Usually my wallet and high quality furniture design don't match.
However Angelli was our first child and we really liked the look of the Stokke Tripp Trapp. It is very unique in terms of shape and form.
The way this chair grows with our child is just what we needed.
What I was to learn over the next 4 year was that the Stokke Tripp Trapp is more than just a child's high chair. It's a design master-class that most other manufacturers could learn from.
It starts when your little one is very small and then grows with the child changing from a high chair to a comfortable seat which supports the baby as they grow. It has a foot rest that can move as the child gets bigger this means that Angelli's spine is always supported by her feet on a surface.
This growing with the child also means that cost wise it actually works out cheaper than buying a lower quality model which will only last about 6-12months.
In other high chairs that Angelli has sat in when we were out in restaurants I would see her slouch over but this never happened in the Tripp Trapp. I never even thought about the slouching until I said to my daughter that maybe it was time to think about giving her chair to her new baby cousin as it still looked like new even after about 3 years of use. Her answer was "ok Daddy - but my shoulders hurt when I sit on your yours and mummy's chair".
That's when I put two and two together and looked at her sitting in her now favourite chair. she was sitting up straight. I'm not 100% sure that the Stokke Tripp Trapp has caused this good posture however she certainly equates the two.
As you can tell I love the Stokke Tripp Trapp, and most importantly so does my daughter.
As for any down sides.
There is the initial cost at the start. However with its great design which promotes sustainability as you only need one chair from start to any age you wish, we think we have spent less in the long run.
The design may not be everyone's taste, (My wife thinks I should have got a different colour). I personally think it's a future classic "doing more with less"
On the plus sides
The design (I love it, and most importantly my Daughter loves it).
Quality (It just seems to last - We now have had this chair for over 4 years and it looks as good as the day we brought it - The pen marks that my daughter wrote on it all wiped off with a damp cloth)
3 Year Warranty (I've not needed it but it was nice to know that it was there).
The colour range. (Something that everyone will like - Just maybe not everyone all liking the same colour but there is a massive choice).
My Daughter has always eaten with us at the table. (I've seen other high chairs with trays and to my knowledge there isn't a tray for the Tripp Trapp, at least there wasn't when we asked when we first purchased the chair. We thought this would be a minus as we both expected Angelli to make a mess however as she sat with us she was much calmer and she saw by watching myself and my wife how she was expected to behave while eating. Every parent will know that toddlers love imitating and a child imitating two mild mannered parents while eating is a god send at meal times).
Most importantly my daughter is happy in the chair. (After all it's her chair and not mine as she will only be too quick to remind me. As parents we want our children to be happy and it's rare for a child to get enthusiastic about furniture, however she loves letting other children sit in her seat as she shows them how it looked when she was a baby and then she adjusts it and says this is how it was when I was aged 2).