Travel tray??? Journey from hell, and another one coming up...

[Midge25]

Sure this must be familiar so apologies if there are loads of other threads on the same topic.

Have just driven back from visiting my sister, alone, w/ 17m dd in the back in her car seat. After 50 miles of crying (from her) due to having dropped toys/dummies/books/cup of water which I couldn't retrieve without pulling into a service station, I'm determined to find some sort of 'tray' to affix to her car seat (or the back of the front passenger seat) so that she can keep hold of the things she's playing with.
The toy tidies that hang from the backs of front seats are too far away for dd to reach from where she's sitting. I've seen a possibility in the Vertbaudet catalogue, (a tray that clips round the 'waist' of the car seat) but wondered how safe this would be in a crash. Also, would prefer to go to a shop where I can measure up etc (there isn't a lot of detail in the catalogue).

Does such a thing exist?? (If not, I'm going on Dragons Den!!!) I've got the same (300 mile) round trip to make in 8 weeks...and am hoping. Otherwise, next time it'll be me that's crying for 50 miles!!!

travel at night if you can

this has saved our sanity ... we often travel 200 miles, so we bath and put DS into PJs and he sleeps the whole way (we leave at 7 ish)

traffic is usually lighter as well

yes night

otherwise portable dvd player strapped to headrest of passenger seat [bad mummy emoticon]

Bumping this because I had exactly the same thought - that a tray would be fab but not sure how safe it would be. We have to make a lot of long car journeys (4hrs plus) and travelling at night generally not an option for us. For some reason have had very bad luck with portable DVD players. Borrowed two (one brand new) and couldn't get either to work.

So, would love to know if anyone has heard of or used a tray set-up successfully.

We have been looking for the same thing - but not yet brought one....

Initially looked at this, as have a maxicosi tobi - www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&productId=10997&langId=-1&catal ogId=11051

but have also seen this - although would love some reviews!
www.car-travel-games.co.uk/SHOP/tray.html

specific ones for Britax - shop.babyworld.co.uk/DisplayDetail.aspx?prodid=720

am still looking but not found much else!

I have seen scathing reviews of the middle one - it comes folded in half and apparently, because it's soft foam, never really unfolds flat again, certainly not flat enopugh to draw on

maybe adapt one of those travel arch things, tying on cups, books etc?

Oh, shame about the foam one. It looks like just the thing with that handy "ledge". I notice they make a point of the fact that it folds on impact so maybe a solid tray isn't very safe (or maybe they're just trying to sell their product). My DD is a bit older (2.5yo) so needs something pretty large for colouring, jigsaw puzzles and whatnot.

We have the foam one www.car-travel-games.co.uk/SHOP/tray.html

It works quite well though even though it is soft. The softness is meant to be in case of crash and it can squash up and not harm the child in the seat.
It fits easily to DDs Britax.
Drawing in the car is a nightmare and DD is banned from doing so! The pens/pencils rolls everywhere, down the side of seats, onto clothes, ink on clothes etc. we use a magna doodle instead.
Lots of books, a few soft toys attached by buggy book cords and a magnadoodle go down well here.

I will be keeping an eye on this thread as I have yet to come up with a really workable solution. We travel a 6hr journey to devon every couple of months and have tried all sorts - night time driving has stopped working for dd1(3) but still works for dd2(1)The closest I've come is that I have plastic storage box on top of another smaller one in the middle of the two car seats secured with a seatbelt which i have filled with all sorts - little dollies, cars, travel size magna doodles, threading cards, those mini books etc Both dds can just about reach in and grab things, play with them and then drop them . Then when we stop I refill the box and the process starts all over again. I have also found that story and song cds are great (although very wearing on the adults)