. Create your Target Baby Registry with the Checklist feature.
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 bathtubs, 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.
7. Use your Target baby registry to easily write thank you notes.
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!
TIP: Group gifts won’t show up in the gift tracker, so be sure to send those thank yous separately.
8. Take advantage of the Target baby registry completion discount — a 15% off coupon.
Eight weeks before your baby is due, you’ll see an email with a Target baby registry completion discount in your inbox. It’s a 15% off coupon that you can use on the items still lingering on your registry. The Target baby registry completion discount 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!
9. Stack your savings with the 15% off Target baby registry completion discount.
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.
TIP: If the timing is right, definitely plan to use your 15% off coupon in September, which is Target Baby Month. They mark tons of baby stuff down by 30% or more.
10. You can’t use the Target baby registry completion discount coupon on everything.
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
11. You can return items from your Target baby registry for a year.
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.
12. You can make Target baby registry returns without a receipt.
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.
13. You can return used items from your Target baby registry.
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
14. The gift giver will not know you returned their gift.
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.
15. Your Target baby registry expires 18 months after your due date.
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.
Tell us what you think