NOTE:  I am starting a new category called “LOVE IT!”  In the past I have reviewed other new products that I found and loved at trade shows, so I decided to just make a general category called LOVE IT! where I review some of the great things I find in my wanderings.

I have been meaning to write this review since June, so here it finally is in October.

I am lucky enough to share some floor space with Sweet Seat.  They are my next-door-neighbor at Kids World Studios in the DMC.  Everything about their booth captured my immediate attention.

But before I begin let me ask you a question?  How many high chairs have you bought for your kids?  I have four kids, and I have bought four.

For Baby #1 we bought the cheapest high chair at Baby-R-Us.  It cost about $90, and lasted for 1 1/2 kids.  At that point a small plastic piece broke and the tray would slide off without warning.  Obviously very dangerous.  I sold it for $1 at a garage sale as I figured maybe someone could find a way to screw the plastic tray on permanently.  Then when they checked out, I was so worried, that I re-explained the situation and gave it to them free.

Baby #2: At about 9 months, the high chair broke, so we went high chair shopping again.  We reasoned that since we had bought the cheapest high chair, we needed to upgrade.  We went mid-grade with a high chair priced around $150.  It had a soft cloth liner.  I reasoned that it might be harder to clean, but at least it wouldn’t be plastic that ripped and poked soft, bare, baby skin.  It also lasted 1 1/2 kids.  This high chair was still structurally sound, but every other part had  gotten stained so badly that I couldn’t wash the stains out.  Now I am the type of person that will take my high chair outside and use bleach on it (about once a year.)

Baby # 3:  Poor Eloise.  She survived all the hand-me-downs and a stained up high chair.  I also didn’t like the large footprint that it left in our small kitchen–meaning all the floor space it took up.  Our next high chair was going to be compact and put-away-able.

Baby #4:  I decided that even though he might be our last baby, I would get a high chair that the “grandkids” could use.  Times were better, and I bought a Euro-Urban chair that could fold up and fit in a closet.  It also boasted a removable plastic tray THAT COULD GO IN THE DISHWASHER!!   I had arrived.  I had the coolest, most fold-able, most sleek, most expensive high chair.  It cost us $300ish.  The problem was that the wonderful plastic tray that “could sustain dishwasher temperatures without warping” couldn’t fit in our dishwasher.  I don’t think it could fit in any dishwasher.  And all of those wonderful folds that made the high chair fit in our broom closet?  All of them collected spilt baby food, and raisins, and Cheerios, and crumbs, and goo, and gunk.  Cleaning our folding high chair was a full day’s work.  And all of the handy-dandy plastic that I was supposed to be able to just “wipe clean” ripped.  A couple of months ago we just set it by the side of the road for some Dumpster Diver.  (If you have ever Dumpster Dived you gotta read this post!)

Okay.  That is the history.  Now let me introduce you to Sweet Seats.

The first thing that ran through my mind when I saw these boosters was, “How perfectly vintage-cute!”  And my second thought was, “Didn’t grandma have a booster similar to this that I used at her table?”  Then I remembered a chair similar to the yellow on the bottom row middle.  Grandma’s was solid gold, and had gold vinyl buttons on it.  I think.

Sweet Seats have no “safety straps”.   Kids just sit in them.  Now I have cut or removed every “safety strap” on all four of my high chairs.  They just seemed to collect goo, and I rarely had my baby in the high chair without me also being in the kitchen.  Besides, it always seemed a bit like I was always “strapping my kid” into or out of something.  I wanted my kids to have “wiggle room.”

Sweet Seats are portable.  They are the kiddos own.  The seat is heavy enough to have that “solidly made” feel,  but light enough for a two-year old to lug into the living room and sit on while playing trains, or lug into the backyard for a tea party, or lug into a corner with a favorite book.

(Aren’t the florals “to die for?”)

Girls love them.

Boys use them.

Mamas decorate with them.

And Daddies are just happy that everyone is quiet.

Now for the details.

• They are hand-made in Texas by a Mama and a Papa.  This Mama sews and this Papa  molds plastic.  They also have four kids that they homeschool, and a large garden, and. . . .and. . . and.
• They are durable.  They wipe clean.  They are portable.  They are personal.
• They have been featured in several magazines and have won several awards.  http://www.sweet-seat.com/press/.
• They cost $84.00.
• You can order them online at http://www.sweet-seat.com/.
•   They are really nice people.  I know because we sat together for 8 days, and I enjoyed the time.  (If you are counting kids, they had one more this past August.)

So that is my sneak peek at Sweet Seats!  Buy one 😉

–rebecca

P.S.  Remember this is my review.  If I got some detail wrong, blame me not Sweet Seats.

P.S.S.  All of my kiddos learned how to climb out of their high chairs and cribs.  Bare that in mind when you cut out the safety straps.

P.S.S.S.  All of my kiddos still in one piece today, and still climbing!