Shopping Frenzy

Dre and I went to visit my aunt and uncle for the weekend partly because I hadn’t seen them in a while and partly to shop for baby stuff.

We had amazing food while we were there and I ate way too much. 

On Saturday, Dre and I ventured out by ourselves to visit all the baby/maternity stores we could think of.  Dre planned the route out…it was really cute.

We stopped at the Carter’s baby clothes outlet first.  My aunt had given us a coupon they had that was for 20% off your order and when we went everything in the store was 50% off!  We got $200 worth of baby clothes for $60!  Score!  We quickly glanced at the Osh K Osh and Gymboree outlets, but they mainly focus on outfits for kids and I personally don’t think that babies wear that many clothes in the first 6 months.  

Then we headed for Best Buy to check out their video cameras.  They had a few good ones, but Dre and I decided to wait until after Christmas sales and see if we still want to get one then.  I think that filming with our iPhones will work as well.  Up next we stopped at Old Navy.  Yes, we have Old Navy here in Canada, but all the stores that have maternity lines in the states don’t have them in Canada.  So for $50, I got leggings, 2 sweaters, and 3 undershirts.  That would have cost me $200 over here at our maternity store. 

After that, I was starving so we stopped at this little pizza joint which had the best pizza EVER!  It was thin crusted pizza which I don’t usually like, but it was amazing.  Then we headed over to this consignment store my uncle had mentioned.  I’ve had bad luck with consignment stores.  I find them crowded and they make me claustrophobic.  This one was gold though!  We got 10 sleepers and 10 onesies for $30.  Some of the PJs still had the original tags on it.

After that, we went to Baby R Us.  I hate the Baby R Us in Burlington, VT!  It’s worse than the one over here!  This Toys R Us apparently decided that baby stuff didn’t sell and used 80% of the store for toys and the 20% that had baby stuff was crammed full.  We couldn’t find everything we were looking for, but we still saved money compared to how much stuff costs in our BRU.  They didn’t really have any good sales either.  Dre had also decided that he wasn’t waiting on IKEA to stock our crib anymore so he wanted to get one while we were down there since they’re cheaper in the US.  We needed one that was in stock though.  So BRU had a total of 6 cribs jammed together and setup (ours has at least 12 setup).  After seeing that, we paid for our stuff using about 10 gift cards (the cashier LOVED me) and decided to keep going.  

We made a brief stop at Walmart.  We found out that Walmart sells the Bumbo for $20 cheaper than BRU, but there was no way in hell that I was going back into that BRU to get a refund so we just kept the one we’d gotten.  I found a larger winter coat that didn’t make me look like a homeless person there for $20. Didn’t find anything else here.

Our last stop was at this baby boutique we’d visited the last time we were in Vermont.  They have great stuff, but it’s a little expensive since it’s geared towards the higher end stuff.  I started looking at their cribs and was getting discouraged because all they had were Pali cribs (which are actually really good cribs, but too expensive for me) that would take 12 weeks to order.  Then I found our crib!  The floor model was white, but it said it came in dark brown too so Dre goes and asks the sales lady if they have it in stock and they actually did in the dark color!  How perfect is that?

So we found everything we needed, we spent a small fortune this weekend, and getting through customs with all the stuff was a breeze which is not what I’d expected.  

On the way back home, we stopped at a BRU to get the crib bedding set we like.  It was on special in the Canadian stores this weekend only.  At the same time, we picked up almost everything else we needed and returned the 4 items I got in double at my shower.  

After all of that, I don’t think Dre ever wants to see a BRU again!  I might have to bring my SIL with me when I go visit a few of the specialty boutiques we have in town to get the last few knick knacks that I haven’t found anywhere else.

Our trip was a definite success!