Etsy does not yet have a registry feature built into the site (though this Handmade Wedding Series is making us wish we did).  Some brides and grooms use their Favorites to heart items, which you can then use to generate an Etsy Mini to post on your blog or wedding website. However, we have tried out a few websites that allow you to curate registry lists, cobbled together from any online store you choose, including Etsy. We've noticed a bunch of these site popping up online these days.

• MyRegistry
• Wishpot
• Wists.com
• TheThingsIWant.com
• Felicite.com
• Kaboodle

And so the question arises, which one is best for me? We asked some Etsians to share their experiences...

skyfiregraphics uses thethingsIwant.com
Thethingsiwant.com is easy to use and can be used on any website worldwide. After signing up and creating your registry account, simply add your “thethingsiwant” button to the toolbar of your search engine and start shopping! Once you have found an Etsy item that you would like to add to your registry, just click the button in your toolbar. This will bring up a window that includes a photo of the item, the name of the item, as well as the price and any other information which is then saved in your registry. Your wishlist can be easily changed at any time.

Once someone purchases an item from your wish list, they can mark the item as purchased. This prevents others from purchasing multiple items from your gift registry. There are a variety of other features available at thethingsiwant.com that allow you to customize your wish list as well as move items around, delete or edit items, and even add notes to each item if you would like to include specific information such as color choice or size.

If you are looking for a way to create a gift registry or wish list that includes Etsy items as well as other items from the internet, thethingsiwant.com is a great way to organize all of your wished-for gifts together into one list without having to subscribe to multiple registries at selective online stores. Best of all, it’s free and easy to use!

pinklilypress uses Wists.com
Wists.com allows you to create and maintain a list of everything you desire, from any website, in one place. The website also makes it easy to share your “Wist” (short for “Web List”) with family and friends…Perhaps they’ll help you check off a few items?!

Like thethingsiwant.com, creating your own Wist involves two simple steps. Create a user name and account, and then drag the “Add to Wists” link they provide to your bookmarks tool bar in your browser.

When you find something you must have, click your “Add to Wists” button and you will be taken to a page where you will choose an image that best represents the item you are adding to your list. Wists also allows you to create a thumbnail screenshot, which is a neat option.

Once you have chosen a picture, you will be able to input a title, keywords, and notes about your item. This makes it easier to sort through your own Wist when your list starts growing, and also allows other Wist users to find your favorite items when searching Wist lists.


Wists.com provides users with a personal link (http://wists.com/username), making it easy to share your Wist with friends and family. Whether you are looking to create a wedding registry, your birthday wish list, or keep track of your most extravagant desires, Wists.com is an easy and fun online tool.


Anda uses MyRegistry
MyRegistry was really easy to set up. The site allows you to customize your registry with a photo and welcome message, and then choose from a limited number of slightly boring templates (so get creative with that photo). Once your registry is all ready to go, it's simple to add the MyRegistry button to your browser for on-the-fly gift adding, the same way you would with Wists or theThingsIWant.

Say you're looking at something cool on the web, like a sweet set of ceramic bowls on Etsy or some gorgeous appliqued pillows. Once you click the browser button, a window pops up allowing you to dynamically add the item to your virtual registry.

People viewing your registry are taken straight to wherever you first found the item when they go to buy something, and it is then shipped to the address you have on file. You can also add a link to a PayPal account for those awesome cash gifts that magically begin arriving as soon as people find out you're getting hitched. (I actually had no idea giving money as a wedding gift was considered good luck until the PayPal transaction emails started appearing in my inbox.)

The MyRegistry pop-up is slightly glitchy in that it never seems to "guess" the appropriate photo of the item you're attempting to add on its own, forcing you to choose the correct image manually. Unlike Wists, it doesn't have the screenshot option. There is a text window for any special instructions (like color choices and whatnot). This was useful for the Etsy items I was adding, because I could add a note for people to check the shop further if an item had already sold.

The site also has a feature where once you decide to add an item, you have the option of first searching through their partner stores for the same thing at a lower price. This is cool if you're looking for the thriftiest option, not so useful if you're just trying to support a particular shop or online retailer — but I used it often for the various obscure and stupid kitchen utensils my husband and I were convinced we needed.

When I set out to create our registry, I felt I didn't really know what one was supposed to put in the thing in the first place. Well, the homepage of MyRegistry showcases about a billion items from about a billion sites all over the web. Initially its rather overwhelming, but in the long run a godsend for getting ideas. Or for putting ideas in my head, rather — I am kind of a sucker for advertising. Wists is not just for wedding registries, so its homepage tends to be more ecclectic.

I had a few relatives not "get" the whole concept and buy stuff featured in our registry off-site, which resulted in two duplicate gifts, but this would probably be an issue with any online registry, not just MyRegistry. Weirdly, MyRegistry does not give you a simple, individual url to print on all your announcements and such. Visitors have to first search your name, and then provide an email address before they can see your list. But in the end this was probably the most annoying thing about it — everything else was really a cinch, the registry was easy to edit, and the browser button was extremely addictive.

Vanessa uses Wishpot.com
Wishpot.com works like these other websites: you install the widget button in your browser toolbar and add items from any shopping site on the fly.  Very cool and useful to me, since I wanted to give my friends and family the option to get us registry gifts from Etsy and a few other choice websites. My main concern with using one of these new-fangled web registries was this: "Will my not-so-tech savvy relatives be able to find me?" And I must say, it's not so easy with Wishpot.
There's only a tiny link on the homepage that says "Find People" and the rest of the page is very oriented towards the bride.

When you click on "Find People" you have to then click again to "find a wedding registry." Alternatively you can navigate to the "Weddings" tab, and then enter in the name perfectly — which can be challenging when one's fiancé's name is Mykola Duzyj to his family and Mickey to all his friends!

This would all be a lot easier if the site just gave you a custom url, like Wists does.

It seems to me that Wishpot is a good option for couples who are into the social-networking side of things: the site tries to connect you with other brides-to-be and has other tools which feature hot items in "Top Registry ideas" and "Most Wanted" with sortable results.

Once folks get to your registry, I do like how they can filter and sort your list to hone in on a gift they'd like to buy.

Also useful: we could note that we didn't "need it" but we "wouldn't mind having" the crazy alarm clock aXbo Schlafphasenwecker, sort of an embarrassingly telling gift.

Like Anda said, once you get on a roll with one of these Wedding Registry sites, you end up wanting a lot more stuff than you'd previously thought.

You may also be interested in reading this post about registries written by design*sponge.  Comment below if you've used Felicite.com or Kaboodle.com or any other of these online registry sites. Which do you prefer? How badly do you want Etsy to develop a registry tool???

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