KidStyleFile

Looking for a practical, low maintenance, comfortable and stylish highchair for your child? Don’t go past Nerida’s special feature on six of the best options on the market. Enjoy!

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Stokke Tripp Trapp

My personal choice, and what we have at home, the Stokke Tripp Trapp looks Nordic super-cool and comes in a range of fantastic colours.

It doesn’t come with a tray which is a little tough at first, but not a problem by nine months or so, as you just pull it into any regular table.

Best of all, the chair can be easily wiped down and there are very few places for dried rice cereal to hide.

Although it seemed expensive for a high chair at the time, the chair grows with the child so that eventually it can be used for a chair for an adult (I heard a rumour that all staff at the Stokke headquarters use them at their desks). The chairs are also ergonomic so encourage good posture.

Stokke Tripp Trapp highchairs are available from Minimee.

FunPod

The FunPod has just recently arrived in Australia and is quite a clever piece of furniture. Like the Tripp Trapp, it is chair that grows with the child and can be used as a chair from six months to around 5 years of age.

It includes a tray that can be removed so that a child can sit directly at the dinner table and join in family dinners. By removing the chair the FunPod becomes a stool for children to stand on so that they are at workbench height.

I know my daughter loves helping me in the kitchen and this would be a perfect, safe way for her to see what I am doing while cooking.

The FunPod ticks all my boxes in terms of being easy to clean, practical, comfortable and stylish and is available at Metro Mum.

Nest

The Nest highchair is a very cool piece of furniture that has already achieved iconic status for its smooth edges and modern design.

The chair can be converted from high chair for a 6 month old to a low chair for a 6 year old. Its tulip design has ensured that it is one of the most stable highchairs on the market – perfect if you have a very active toddler who tries to grab everything in sight while waiting for their meal. The chair is easy to clean, practical, comfortable and incredibly stylish. Note that the tray is on the small side.

Nest is available in four colours, white, black, bubblegum pink and retro orange at Urban Baby.

Bloom Fresco

What first struck me about the Bloom Fresco highchair is the incredible range of colours it comes in, ranging from white to bright shades of purple and orange.

The chair can be used from newborn, reclined back like a bassinet, to two years, as a playseat.

In between these ages, it is a very practical highchair that can be height adjusted easily (pneumatic assist!)

The Bloom is easy to clean, practical, comfortable and great to look at. It is available from Kido Store.

HandySitt

The Handysitt is a clever Danish designed travel seat that is easy to clean (tick!), comfortable (tick!), practical (tick!) and great to look at (tick!).

It can be used from 7 months to 4 years and straps on to most chairs, making a comfortable highchair and then packs away flat to take anywhere, or used as space saving highchair in the home.

The HandySitt is available online at The Infant Boutique.

Kaboost

Kaboost is a rather clever contraption that boosts chairs so that a child aged from 20 months to 6 years can sit at the same height as the dinner table without a special seat.

Kaboost sits at the base of the chair and is easy transportable so that it can be used at home or when out and about.

The Kaboost is very easy to clean, practical and a good solution for when kids are a little older but are still a little to sit on a normal seat at the dinner table.

The Kaboost is available from Belly2Baby.

1. Stokke Tripp Trapp$349.95 $323.70 from Minimee
2. FunPod Highchair 3 -in-1 $379.00 from Metro Mum
3. Nest Highchair $695.00 $545.00 from Urban Baby
4. Bloom Fresco $749.00 from Kido Store
5. HandySitt $149.95 $134.96 from The Infant Boutique
6. Kaboost $59.95 from Belly 2 Baby

Please check individual stores for shipping costs and delivery information.

This weekend, Miki brings you a fine selection of prams of strollers to drool over. The form of these baby-movers is just stunning, and their functionality is optimal. Just what every busy Mum needs in her life

Next weekend: Pram Accessories (including Bags!! Yay!)

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Silver Cross Dazzle

*The* name in prams is, and has always been, Silver Cross – www.silvercross.com.au. If it’s good enough for several generations of the British Royal family then it’s likely good enough for your precious bub!

Silver Cross have really updated in the last few years. Their latest model, the lightweight Dazzle stroller, is an iconic design – fresh, stark and simply beautiful. This is a stroller that really will become a modern classic.

I’m not lucky enough to have one of these (although I’d dearly love one!) but I’m told by people who do own a Dazzle that the build quality is second to none, and they love all the extra little features that come with it: the big viewing window in the hood which is held in place with magnets, the seat that lies almost flat so even the youngest baby can lie in it comfortably (there is also an optional carrycot), the hidden shopping basket, the suspension and foam-filled wheels giving the lucky kid inside a smooth ride, it’s light weight (only 7kgs), the five spectacular colours it’s available in… I’d better stop before I start dribbling.

