Laser Tag at Babies R Us

On a more personal post, Kristy and I spent the day setting up our baby registries at Babies R Us and Target (pronounced Tar-zh-Ae).

I had the honor of shooting the gun all day so some things may be out of place... credit those things to my being trigger happy. At Target this evening I tried to zap a moped but it wouldn't let me.

Overall the experience was pretty cool. Kristy and I spent some wonderful quality time together and dedicated a day to little Caleb.

Some tips for doing your Baby Registry:
1. Pre-register online. (you don't care to waste 10 minutes in the store getting their machine to type correctly)
2. One aisle at a time. (the market for kids stuff is ridiculous. Remember how to eat an elephant?)
3. Figure out the color scheme and theme of the room first. You can do this when you first start your experience. This will help you decide on most of the stuff for the room. Today there are 1000 colors of every item. Decide the theme first and you'll be able to ignore 900 of them.
4. Read reviews of big stuff ahead of time. We found a few things later that we're going to have to change b/c it looked cool in the store but when we got home we realized it wasn't practical according to practicing parents.
5. Think strategically. How many people will likely buy? What are the financial means of those people? What stuff would we prefer others get for us? What stuff can we get on our own that won't take away from stuff we'd like to have?
6. Let the guy Zap. Guys, I was interested in the process partly b/c I zapped. Kristy and I worked as a team. She'd say "That One" and I'd say "Got It". She held the clipboard and checklist, I got to play laser tag.
7. Pack a lunch (or plan for one). If you want to do it right, don't rush it. Plan the day. You'd walk just as much at an amusement park so why not plan the walk for your new baby.
8. Pay attention to what you're zapping. Especially with clothing. The store stocks items by style and not so much size. You may have to be sure that you keep in mind which size you're getting as well as how big your child will be in the season for the outfit. Sounds simple but I'm sure people get excited playing laser tag and forget that a swimsuit in December (although very cute I'm sure) just doesn't work.
9. Find a friend. You will have 1000 people giving advice. You do need it but you may not want it from everyone. Find a friend who has a child and say "check my list and see if I missed anything". This is the stage we're in now so I'll let you know how we did.
10. Have Fun! This is an awesome experience. Go enjoy it. Shopping is not my thing but spending the day today with my wife and thinking about our future child was totally my thing. Have fun with it. Realize that it's an awesome task and privilege. Enjoy it!