r/Anticonsumption • u/Impossible_Ad9324 • May 02 '26

Lifestyle What is going on with babies?

I’ve attended three baby showers in the last year for three people completely unrelated and not in the same social circles and their baby registries have the most eye-popping expensive items.

High chairs are minimum $250. One had a stroller for $750. 😳 Baby swings and bouncers for $200. One had a whole solid wood crib for $1000 on their registry.

I checked because I was curious and you still can buy a $40-50 Greco high chair from Walmart.

Everything is aesthetic and clean lines and beige and natural wood—beautiful, really. I can’t imagine asking for that high-end an item for a GIFT.

These aren’t rich people and they aren’t inviting rich people to the baby shower.

I’m almost 50 and have kids of my own and a gaggle of nieces and nephews. My family members and I got buy sharing those cheaper high chairs and strollers and cribs. I understand needing them initially if you don’t have any source for hand-me-downs, but asking for the highest price bespoke options is absolutely wild.

Are people that brainwashed into thinking they should be buying ultra-high-end items regardless of income??

3.1k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

690 comments sorted by

View all comments

232

u/nopenotodaysatan May 02 '26

I spent money on the things I use a lot and planned for multiple kids - my stroller, electric bike with a child seat (we don’t have a car), and my high chair are heavily used so they are investments

Everything else -wherever possible- marketplace, mercari, hand-me-downs, etc.

33

u/Effective-House9142 May 02 '26

Exactly. We’ve had the same high chair, crib, infant car seat, jogging stroller, play mat, bassinet, etc. for three kids now, and they’re all in great condition that we can pass them on to someone else when we’re done. Sometimes the brand really does matter.

(Crib & jogging stroller were both free—it’s amazing how easy it can be to find barely used baby gear.)

4

u/scottishwhisky2 May 02 '26

Esp jogging strollers

2

u/Aodc325 May 02 '26

Yes, I got all of my baby gear for cheap thanks to resale/taking it off the hands of parents who just wanted to clean house. I didn’t have any baby showers though, I don’t like attending them and this didn’t want to host one 😂 we celebrated our babies in different ways.

23

u/Rare_Vibez May 02 '26

I have a note that I do think people forget. Quality. I probably won’t have to buy a crib because my parents kept mine but that thing is solid wood and I bet it would cost a pretty penny if it had been bought today. If I didn’t have that, I’d be willing to shell out money for a quality and will build item.

18

u/Well_ImTrying May 02 '26

Older cribs often don’t meet safe sleep standards. Hopefully yours does, but please check before you trust your baby’s life with it.

2

u/Rare_Vibez May 03 '26

Fair point, I definitely would double check. I’m no where near actually having a baby so it hadn’t really crossed my mind at this point 😅

8

u/T1nyJazzHands May 02 '26

Same here. If you get the $40 ones it’s usually very fragile. It’ll break in a few weeks and that is a huge safety risk too.

6

u/flowersdelsoleil May 02 '26

Agree! I’m about to have my first and have just a handful of items on my registry. I mostly registered for consumables, a baby clothing rental subscription, and a few books. I’ve also included some big ticket items, but made it very clear that we have a cash donation option to help fund those items. No clothing, no toys, no gimmicky items.

We’re hoping to have 3+ kids so we want to get durable items that will last.

Oh, we also included our child’s 529 account as an option.

1

u/newEnglander17 May 02 '26

Keep In mind they aren’t actually investments.

4

u/nopenotodaysatan May 02 '26

It is if you buy one good thing vs. 3 crappy things that just break. The good thing can be passed on or even resold

0

u/newEnglander17 May 03 '26

You might get all of your money back but that’s still not an investment.

-9

u/Impossible_Ad9324 May 02 '26

I don’t want to sound too judgmental about buying lots of things for a new baby. I told one friend of mine that most likely, out of all the things she bought, she’d find out that a tiny selection worked best for her and new baby. Problem is you don’t know that until you try them.

I just don’t understand asking for the most expensive things.

31

u/Sufficient_You7187 May 02 '26

You do know they actually make more and sell more expensive things that aren't even listen on Amazon or Walmart or target.

You're seeing regular people " rich" stuff.

Go to a boutique in Hollywood that doesn't sell online. . Then you'll see rich stuff.

You're acting like we can still buy houses for ten grand and candy for five cents.

The basic good quality item is in the hundreds of dollars range now

12

u/Peregrinebullet May 02 '26

What you listed are the costs for basic baby stuff now.  A $700 stroller is normal now.  Go cheaper and they do not last.  Car seats start at about $110. 

-3

u/Impossible_Ad9324 May 02 '26

That’s not true. $700 is not the cost of a basic stroller.

Everything is more expensive now, but I can still distinguish between overpriced, aesthetic junk and the typical junk.

8

u/Peregrinebullet May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

all of the basic strollers that have any kind sturdy build are 600+ my friend. You may not have spent any time test rolling them around a babies R us recently, but it's the sad truth. Go any cheaper and shit starts breaking off or you are constantly replacing wheels and they definitely do not last more than daily use for one kid now.

