Since it is prime summer vacation time I thought I would post about these trays. We are going on a 6 hour road trip next weekend to the beach. After giving our boys books in the van the other day, only to hear them fall in the floor within 2 minutes, I wondered if anybody made a tray that would fasten to car seats. I immediately went to Amazon where I found a few different models, but I really liked the looks of the Taby Tray. I liked that it was a hard plastic (so wouldn't give in like this soft one, and I liked that it had a cup holder. So I ordered 2 from the tabytray.com website, which had cheaper shipping for 2 than Amazon and TRUS did. They arrived the other day and while we haven't actually used them yet I think they are going to work out well allowing the boys to look at books easier, play with playdoh, eat snacks, etc. And maybe next year we can trust them to use crayons and paper on these trays, but not this year! I actually wish the top was of dry erase material...but you can't have everything Anyway, I just thought I would tell others that have long road trips coming up about these trays as I think they will work out very well at helping to entertain themselves. One reviewer said the tray even worked well for their 7 year old kid in a booster seat, so I figure we'll get several years use out of them. We have Britax Marathon seats in the van, and I just went out and strapped one to a seat to see how it laid. And it seems to work well. It only slightly sloped forward vert slightly, but it just resting on the arms of the car seat, but I think that will be better when my kids legs are underneath the tray. I was also glad that the strap had a clasp on each end, instead of just one end. Made threading the strap around and behind the Marathon seat much easier and was super easy to then snap the clasps to the tray and tighten up. I've read about so many cool products here and have always appreciated helpful tips. So I thought I would pass along info on these trays in case anybody else is also fretting over how they are going to survive a road trip with toddlers I'll update again in 2 weeks and let you know if I still like them!
I'd be a bit nervous, and make sure it's very secure before using it... I think I would be more comfortable with lightweight/fabric trays personally.
According to TRUS the Taby Tray is 2.6 lbs, though it felt lighter than that to me. I'm not bothered by the weight of it. The only thing that blue fabric one has that I like is a rim around it to keep things from rolling off.
This looks great!! Thanks for sharing! I love the fact it has a cupholder. A friend of mine had a magnet board for her kids but it didn't tie down. Thanks so much for sharing! Rebecca
I've had one of these Travel tray's, for about 7 yrs now and LOVE it! Back then I couldn't find any kind of tray that would strap behind him. I bought a second one of these units a few years ago for my second child. This year on our big car trip the twins used these units, and I bought the soft ones you posted Soft travel table, for my big kids. I liked that they could be folded up and put off to the side when not in use. We just used them and they worked perfectly. I'm going to buy a couple more when the twins get older too. Trays on a trip are SO nice!! You'll get years of use out of yours!!
We just did a 6 hour trip and back with only ONE stop !! DVD player in our van saved us. Also I put cereal into small plastic bags, mixed with goldfish, animal cookies. I usually have 2 or three small little bags so when they are done with one I can throw another bag at them. Also I taught them to use a Gatorade bottle which has a turn top and I put a small amount of water in it just incase it gets spilt. They are also learning to catch better too. Usually each trip I buy a new DVD and it is worth it. Mine are 3.5 twins and a 2.5 yr old. I also keep a small bag of toys I can grab and toss to them -- this is where the Mc Donald toys are usually given (we try not to give them Mc D toys AT Mc D.) Heather
I just returned from the store where I bought several Hot Wheels cars for 78 cent each, which I'll keep in the glove box and toss back as necessary (when their other toys have fallen off the lap tray). And I bought some dum dum lollipops, ONLY to be given when in the van and they are melting down and no DVD helps. Hopefully we won't have to use many of those, but if we do I'll watch them like a hawk. Speaking of snacks, I think I'll take their Munchie Mugs (which I bought a while back based on other good reviews here). I don't think our guys are ready for plastic bags with snacks yet, but probably will be next year. And even though this tray has a cup holder, I'm sure our guys will still sometimes throw their water sippy on the floor. So I've got a reacher tool folded up and in the van for when they start screaming for something that's on the floor while we're driving :lol: BTW, regarding the weight of these Taby Trays, I was curious the other night if they were really over 2 lbs because they felt so lightweight. So I used my kitchen digital scales to weigh a tray and it was only 1lb 4oz. So very lightweight. Well we are leaving out tomorrow and I have a TON of packing to do. Hope my sanity survives this trip!
Have a fun trip. Thanks for sharing your ideas. We do a 300 mile trip one way about every six weeks (my parents, my mom is sick, so we try to get there as often as we can), and I just ordered some trays! I'm excited for the next trip!
Well it turns out we didn't need to use the trays as much as I thought, due to us staying at the in-laws to break up the trip. Which meant the longest stretch was only 4 hrs, where they napped for approximately 2 hours of that. So we didn't even try to put the trays on until the trip home, after they woke from their nap. 1 DS immediately wasn't fond of it being on his lap, the other started rolling Hot Wheels over it and playing. Though 10 minutes later that DS was acting like he didn't want it on him either, so I reached back from the passenger seat and unsnapped it. At that point I realized we probably should have put the Taby tray on them for brief trips to daycare and my parents, just to get them used to it. I still think it will come in handy for future road trips to the in-laws which live 2 hours away. And I was pleased to see my 1 DS immediate set his water sippy down in the cup holder (before he later indicated he didn't want the tray after all). I must say that Dum Dum lollipops are a bad idea all the way around! I figured they would suck on them until they were tiny small balls and therefore not pose a danger. I didn't realize that they would chomp off the lollipop from the stick while it was still a choking hazard! I caved in about 45 min from the beach while going through a couple of tunnels and they were super fussy then (and the Taby trays were out of reach). And after they chomped off the lollipop from its stick I found myself bartering with them to give me the choking hazard only to trade them for a new lollipop to buy time. On the way home I bought strawberry twizzlers and sour gummy worms for them to lick on/chew. I only had to give them a couple of those near the end, and I didn't stress near as much!! And we brushed their teeth very good that evening
I wish I had seen this before we left for our vacation last week! :lol: We just spent 9 hours in the car, one way, and are driving back home tomorrow. But actually, my two did fine on the way down so I'm hoping (fingers crossed!) for a repeat performance tomorrow. They played their DS's pretty much the whole ride down, with some reading in between. I was really surprised at how well they did. But really, pray for me tomorrow. That may have been all the good behavior they had in them!! :rofl:
