BubbleBum Booster seats?

[janeyb]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone has taken a BubbleBum Booster seat out to Florida before? If so were you impressed?

I have two girls aged 5 & 7 and I'm thinking of getting a couple to take in our hand luggage when we travel out in February. I also thought they may come in handy to give the girls a little extra height when watching shows on the Disney Dream.

A silly question I know, but did you find them easy to inflate, or were they a hastle when you arrived and just wanted to hop in the hire car and go? Having never even seen one, I'm trying to work out if it is worth spending £50 for two, when I could pick up some for £10 each over here and leave them in the US! I know they'd come in handy back home but I'm just trying to sum it all up.

If I go for normal booster seats, do you put them in anything when you check them in? I'm flying BA. This is all a novelty for me as I'm used to years of travelling to the US with 2 pushchairs and two bigcar seats to check in. I've been looking forward to reaching this point for years, although I'm still not sure how my 5 year old will cope with the parks and no pushchair!!! I guess everything will happen at a much slower pace!

Thanks.

 

[Nubbedy]

Not used Bubblebums but used a Trunki Boostapak for my DS in Oct. Was great as he just used it as a backack with plently of room for stuff inside and it was just a case of putting it in the hire car and attaching the seatbelt to the little locator tab on the Boostapak strap. Costs more though.

 

[ChristieK0310]

Another vote for trunki boosters. I don't like the idea of using an inflatable car seat!?!? If it were inflatable vs cheap normal ones I'd just do the cheap normal ones

 

[alibeau]

Hi,

We have used Bubblegum seats for the past couple of trips. Our girls are now 8 and nearly 6. Our eldest no longer needs a booster and so we will take the one Bubblegum seat for our next trip. They are VERY quick and easy to inflate, don't need much puff at all. The seats are very good quality although one of ours developed a slow puncture after a few years use so we discarded that one.....

The bonus for us was, we cannot master 'packing light' at the best of times and taking one extra bag with two normal boosters in was just one bag too many... The only other thing to say about the Bubblegum seats is that they don't give as much of a 'boost' as a normal booster. As both our girls are tall for their age this wasn't a problem and the seat belt sat in the right place but if your girls are petite, they might not be high enough for the seat belt to sit correctly?!?!

Sorry for waffle and hope this helps a bit

Ali

PS. we will still be taking one stroller with us as our youngest really isn't into walking great distances and although she would not dream of using a stroller at home, she definately gets her use out of it whilst away.......

 

[dixonsontour]

I just use a normal booster seat. It comes out in the case with us.

I checked it in separately on the way back(no room in case!) - think they put it in a plastic bag.

 

[janeyb]

Thank you so much for your replies, I really didn't know if anyone would reply, so all your valuable advice has been great.

Alibeau - My daughters are quite small for their ages so I think that the Trunki may be the way to go, I can imagine they'll be quite excited about carrying it as well. Looks like the D.S's and portable video will all be in my carry-on bag now, as they'll need the lighter things like colouring books, pens and snacks in the trunki backpack! And there was me thinking I mighht just be able to manage a few magazines and a book in my bag this year!!

I am still considering a stroller for DD2 as she's 5.5 years. Maybe, we'll see how we go and then if needs be purchase a cheapie from walmart.

Thanks again for all your advice.
Jane.