Need a highchair. All opinions welcome!

[EyeballsintheSky]

The way I see it, I have three options for a highchair for dd.

1. Ikea Antilop which everyone tells me is great and is about ninepence but is a plastic seat on four sticks.

2. Chunky plastic cheerful highchair with big tray suitable for smearing all kinds of everything all over.

3. Tripp Trapp which costs a fortune which we haven't really got but I could probably swing it but everyone also says is great and looks pretty funky.

Help please

We have the seats you tether onto a normal chair, can be taken anywhere, you can get a padded insert for them and they're cheap. Ours has lasted 4 years so far and is currently having twice the use as we've got twins.

Much less hassle than a big ole highchair.

trip trapp. We've had one which has lasted us for six years, through two kids - and probably will go for a couple more years till our youngest is four.

After that I'll try to sell it on Ebay, where it goes for about 40 quid less than we paid for it..

Do you see where I'm going with this?

One of these
with a padded insert from ebay (mothercare)

Well,
Aitch will come along and tell you the ikea one is the best thing ever and you're mad for getting anything that costs more than £15.

She's probably right, she said it to me, I ignored her, got a tripp trapp, and am delighted with it and love it.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Buy 2nd hand, then whatever you choose is ecofriendly.

We've got the chicco happy snack. Good price, easy to clean, seat reclines, padded seat cover which is removable, tray moves closer and further away and has a storage compartment underneath for wipes etc... although this bit is actually very handy for catching bits of food, useful plastic bit between legs that stops lo slidong off. Comes in lots of exciting colours too. Sil has one too and very happy with it.

Don't really like booster seats- depends how sturdy the chair is, my niece went over on hers when a baby.
I would say- not the plastic- tastci fold-up ones they are a bugger to clean.
Have an Antilop for camping- it's great but has a very large footprint and gets right in the way when in our kitchen.
Tripp trapps are fabbo, we have one, don't regret spending the money at all.
Those ones that screw to the table are pretty cool.John Lewis sell them, I think.That again would depend upon your table.

Get a booster chair.
It's cheaper in teh first instance, you don't need to get a booster when your DC refuses to sit in a higchair (cos it's for baaaaabies) you can take the tray off to clean it in the sink and it doesn't take up any more space than a normal chair, plus can be easily hidden
this ones the one we have as it meant DD2 could sit at the table with us with it reclining before she started weaning without being abandoned on teh floor while I ate!
I had a mamas and papas all bells and whistles one, it was a fecker to clean, wouldn't fold flat enough to go where I wanted it and had such a massive base I tripped over it the whole time!

Get the Antilop or plastic booster until DD about 18 months/2 years old. Then freecycle it and get a Tripp Trapp, you won't need the baby set by then.

Tripp trapps with baby sets/cushions are notoriously hard to clean. They come into their own for toddlers as the child can safely climb up/down from the seat, which they can't with a strap-on booster seat. Unless you have very heavy sturdy chairs, or a docile toddler that doesn't climb .

Thanks Bibi, now I've got a fourth option!

Happily you don't have an option 4 which is 'overpriced M&P highchair which looks nice, is a bastard to clean and will have no life whatsoever after child outgrows conventional highchair'. Ahem. Fortunately re-sale value was fairly good so not kicking myself too hard.

If I had my time again (creak) I'd have a Tripp Trapp, DD's booster is driving me scatty, I'd so much rather have her using something that she could climb in and out of without nearly killing herself. Its current setting is pointless, gives her about half an inch extra height, I tried to take it off but she put the bastard thing back on herself. Argh!

We have a svan. Bit like a tripp trapp lasted us and still looks good.

I'm with BibiThree - I had the First Years booster seat thingy with proper tray, cushion etc, from Mothercare, and it was one of the few unqualified successes of my parental purchasing career. EVEN MY SISTER WAS HAPPY TO HAVE IT PASSED ON TO HER and she has phenomenally high standards on everything.

