Category: Britax

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Babies Baby Gear Britax High Chair Nook Sleep Shopping Stokke

How to be posh within your budget..

blog-shoppingI love premium products. As I said in my “About” section, I really do believe that for many children’s products, you get what you pay for. However, sometimes the pricey items are not in your budget, but they are something you love or the style you want. The good news is – there are honestly quality solutions for all budgets. Sure, it may not be the item you wanted.. but it will look and often function quite similarly. Sometimes they are even made by the same companies.

For instance, the Nook Pebble crib mattress. It’s gorgeous and innovative. It’s free of harsh chemicals, not to mention soft and comfortable.. (Yet still safe and secure for baby!) Their bright colors and fabulous features come at a steep price point, though. ($395) Many people scoff. However, Nook Sleep Systems designed a crib mattress with most of the same features (Some of the limitations include only being 1-sided and white being the only color option..) but roughly half the of price.. ($195) The CloudSleeper is available only at Target.com. It’s still slightly more expensive than your typical plastic covered, hard-as-a-rock crib mattress.. but again, you get what you pay for and the price difference between the CloudSleeper and a traditional crib mattress is minimal.

Another brand with options in multiple price market’s is Britax. Their infant car seat, the Chaperone, is well loved and envied by many.. though some couldn’t (or didn’t want to) spend that much on an infant car seat. ($229.99) So, Britax released a second infant car seat with a lower price point, the B-Safe seat. Same Britax safety, same Britax styles.. slightly more affordable. ($179) They even make that specific car seat in BOB Stroller fabrics. ($199.99) Very nice.

Then we venture to other brands that don’t have multiple price tiers for their gear… for those items, you can often find other brands who make very similar products within a more affordable price range. As I’ve stated multiple times, I am in love with the Stokke Tripp Trapp. It’s highly functional, has multiple uses and grows with your child. In my opinion, it’s fairly priced.. ($249.99) but I understand that fair does not always mean affordable. There are a few other high chairs on the market with close to the same style and the same “grow with you” idea. The Keekaroo Height Right ($189.95) is a similar idea with a slightly more affordable price. The Badger Basket Embassy Wood high chair with tray is another one at a significantly lower price than both of the above. ($139.99) Again, fairly similar.. Personally, I would still go with the established quality of the Stokke Tripp Trapp.. but if you want the look on a budget, these are some options.

Cribs are another vastly priced market. The modern style is super trendy right now, but the price tags on many of them make even me cringe. Take for instance the Oeuf Sparrow. Gorgeous. Modern. Would work in just about any nursery. The price, however, wouldn’t work in most of budgets. ($760) For a similar look for about half the price, you can find the Babyletto Hudson 3-in-1. ($379)

The process even works in reverse.. Lets take bouncy seats. We all know of the crazy selection of decently priced bouncy seats. In the basic market, my favorite is the Graco Simple Snuggles Bouncer ($54.99) — but what if you want something nicer? You may be more interested in the Chicco I-Feel Rocker. ($99.99) Still not enough? Perhaps you are more drawn in by the Baby Bjorn Baby Sitter Balance. ($199.99) Close.. but perhaps not modern enough? There’s still a bouncer for you. The Bloom Coco Plexistyle is the perfect posh accent. ($350)

If you have a style in mind or find a product that you absolutely adore but can’t necessarily afford, do some research. There may be something very similar but at a more wallet friendly price. If there is a product you desire, but want something a little more premium… there are options for you as well. Research is critical — You never know what you may find!!

Is there a premium baby product out there that you wish you could find a cheaper version of? Which one? Are there premium products out there that you would never buy a cheaper version of?

Categories
Babies Baby Gear Britax Orbit Stokke

When ‘the best’ suddenly becomes too popular..

As you all know, I aim to obtain the best possible items for myself and my children. This tends to result in slightly more expensive.. and slightly more prestigious brands. This usually means I won’t see them everywhere I go. At least, that’s what it once meant.

Lately, my love for Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags has become less of an obsession, and more of just a love for the brand, simply because they are everywhere now. Don’t get me wrong, this is fabulous for Petunia. I could not be more happy that a fabulous brand is doing so well and I do continue to buy their products. Only, now I find myself buying more of their other products and less of their diaper bags. I don’t want something that every other person has. It’s just not my style. Am I still loyal to them? Yes. Just perhaps in less-than-typical ways. This same “sheeple” moment came to me in regards to my beloved stroller.

We recently took a multi-family vacation to Disneyland. With us came our Baby Jogger City Select stroller. While its function at Disneyland will be featured in another, more helpful.. less vanity-induced, post… The stroller in and of itself is the subject of this post. The decision to purchase that stroller two years ago (!!!) did not come easily for me. I researched high and low, compared and contrasted all of its uses.. heck.. I even owned a competing stroller simultaneously before finally settling on the City Select as my “it” stroller. Not quite my perfect match.. but pretty darn close.