The Dazzle comes with a ventilated rain cover too – that’s the last time you’ll have to take your raincoat off so the child doesn’t get wet!

The best price for the Dazzle that I’ve found online is from Nought 2 Five – www.nought2five.com. They have the Dazzle stroller for $395 in all colours, or $599 for the stroller and carrycot set. Have a browse around Nought 2 Five while you’re there, it’s gorgeous!

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Stokke Xplory

Another modern classic: the Stokke Xplory – www.stokke.com/en%2Dau/.

This pram made such a splash when it was launched in 2003! The world had never seen anything like it, and they still haven’t because the Xplory is simply in a class of its own. Designed for modern, urban parents, the Xplory motto is ‘higher is better’, and when you look at the pram you can see why.

The central ‘spine’ allows for height adjustability and for the seat to face forwards or back towards you. The extra height means that when walking you are closer to the baby in the seat, which aids eye contact and interaction between parent and child.

And the battle to get a highchair in a crowded cafe? Never again – the Xplory’s height means it can be wheeled right up to the table just as it is.

As you’d expect from Stokke, the quality is extraordinary; in fact, the aluminium and polymer structure is built to the same standards as automobiles and aircraft!

The seat and carrycot are interchangeable which makes this pram perfect from the earliest days of infancy right through toddler-dom.

Stokke are currently running a competition to win a Stokke Xplory: enter here.

The best online price that I can find in Australia is at Bebe Online www.bebeonline.com.au – it’s retailing there for $1499.00, with the bassinet as optional retailing for $439.00. Orders over $100.00 are delivered free! Otherwise if you want the pram-and-bassinet package, the best price is $1899.00 at Babies Galore – www.babiesgalore.com.au.

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Phil & Teds Classic, Sport, Dash and Vibe buggies

LOVE my Phil & Teds – www.philandteds.com – Sport Buggy. It was a present from my beloved aunty when my little boy arrived, and so far it’s taken everything I’ve thrown at it without batting an eyelash. It’s rugged enough for walking all over the grandparents’ country property, it walks daily along the beach with no signs of wear despite all the salt and sand. It’s lightweight enough (11kgs) to throw in the boot for quick shopping trips and it even looks good enough for promenading up and down the city high street!

It has a whole swag of cool features (the big shopping basket, the adjustable handle, the nifty pouch in the canopy (I keep my phone and my shopping list in there), the great colours available. And then there’s the ingenious doubles kit, available for all P&T single prams, which quickly and cheaply converts your single pram into one which can take a toddler and a baby or two toddlers! There just isn’t another pram around which can match the P&T for flexibility, particularly if you have two kids or think you might at some point.

I’m not the only one who loves it – I’m in great company with Holly Hunter and Brooke Shields, to name but a couple of my fellow P&T fans

Earlier this year P&T released three new models: the Classic, the Dash and the Vibe. These are already proving to be just as popular as the Sport buggy!

Clockwise from left:
Sport Buggy, $699.95 $595.95
Vibe buggy, $1130.00 $899.95
Dash buggy, $859.95 $749.95
Classic buggy – currently sold out in Australia, shows you how popular it is! But I’m sure it will be back soon.

2 Cute 4 Kids - www.2cute4kids.com.au – have the best prices on the P&Ts that I’ve seen in Australia and what’s more, they make these prices even more attractive by including a FREE doubles kit – or if you don’t want the doubles kit, take a further $50 off the price!

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But wait, there’s more!

If none of the prams I’ve shown so far has rocked your boat, then you’d better go and have a look around at  Minimee – www.minimee.com.au.

These guys carry some of the top names in prams – Mountain Buggy, Emmaljunga and Bugaboo, among others – at fantastic discounted prices.

These are my picks:

Clockwise from top left:
Emmaljunga Duo Combi – Edge $1299.95 $1202.45
Mountain Buggy Urban Elite Single $869.95 $804.70
Bugaboo Cameleon $1599 $1499
Mountain Buggy Urban Double, $1199.95 $1109.95 (Angela had one of these for her girls and loved it!)

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As a final note, if you’re looking for more info about prams & strollers then go to www.strollersandprams.com.

There are reviews on every pram you’ve ever heard of (and plenty you haven’t), and if you still can’t the answers to your questions then join the S&P forums. As I’ve discovered while researching this week, the members are friendly and helpful and if there’s anything they don’t know about prams (which I doubt) then it’s not worth knowing!