I hate the bloomin Tripp Trapps. I live in quite a mumsy middle class area and it's an absolute pain in the backside sitting down in any of my friends' houses, there is 1 chair for them, 2 Tripp Trapps for their dcs (don't forget you have to buy MORE of them if you have more children) which I can't sit on, and 1 chair allegedly for their dhs which is usually covered in Boden catalogues. [cuckolded by Johnny emoticon]

Oh my goodness, this is going to take some thinking about! LOL DontCallMeBaby, I sense the whole highchair thing is a bit stressy!

I have had a new plastic and metal highchair (like this sort of thing) I have also had a cheapy plastic one I bought second hand, both a bugger to clean both have been chucked.

With a new baby due in October I have bought this in a carboot sale (but in excellant condition) It is a dream to clean and takes up less space and looks loads nicer. Go for wood and simple you will not regret it.

choosy, you are welcome here. We always keep a spare chair or two at the table for visitors. I do feel a bit embarrassed about being two-tripp-trapp family though. (slinks off to recycle Boden catalogues since I'm going to get sent 18 more versions before the sale anyway)

I found a booster seat a pain just used a cushion for dc's once they were bigger - they prefer it.

A little bit of me thinks that the wooden ones look fab but must be uncomfortable for little bottoms and backs?

Do I have to buy clothes from Boden if I get a Tripp Trapp? I'll have to factor that into the cost if so...

It's a high chair, not a lifestyle choice, thank goodness.
I don't think I read any enough sleb style magazines. I go for good design and function- wouldn't worry about what it supposedly says about me.
The cloth cushion for babyset is a bit of a pain as needs to go in the wash, but I didn't use it all that much. Wooden seats are comfy, I think. We have wooden chairs in our kitchen.

Ds has one like this which was about £50 from Argos when we got it. Dd1 has a similar one which was bought from a nearly new sale for £9 They are good because there are few crevices for concrete weetabix and are easy to wipe down. Have never bothered with cushioning, reasoning the nappies provided enough padding

Will be getting this for dd2, as I like being able to adjust them. Also they don't have sticky out legs like the tripp trapps which I do just that when visiting my friends, if I make sense

Can't afford Boden

Well seeing as Aitch isn't here....I will put in my twopennace worth for th eIkea Antilop.

What convinced me was that it was only 15quid. Actually DP saw the recommendations over my shoulder and wouldn't relent.

I trudged of to ikea with the idea in my head that I get Antilop while we have no money, and when we have money and I have decided Antilop is crap I would get my £100 chicco polly. That was 18m ago. DD3 is 2 and I love it. We had the folding boosters for DTDs and they were great but I love the Antilop more.

It is just as portable. It can go in the boot (of a Picasso) along with 2 suitcases, a travel cot, a buggy and loads of other holiday crap. It can go in the boot to Grandmas. It is much much easier to clean than the boosters. It is basically 1 piece of molded plastic with no seams for food to trap in. You can hose it or shower it if you want. This was a downside to the boosters.

Spend £15 on hte Antilop. If you hate it you have hardly wasted anything at all and I am sure you could sell it on for nearly that amount so you would lose out even less.

sorry was sniffy/snobby message from me - am undoubtedly just jealous

but also am slightly mystified by clearly overwhelming charm of tripp trapps. i mean they are £100 aren't they? One Hundred Pounds. They last until the child is 7, apparently. So, nearly £15 a year - on ONE CHAIR. I don't get it.

That should read that I still have my Ikea Antillop....I never got around to "upgrading" to the Chicco polly.

if i had a sturdy table and not my folding one, i would get one of those ones that screw onto the table, taking up no floor space at all. lol.

like this

We have a perfectly servicable sturdy plastic jobby from mothercare (DH got it for DD2 and it's now used for DD3), but I wish we'd got a Tripp Trapp - we still might get one if I can get my way.. said plastic jobby looks shit (shallow, me?) and the baby is constantly trying to climb into it by herself with disastrous consequences; I gather Tripp Trapps are a breeze for little ones to climb into.
Second thoughts I want TWO Tripp Trapps..