So, there we are.. Unloading our stroller from the hotel shuttle. About to embark on an amazing vacation with friends. My husband gets it all unfolded and set up and we begin to walk towards the park entrance. I look left. “Oh, hey look! Someone else has our stroller! They even have the second seat!” I said to my husband. That was pretty cool, right? Then I looked to my right. “Ohhh.. look at that. Another one. I don’t like it in red. Glad we got black.”

We weaved our way through the gate and I again, to my right, see another one. This time in the diamond color. I hadn’t seen that color yet. “Pretty cool, though.. my children would have that fabric stained in 2 minutes,” I thought to myself.

Then it hit me. Every time I turned around. Looked left or right.. there it was. Most of them in the same simple black color. Most of them with the second seat attached. I found myself switching up the seat configuration just so I could easily determine which stroller was mine when parked in the sea of strollers outside each ride. Just as I am with Petunia Pickle Bottom, I am SO thrilled for Baby Jogger. When we first bought ours, no one had really heard of it. People would stop and ask me about it all the time. So seeing them in such an abundance? The love was starting to wear off for me.

As I glanced around.. there were two other strollers almost as populous as our City Select. Those being the Britax B-Ready (The other modular stroller we once owned and is now owned by the other family we vacationed with!) and the Joovy Caboose. By the end of the 2nd day in the park, I looked at my husband and said “It’s time for a new stroller.” He knew what I was getting at. There are other brands of strollers I have wanted for a while, so I found myself looking around to see how many of them I saw and how they looked in function. What better place to look at strollers than Disneyland? It’s a less creepy form of people watching, right? I started observing.. how do they maneuver in the sea of people. Was it stable? How much *ehem* crap can it hold? (I have three children for heavens sake. It takes a lot of stuff to keep kids happy for several hours on end!)

These observations have now put two strollers on the top of my list for possible purchases after the new year. You know, when my bank account recovers from Disneyland and Christmas.

  • One of those strollers I have mentioned on this blog before: The Orbit G2. I watched someone set their Orbit stroller up after getting off a shuttle.. whew, it looked so easy. That alone ignited more lust for it than I had before. I saw a few of them.. but in contrast to the other three brands, it really wasn’t many. I even saw one with a color kit on it which was fabulous. It maneuvered the crowd of people pretty well.. I spotted one with their Side-Kick board and side panniers. They had a lot of stuff in those side panniers! Perfect. The stroller bag underneath easily comes off to be removed for safe keeping of personal belongings when getting on rides. I was impressed with it’s usefulness. And let’s face it.. for it’s lack of over-population. Add to that the fact that we currently have two Orbit Toddler G2 car seats, it would be a nice possible investment for us.
  • The other stroller is not new to my lust-list.. but it is new to my current list of stroller obsession: The Stokke Xplory. (Oh heaven help my husband!) When I saw that stroller easily being maneuvered through the crowd after the infamous Disneyland fireworks, I was quite impressed. It’s one of the few times I have ever stopped what I was doing to stare at a stroller. I only saw two of them while we were there. I’m sure there were more, but the fact that I only noticed two means they weren’t nearly as infiltrating – and trust me, if you saw one you’d notice it. It’s gorgeous, sleek and modern. It stands tall, but not too tall.. Which, for short people like us.. is nice. The last thing I want to have to think is  “Hey, does this stroller make my legs look short?” hahaha. After seeing its ease of use in the park, I looked into it more back at the hotel. Would it be a reasonable purchase? Would it hold enough stuff? Would it be practical with a preschooler as well as a toddler? What sort of extras are available? Is it as customize-able as the Orbit? How travel-friendly is it? (Uhh.. again, I will address this in another blog post.. but my Baby Jogger may be less-than-travel-friendly…) My research found that they, too, have a stand-on/boogie-board type attachment for the Xplory (perfect!) and the storage bag seems to hold quite a bit and is also removable. It looks to be quite versatile in it’s function modes. (Two wheeled and pulled behind you??? Awesome!)  Plus — it’s rarely discounted price tag still keeps it in quite an elite market. I like that. I also am in love with the Black Milange fabric option. It’s gorgeous and classically modern.

So, there you have it. The ugly side of this elite-baby-gear addicted mama. I can’t help it. While I do ever-so-love my Baby Jogger City Select, and I’m so thrilled that they took off in a big way.. I can’t help but be turned off from its newly found commonness. It does, however, go to show that more and more parents are choosing to invest in more premium strollers. Even in this economy. It’s a wonderful thing for high end baby gear companies as well as those stores that sell them. I’m excited for my next stroller investment, too.

Now let me hear it. Have you ever been turned off from a more premium product because of its sudden popularity? (Coach bags, anyone?) Does vanity ever control your purchases?

Categories
Babies Baby Gear Britax Clek Lela Orbit Shopping

A peek into how I shop for big purchases..

I am currently at that dreaded point in my baby’s life that I have to begin to search for the next stage of car seat. He’s 15 months, however, he is roughly the size of a 6-9 month old baby. Or — that is what the tag on the inside of his only-recently-fitting clothes says, anyway. (What gives? Babies much younger than mine are towering him in size. He is the mini-me to their Incredible Hulk!) So, at 15 months, he still has a lot of room to grow in his infant car seat, however, not needing the “convenience” of the handle and “carrier” style of the car seat, it’s time to move on.

