As someone said depends on audience, if you have lots of people coming who have kids/ know about kids you may get more useful gifts by having no list/registry. If people are not yet in the 'world' of children a list or registry might work much better. The first couple of baby showers I went to I was clueless about children so without direction would have got something totally useless. People seem to bring gifts even if you specify no gifts so having a list to avoid getting lots of stuff don't want doesn't seem presumptuous to me, maybe you can have a registry but say is for ideas only. (I didn't have a baby shower mainly because I didn't want any gifts and people can't be trusted to not bring any even when asked not to - have tested this theory at kids birthdays average of 50% of people respect wishes)