Chicco Pocket Snack review

Key features

• Plastic booster seat with tray that attaches to an adult chair with straps

• Can be used from six months (sitting unaided) to about three years or 15kg

• Adjustable height and tray distance

• Three-point lap harness

• Comes in four colours

• Complies with EU safety standard EN 16120:2012+A2:2016

Pros

• Attaching this seat to a chair rather than a table means more flexibility when travelling away from home

• Comes pre-assembled – can be set up in minutes

• Height and tray adjustability means the highchair continues to fit as the child grows

• Dishwasher-safe tray and easy-to-clean plastic seat

• Folds down to handbag size, with shoulder strap

Cons

• Bright plastic aesthetic not to everyone’s taste

• Can’t be used without an adult dining chair to hold it – not convenient for everyone’s dining situation

• Seat doesn't recline

What are the specs?

• Open dimensions: L 34 x H 35.5/49 x W 36 cm

• Folded dimensions: L 34 x H 10 x W 36 cm

• Weight: 2.36 kg

• Maximum load: 15kg

• Materials: BPA-free plastics; canvas straps

• RRP: £30

How easy is the Chicco Pocket Snack booster seat to purchase and assemble?

The Pocket Snack is widely available everywhere, from Mothercare to Argos to Amazon to John Lewis, at a brilliantly purse-friendly £30. There are no extras to buy and the box it comes in is small enough for anyone to handle – only 35cm x 38cm – so you shouldn’t have any difficulty tracking one down or getting it home.

On opening the box, you’ll find the Pocket Snack almost completely pre-assembled. You’ll need to unfold the legs and chair back, click in the straps around your adult dining chair, and click on the tray to the right distance. You can adjust the height of the booster in three positions, each making an obvious ‘click’ to show it’s in position.

The instructions include text and illustrations and can be downloaded from Chicco’s website. Other manufacturers, such as Argos, have produced assembly videos for extra help, but our tester, Katrĩna, found the process very intuitive regardless. It’s a five-minute, no-tool assembly that should have you lunch-ready in no time.

Chicco offers a two-year warranty on all their products that covers manufacturing defects – not including damage from normal wear and tear. Spare trays and harnesses can be bought from Chicco’s official spares website, and there’s a customer service phone number and email address if you’d like to speak to a team member.

Chicco have designed the Pocket Snack to fit ‘most’ dining chairs – you’ll need one that’s at least 28cm wide, 32cm deep and 28cm high.

How does it look?

The Pocket Snack has a recognisable baby equipment aesthetic – bright and plasticky with three rainbow-hued colourways, although it does also come in a muted grey, which is the colour we tested, if that suits you better.

It’s not the best looker in the world and it’s not as stylish as its closest competitor, the Mountain Buggy Pod, but it’s affordable, low-maintenance and flexible as well.

What’s the Chicco Pocket Snack highchair like to use?

It’s not possible to unfold the Pocket Snack one-handed, as it needs to be secured before your baby can use it, but once in place it’s as convenient and unobtrusive as the dining chair it sits on.

The height is adjustable (three positions) and it’s an easy fix to switch between them – though since it relies on a dining chair for support, it can’t recline.

The tray takes two hands to click into place, but is easily done, and also has three adjustable positions to keep the baby secure as they grow. Alternatively, you can dispense with the tray and park your child at the table with you as Katrĩna did – often a more attractive prospect for toddlers wanting to sit with the rest of the family.

The plastic seat is wide enough so it’s not constrictive, although longer mealtimes would likely be more comfortable if there were a cushion insert (Chicco don’t supply one).

With no moulded plastic shell for the child’s legs, it’s very easy to slip them in and out. This does mean that only the three-point harness holds your child’s legs in place, but the harness is solid and secure enough that this doesn’t present a problem.

Adjusting the harness is a simple matter of pulling the straps tight to the shoulders after clicking together. The tray might make it more difficult to put a toddler into the seat, especially when wearing hard-soled shoes – though, in practice, our tester’s 33-month-old toddler much preferred to use the seat without the tray.

Disassembly can be done in minutes and the Pocket Snack folds down to an extremely convenient handbag size, with a shoulder strap for easy transport. Katrĩna found it a perfect, unobtrusive accessory for visiting grandparents, restaurants or friends without children.

How safe is it?

One of the great advantages of the Pocket Snack is that, secured off the floor and tucked next to the table, it’s never in the way. There’s no trip hazard and a greatly reduced chance of toddlers bumping their heads on their way through the kitchen.

The booster is secured to the chair by two straps – one around the chair back and one underneath the seat. It’s easy to tighten the straps and they feel secure once in place. The harness and tray mechanism also feel solidly unmoving, but watch out for little fingers getting pinched as you adjust the tray position.

During the resilience tests, the Pocket Snack was dropped repeatedly onto a hard floor and came out with only a few scratches – impressive for such a lightweight piece of kit. The tray, too, was dropped numerous times with no damage at all.

Whether your child can push themselves over while in the booster will likely depend on the solidity of the chair you’ve attached it to, but our tester’s children (the youngest being nine months old) never managed it.

Is the Pocket Snack easy to clean?

An all-plastic highchair almost always scrubs up well and the Pocket Snack is no exception. The removable tray is dishwasher-safe, and the main booster apparatus can be wiped down in seconds, returning it to pristine condition.

Hardened porridge didn't stick to the seat during testing, although a bit of scrubbing was needed on the harness, and Bolognese stains couldn’t be seen after being left and then scrubbed off.

Final verdict?

It’s not the most stylish of all the highchairs in our testing group, but the Chicco Pocket Snack manages that rare combination of being equally useful both at home and on the go. Also, the height and tray adjustment is a useful touch missing from many other budget options, like the IKEA Antilop.

Attaching the Pocket Snack to a chair rather than clipping it to the table (like you need to do with the Mountain Buggy Pod) means that you’ll likely be able to use it wherever you go, and the compact fold and shoulder strap make it easy to transport too.

All that and it’s only £30 – a great, budget-friendly option for a wide range of families.

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All prices correct at time of publication