Knowing that it will likely take me a while to decide, I have been looking into the latest convertible car seats for a while. Now that I’ve narrowed it down to 3-5 that I really like, it comes down to safety, longevity and best value for the price. (Note: this does not by any means mean cheapest. It means, am I getting the most feature for my money?)

My other two kids have always ended up in Britax car seats. The baby’s infant car seat is a Britax Chaperone, but that doesn’t mean that I will stick with Britax necessarily. Yes, Britax is known for their fairly advanced safety features and quality. They also offer me a wide variety of models that can leave my baby rear facing for many different lengths of time. These models also offer many different price points for me to choose from. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for with Britax. Their seats are very fairly priced and the increase in price from model to model definitely represents the increase in features and longevity. The Britax at the top of my list is the Boulevard 70-G3. This seat will allow him to rear-face to 40 lbs, which is more than my nearly 4-year-old weighs and barely less than my almost 7-year-old. After that, it forward faces to 70 lbs. He could be in this for a long time! It’s designed to optimize head safety, which is a huge plus. It’s also a good value for the features, currently ranging from $240-$320 depending on where you find it. They have other models above this one that I looked at, however, the size range is pretty much the exact same, but their prices were more, so this model outweighed the other’s simply because of the value.

Outside of Britax, a few other brands have caught my attention enough for me to look into them. A few have made my list of possible seats for my tiny cargo. The first; the Orbit G2 Toddler seat. And no, this did not just make my list because I lust after the stroller. (Though, the toddler car seat can be used on the stroller! Optimal for travel and car-sleepers!) I love that unlike a lot of car seats on the market, Orbit is not swarming with harmful chemicals that our children are forced to inhale. It also gives you the option of using it rear-facing with a base, allowing it to come in and out of the car with ease, and rotation to make loading baby in and out simple as well. This seat can rear-face from 15-35 lbs which for some kids isn’t an extraordinary amount of time, but my almost 4-year-old still falls into the category of fitting this seat rear-facing. It also forward faces to 65lbs and 53″ which, again, even my nearly-7-year-old would still fit in. (Though, I have heard that the seated height is not very accommodating for children with taller torsos.. however, this is not an issue for my children.) With it’s rarely discounted price tag of $380 without a base, and $500 with a base, it does make me weigh its features a little more. It’s “green” status definitely solidifies its worth and its price, to me at least. Having the option of paying more for the convenience of the base is a great perk, though. I don’t have to buy the base and can save a bit of money that way.

Then comes the Clek Foonf. Ohhhh, any car seat with a German name deserves my attention! (They also have one named Oobr. Virtual high five to Clek!) Outside of it’s completely awesome name, what caught my attention was this seats width. Under 17″ at it’s widest point, and 13″ at the base! They were posting a variety of pictures of their seat in countless models of cars, 3 across, safely! What?!? And the range of size for rear-facing is phenomenal. 25-46″ and 14-50 lbs??? Not only could my baby and almost-4-year-old rear-face… but so could my almost-7-year-old?!? Insane. It then can forward face to 49″ and 65 lbs. Height wise, not the longest when forward facing.. but well within reason for my vertically challenged children. (Point of reference, my oldest is nearly 7 and roughly 45″ tall.) The Clek Foonf is also a “green” car seat, with outstanding safety features. However, my one (and only.. really) big snafoo with this seat is its price. Between $474-$499 depending on color/print. (As much as I love the Paul Frank print.. I struggle..) Worth the price? I’m fairly certain it would be. Does it’s price outweigh the similar price on the G2 with a base? I don’t know for sure, but one thing I do know that makes me lean towards saying yes is – Clek decided purchase 100% of their materials from North American suppliers. Including final assembly. Amazing. I do have one hesitation, and that is the fact that, while Clek’s booster seats have been on the market for a while now, this car seat is not yet released. (Due to release this October, 2012) The lack of long-term usage information is slightly (very slightly!) weighing on my decision.
So… Now you’ve gotten inside my mommy-shopper head. You can all feel bad for my husband now. He has to listen to these purchase debates on a regular basis. His answer has, so far, been “I don’t know. I’m sure whatever you choose is a good decision. Can I watch Grimm now?” He’s trusting, you see. Well, trusting and smart. He knows my decision will win regardless. (He learned quickly after naming 3 little boys..)

We’ll be making this purchase in the next month or two, so watch for a post with my decision.. and how I settled upon that particular seat. As you can see, it’s going to be a doozy of a decision. Haha.

What car seats are you considering? Does your purchase process look like mine? Don’t forget, you can always go check out Lela.com for more car seat recommendations and reviews!

Note: I am not a car seat expert. Just a mom, shopping for a car seat the best that I can with the safety and well being of my children in mind. Most of us moms are not car seat experts, so we weigh the information that is provided to us. I recommend doing your research and selecting the best car seat you can with the information that the manufacturers provide to you. Best of luck in your purchases!