pregnancy bargains??

I got my monitor with the breathing sensor, night light and room thermometer for 90 euro in TK Maxx! Same one was 150 euro in Mothercare.

I went to the Kiddicare shop place in England while I was over there and actually found them to be quite expensive!

We got a great deal on our Quinny from Pramworld.co.uk, but I know that they have gotten alot cheaper over here now too as my friend picked up the same package for pretty much the same as what we had paid for ours.

We got a lot from Mothercare as we had attended one of their info evenings and got a 10% discount card which saved us loads!

Borrow what you can from friends and family too if you can! Things like the baby bath and a moses basket. They cost a fortune for what they are and they get used for such a short period of time.

Don't go mad buying clothes either, just the essesntials. You'll find that you'll be given so much when the babs is born that half of it will only be worn once if at all!

I was told all of this but of course we didn't listen. I can see now that experienced mammies know best! Oh well

Happy Shopping

Have to agree with crazycat on TK Maxx, you'd be surprised at the gear they have - bouncers, sterilisers, grobags, maternity pillows. I didn't even know they did baby stuff!

I did a lot of looking on kiddicare and other websites and to be honest, the Irish retailers seem to be making a big effort to compete with the North and the net on sterling. I ended up buying my cot and buggy in a local shop after spending hours online.

cbyrd wrote: »

Just a quick one on bottles, the avent are €16.99 in boots and €12 for the same one in tesco.. doesn't make sense!

+1 on the borrrow as much as you can especially moses basket and baby bath, my lad is 9 weeks old and moving on up to the bigger bath and into the cot tonight!! :eek:

Avent do 3 different quality of bottles. The most expensive are kinda gold/tea stained looking, the standard are clear and the cheapest are a bit kinda milky/cloudy looking. We have found that the most expensive ones are useless and leak all the time! They aren't even being used anymore they're that bad!

Megan was only in her crib for just under 6 weeks. Fortunately my SIL is expecting so she'll be borrowing it. I feel like things were less of a waste of money if I can lend them to someone! If I'd known then what I know now (that I was having a giant baby!) I would've bypassed the crib alltogether and gone straight for the cot!

Just to add to the baby bargains thing, there is a place on the Murrough in Wicklow Town called Baby Care which do reasonably priced stuff and are always having half price sales. I don't know if they have a website or not but if they are local to you it might be worth a look!

phaidi wrote: »

does any one know where there are any shops or websites that have good bargains for all your pregnancy needs.... cots, strollers, car seats etc.:)

Some of the Byrnes World of Wonder stores are closing down and have great bargains in their nursery section.
My sister picked up a Cossatto Changing unit reduced from €200 to €70

I had most of my stuff bought a few months ago so didn't look at much else though everything is reduced down in the closing stores (Waterford & Kilkenny are the 2 I know of, not sure where their other stores are)

I got beautiful crochet blankets on www.etsy.com ($15 + $10 shipping)

Michael Guineys are great for cheap cellular blankets and sheets

Lidl were doing car seats 2 weeks ago for €45

I'm currently not working and what I done was write down everything I needed(right down to sudocream and vaseline lol) and put it on a spreadsheet. Then I went online and checked out Tesco for toiletries, Smyths, Mothercare, Kiddicare etc. Wrote the prices in the columns beside it. Also check out the English websites to see if its cheaper up north

Then printed this out went around to various shops and checked out special offers that were on and also just prices they were charging this meant that for every item I new which place was the best to buy it at. As found some places charged mad money for extras like a mattress when buying cot.

Reckon I saved a good few 100 by doing this. It was time consuming and a bit of work but it felt good knowing that I was not getting ripped off and also I was able to buy everything just as cheap down south as up the north, so felt like I was doing my bit for recession lol

Pity we can't do a swap shop here for the things we don't need anymore, like moses baskets and baths, babygros and stuff..

I agree ani_mal, most of my baby stuff I either bought or sourced online.
I didn't have the patience towards the end of my pregnancy for going to the shops between working full time and being heavily pregnant.
I did the same as you, got a lovely Quinny buggy on adverts.ie for €150, a beautiful mahogany cot from add.ie for €200 (original retail on it is €1600 :eek:), a big box of clothes from America (ebay) for €100.

Like you said, baby stuff like clothes are only really used a handful of times so once looked after they're like new.

I agree that the baby bag prices are mad, I absolutely love the 'yummy mummy' & 'Ju ju' bags they're gorgeous, I just couldn't justify the €70+ price tag!

ani_mal wrote: »

that's a great price. but for breastfeeding you need night dress with good V-neck or with buttons. I do not recommend buying one without it and then pull it all the way up for feeding (when you breastfeed)

Penneys have ones with the v-neck and the buttons! I got two for £7 in Dunnes last week, presume they have them in the south too.

Oh, and Dunnes have lovely soft cellular blankets for €8 (I think).

Not a bargain as such but if anyone needs a christening dress, a friend gave me a little white dress with little bloomers under it & matching hat.
Its size 0 - 3 months. If anyone is interesyed in it they're welcome to it for free, just let me know & I'll bring it to the bumps & babies meet next week.

Its a gorgeous little dress & I'd hate to see it go to waste but I already have a christening dress bought for my little lady.
I'll attach a pic in a few mins when I find the camera

Pics of the dress...

Thats lovely having a family dress to use I have no idea what happened to the one used for my sister and I, it would've been nice to use a family one.

Though I got an absolutely gorgeous one online so can't complain
The plan would be if no. 2 is a girl I can use it for her also, if not my sister has already put dibs on it for her future children! That, the cot, pram etc