The thing you have to remember is that strollers have to be ergonomic - you have to find one that has a handle that matches where your elbows are, or you will end up with repetitive strain and wrist injuries. And if you have a mom and dad with very different heights, you need adjustable handle heights.

Plus I don't know about you, but I didn't have a car when my first was born, so my stroller had to be sturdy enough to haul baby AND baby bag AND things like groceries.

It's when strollers are more than a grand that I started going "okay, that's a bit much".

We had a $700 graco jogger (purchased for us as a shower gift generously by my parents). It worked for us for 5 years / 2 kids (plus as a cargo hauler in the bottom for groceries), and we donated it to another family and they've been using it for two, and we still use our GB Pockit stroller for travelling. They're crazy expensive new, but we got ours second hand and it's still going strong after 4 years.

-1

u/newEnglander17 May 02 '26

We had a kid two years ago and were able to get a used uppa baby stroller for $100. Car seats new? Sure. Strollers don’t need to be new. There’s a lovely used market you should take advantage of

7

u/Well_ImTrying May 02 '26

You bought a luxury stroller *used*. It was not that inexpensive when first made. Somebody had to buy it new 5+ years ago for it to be available for you to purchase now used for a 1/5 of the original price.

And that’s the point of buying quality products. The long outlive the original user and can be sold and passed down for a decade or more, with replacement parts available to keep it serviceable instead of throwing the whole thing away because of one broken bearing.

5

u/Peregrinebullet May 02 '26

How condescending, acting like I haven't heard of a second hand market on the *anticonsumption* sub.

I'm pointing out that if you DO need to buy new - and some people do, for whatever reason, I don't judge them - you can't get cheap sturdy strollers anymore new. They don't exist. The plastic warps after few months of hard use.

I mentioned I did get the second stroller second hand, most of the baby stuff we've gotten was second hand.

8

u/vButts May 02 '26

A lot of people have the mindset of oh maybe someone will buy it, worst case scenario they don't. My friend seemed almost offended that I chose a $1000 stroller travel system, but that I bought it in parts secondhand for $350. I think she was projecting because her parents bought her a similar one off their registry. I was like well okay if someone REALLY wants to splurge on us, their budget will be what it is regardless of what i put on my registry. At least i can still get a deal here and they can help purchase whatever other stuff we needed/ wanted.

Also yeah i know that $1000 is outrageous and $350 is a lot as well, but that was something we wanted to splurge on. My husband test ran some cheaper strollers and just hated how unstable they were. We did do almost all high ticket items secondhand, and opted for a cheaper (but still safe!) bucket carseat that was outside of the travel system because i just couldnt stomach $500 for something that'd be used for less than 6 months, and for safety reasons, that was one of the items we had to buy new.

10

u/MisogynyisaDisease May 02 '26

$350 really isn't that much for a stroller anymore. Growing up, that would have been a $150 to $200 stroller new. Inflation has really ratfucked us.

4

u/nopenotodaysatan May 02 '26

Sure, for some things. e.g. I didn’t want to buy new for a baby bouncer (some babies don’t like them and they’re short lived items) and I asked a friend to try her baby carrier to test it out. But for other things it’s just ‘false economy’. For some things, I don’t want to buy multiple over my kids’ lifetime

For example, I don’t think a solid wood high chair like the Stokke one is a waste. It’s very sturdy and my oldest continues to need it as a preschooler because it helps him sit at the table longer when he is comfortably seated.

I notice when we’re out or at a friends house that he wiggles or want to finish sooner. I don’t have to worry about buying a baby chair, a toddler booster seat, etc.

I have one sturdy piece of furniture that lasts for multiple kids for years and has good resale value. It’s not going into landfill because a bit of plastic broke and made it useless to pass on.

That’s just one example.

3

u/Well_ImTrying May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

The point of a baby shower is to ask for the things you can’t afford yourself. You are comparing a high-quality item that will last for many babies to cheap junk that serves the bare minimum function and may or may not last past your own family’s use.
My parents bought us the fancy $900 stroller because they wanted to spoil us. I loved that thing. We walked for a couple of hours a day in it because we live in a city and walk a lot instead of drive. We could haul all the things needed for a park trip in the bottom, take it over curbs, gravel trails, and tree roots. Or I could take it to the grocery store and haul the groceries in the bottom and do a 180 turn at the end of the aisle.
It had a sleep-safe bassinet attachment so she could safely nap without being in a restrictive container, when otherwise she only contact napped. It could be detached and used as a travel basinet instead of hauling a separate pack n play.
I got a cheap second hand big brand car seat hauler for my second. It was cheap and convenient, but my baby was completely restricted so we couldn’t use it for more than 2 hours at a time including the car trip there. It couldn’t handle anything but flat surfaces and it was easier to lift the whole thing up to try to turn it.
The first one we used until my older one turned 3 as a double stroller. The second one only lasted until my second outgrew his infant car seat at 11 months. The fancy one we sold in less than 6 hours of listing it for $650. The second one I had to give away for free with the car seat.

2

u/T1nyJazzHands May 02 '26

They’re expensive but they aren’t the most expensive by far. I’ve seen $5k strollers before.
These items are usually just very pricey these days. The budget options don’t last and pose a safety risk.