Hey there, ever heard of Baby Welcome Boxes? As part of our family journey we will be covering various aspects of raising a child while establishing a cider orchard and working towards financial independence. Fiscal responsibility ideally comes before having children as financial security in baby’s first year of life greatly impacts their health and well-being for the rest of their life. They won’t remember the fancy bassinet, but they will remember getting proper care and nutrition!
Welcoming a new baby can be daunting. For women, we still receive a lot of ridicule and grief from others. We’re expected to have kids but never actually be expecting. Not only do our careers and earning potential take a hit, we often have to give up parts of ourselves we never thought of in the quest to support our families. Pregnancy, for all it’s sunshine and rainbow marketing, is still very much shunned and unsupported in our society. Just look at the lack of paid parental leave and childcare support at the national level.
Whether you’re in the expecting group with us or not, you may have wondered if there’s free baby products available. In the US, babies are a booming market that may be shrinking in size but is growing in cost. This is good for expecting parents as it means lots of free samples. For some, free samples can be the difference between a dirty and clean diaper. Learn how to save money on those using cloth diapers! (Article coming soon)
Welcome Boxes in the US are not to be confused with the Baby Boxes given out in countries like Finland. No, in the US they are often just an attempt to trick new parents (a vulnerable population) into thinking they need a specific product in order to take their money. AKA capitalism. As long as we remember the companies giving away these welcome boxes and manufacturers of the products featured in the box only have their best interest at heart, we can peruse the “free” things without falling into the marketing trap they’ve set up.
Why “free” isn’t free
I want to preface that the majority of welcome boxes in the US are marketed as free. This is usually a lie. They always require you spend some portion of money from paying for shipping and handling, to purchasing from their registry, to buying a membership subscription. Nothing in the US is truly free, we’d do well not to forget this. That said, some of the boxes may be worth the hassle and expense to get.
It’s also important to note that most of the Baby Welcome Boxes are offered by companies also in exchange for your personal information. This information may or may not be used to target you in that company’s marketing campaigns or may be sold to third parties. If privacy is important, may sure to consider this before giving them your information.
Secondly, absolutely no baby welcome box is worth the amount the companies advertise. If they claim it’s worth $100, it’s likely worth only $25. They add in the total coupon savings that’s often included but coupons hold no actual value when they’re not for things we actually need or would use.
Below, we listed the baby welcome boxes from least to most worth it.
Walmart Baby Welcome Box
Walmart’s baby welcome box has been sold out for months/years and we have no hope for it ever coming back in stock. We wouldn’t waste time checking their site, reports on Reddit state that members who were able to register their information hadn’t received anything even months later. Pregnancy waits for no company!
Target Baby Welcome Box
Target is almost as illusive as Walmart’s welcome box. One must create a registry and go in person to pick it up. This makes it difficult because they’re often in low stock or sold out. To get ours, we tried at our home Target twice before calling around. The only way it could possibly worth a trip to a Target further away is if you were already going to drive by it. In our case, we were driving back from the day at the lake and took a short 5 minute detour to a different Target.
So what exactly is in it?
- 5ml gripe water (there have been recalls and there are age restrictions on this so do your research before using)
- 20ml Palmer’s cocoa butter formula for stretch marks (check with EWG)
- 8.5g Pedialyte an electrolyte powder containing 6g of sugar so be mindful of diabetes
- 3.96g Aquaphor healing ointment for baby (check with EWG)
- 29ml Aveeno baby wash & shampoo (check EWG)
- 11.5g triple paste for diaper rash (check EWG)
- 1 Boogie Wipes unscented
- 10 WaterWipes UK wipes, came open and dried out due to flaw in the sample package design
- 10 Honest wet wipes (EWG verified)
- 16 Huggies wet wipes (check EWG)
- 3 Huggies diapers
- 1 Millie Moon “luxury” diaper
- 13.3ml bottle and dish soap
- 4oz plastic Dr Brown’s anti-colic baby bottle
- 120 ml plastic Philips baby bottle
- 2 Breastmilk storage bags and 2 disposable nursing pads from Lansinoh
- 1 load of Dreft laundry scent beads
Amazon Baby Welcome Box
Requires Prime membership and minimum order from registry. While it has various requirements, it was by far the easiest and fastest box to get.
- 1 Oeko-Tex 3-6m bodysuit
- 1 SwaddleMe 0-3m swaddle
- 20ml Palmer’s cocoa butter skin therapy oil (check with EWG)
- 20ml Palmer’s cocoa butter formula for stretch marks (check with EWG)
- 3.96g Aquaphor healing ointment for baby (check with EWG)
- 29ml CeraVe baby moisturizing lotion (check with EWG)
- 29ml CeraVe baby wash & shampoo (check with EWG)
- 120 ml plastic Philips baby bottle
- 1 plastic Dr Talbot’s anti-colic bottle
- 1 Dr Talbot’s silicone pacifier
- 2 Breastmilk storage bags and 2 disposable nursing pads from Lansinoh
- 59ml HYPO3 skin cleanser diaper rash spray (check with EWG)
Babylist Baby Welcome Box
An order minimum from their store and shipping and handling are necessary for this box. Compared to Target, depending on what you purchase to meet the order minimums it may or may not be worth it!
- 20ml Palmer’s cocoa butter skin therapy oil (check with EWG)
- 20ml Palmer’s cocoa butter formula for stretch marks (check with EWG)
- 10g Aquaphor 3 in 1 diaper rash cream (check with EWG)
- 50ml Pipette baby lotion (EWG verified)
- 3.5g Desitin max strength diaper rash paste (check EWG)
- 1 top knot cap
- 1 Parker Baby Co bib
- 1 Colored Organics newborn short sleeved bodysuit
- 1 silicone fridababy finger toothbrush
- 1 silicone nanobebe pacifier
- 10 Honest wet wipes (EWG verified)
- 1 Parasol diaper
- 2 Breastmilk storage bags and 2 disposable nursing pads from Lansinoh
- 1 plastic MAM anti-colic bottle
- 1 MAM pacifier (material unknown, might be silicone)
Overall in terms of value, I believe it’s important to note the baby welcome boxes are subject to change and what we received may not be what others have or will receive. It’s notable that Amazon did not include any diapers or wipes, something that Target excelled in. Want to learn more about the cost of having a baby in the US? Check out our latest post here.
