Bubblebum travel booster seat review
I spend ages agonising over (and being baffled by) the various car seats on offer in the UK – it took longer to choose our Group 1 car seat than almost any other piece of baby paraphernalia. And once Minnie left the vaguely portable Group 0 car seat years behind, there’s never been any chance of taking the huge replacement on a plane.
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Which has led to wrestling unfamiliar models with jetlag, enduring a 30-minute taxi ride with her on my knee before flying to the Isles of Scilly and a variety of options in between, where we’ve often had to adopt the more relaxed attitude of our destination.
But with her fourth birthday on the horizon and several long journeys ahead during our trip to Burma (where I knew car seats would not be an option), travel booster seats have finally become one possible solution to keeping her safe in cars abroad – including the Bubblebum booster seat, which was safely stowed in our luggage.
As with all the travel booster seats around, they’re only recommended from four years and 15kg up – Minnie is very slightly under both age and weight but I’d decided this would keep her much safer than nothing at all, which was the only realistic alternative.
Obviously I can only recommend that you follow the official advice though!
It couldn’t be much simpler to use either. The Bubblebum booster seat is inflatable, so you puff in through the tube until it’s blown up – having tested this after only 10 minutes sleep on a long-haul flight, with jetlag and in 37C heat, I can vouch for the fact that even a very tired, uncoordinated person can manage it in under a minute.
Then with the child sitting on the seat, the lap part of the belt slides through two clips to secure it over the top of the legs.
If you’ve got a younger/shorter child, there’s a third clip on a strap which stretches up behind the child onto the other part of the seatbelt – you slide it through, pull down and instead of a belt across their neck or even face, it ends up on their chest.
The vast majority of the time, this was incredibly straightforward to do: a few times, I had to fiddle to get the adjustment although I’m still not quite sure what I was doing differently/not doing.
Having practised at home with one of Minnie’s stuffed animals (I’ve learned nothing is straightforward if you’re doing it for the first time with jetlag), it’s a lot easier when there’s a proper sized person underneath…
And that’s it. It comes with its own bag, and deflates as you roll it up. The seat meets all EU & US regulations, and best of all when you’re wrestling a lot of luggage, it weighs about the same as a packet of Digestives making it the lightest option out there.
If you’ve got three kids to squeeze into a rental car, it doesn’t take up as much space either – and will work in taxis for those cities where you can’t travel without a child seat (Miami, I mean you).
As a bonus for my daughter, the seat comes in a pink zigzag version as well as black.
So what did the test subject think? All in all, pretty good. She was comfy enough to fall asleep (slightly propped up against me, as obviously there aren’t the high sides of a standard car seat), she liked the fact it was quick and easy to get her in (not known for her patience, my daughter) and when she was briefly – and unexpectedly – given the option of a standard car seat, she flatly refused, announcing she wanted her pink one.
If the boost wasn’t enough to let her get a great view out of the window, I knew at least that the extra height was stopping her from slouching into an unsafe position.
Thankfully we didn’t have to test it in an accident, but I felt a lot safer on the long winding mountain roads from Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin and the busy roads of Yangon in particular.
And unlike quite a few bulky, unwieldy pieces of kit which I’ve dragged halfway around the world for her, the Bubblebum booster seat could be shoved into the front pocket of my suitcase or into hand luggage as quickly as it inflated.
Quick, easy, not too pricy [EDIT: the price has gone up since I first wrote this, but I’m also still using it four years on] and it works. It’s hard to ask much more than that!
Otherwise it’s available at stockists nationwide including Amazon.
Disclosure: I was sent the Bubblebum (and a Sneck) for the purposes of review. All opinions, and complete lack of luggage space to take the Sneck to Burma, are my own.
Main image courtesy of Depositphotos, product image courtesy of Bubblebum, all other images copyright MummyTravels
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I would love to win this giveaway!
Good luck! Where would you use it?
I’d use it for my niece when she’s in the car
I’ll use it for our family holiday, haven’t decided where yet! x
We had one of these when the kids were small and thought it was great – comfortable and so easily portable.
They’re so useful, aren’t they!
I would use it all the time in my friend’s cars when on our days out.
When we go to our local cinema.
Over to our holiday home on the Isle of Arran!
Out and about in the car. Easy to put in friend’s car when doing play dates too
handy for the car
The long trips visiting family who are all over.
when we go to visit the in laws in skegness 🙂
Perfect for keeping at grannys house
For my nephew in car
will give it to granny so she can take the kids out too
This would be great for when we go out with the in-laws 🙂
I have 8 nieces and nephews and a little boy on the way in September so I know this Bubblebum seat would come in very handy for us. We often take the nieces and nephews out on day trips so it would be handy to have our own seat in the car to save doing a transfer when picking kids up.
I’d use this to take my daughter to and from nursery. Lovely giveaway
This would be for my nephew Jack.
id love to win as we our getting our first family car since my husbands motorbike got stole last year x
For when we have our grandaughter in the car x
I would use it when my little one goes in friends cars
My son could use this on car journeys x
I take my neice and nephew several places over the week to help my sister so this would help
This would come in handy on holidays and also on use in grandpas cars!
I’d use this when we have friends home from school last minute!
For when we take friend’s children out with our own son.
I’d use it on those rare occasions when relatives without car seats are taking us somewhere. It would be so much easier than having to lug the car seats around.
I love the fact that it’s so compact as I like to travel with hand luggage only. I fly alone with my toddler and baby to Spain and having these booster would spare me from asking my friends to lend us one for the time of our visits.
On everyday journeys in the back of the car!
Great giveaway Cathy – I’d use it when travelling- especiall useful for taxi journeys.
Use it for my granddaughter
Ill use it in the car to tke my nephew on trips
I would use it when we take my niece to the zoo
When travelling and need to rent a car abroad
for nana to keep in her car
we are heading to wales on hols and would use it for going there.
would be fantastic for my 4 year old daughter
On our journey to Devon from Lancashire this summer xx
I would use the seat when travelling with the children on days out.
I’d use it in the car or the motorhome when we go on holiday .x
A family holiday, dont quite know where yet!
I would take it on holiday with us. Such a handy thing to have!
it would be used by my daughter
id use it for the nieces and nephews
I would use it on holiday
id use it in my car for my little girl
Hello, Oh this would be super! They look very light weight and easy to carry around, I would use this for outings with my friend or when my little girl is going off out with her granny! Super 🙂
All the time
we go visiting friends in southampton and they don’t have kids so this would be useful as it’s a pain getting our car seat in and out of their car
I would use it in the car for my son
Id use it for my wee one in the car everyday
I would use it in granny’s car 🙂
In my mum’s car when we visit her.
In my mums car, she doesnt have a car seat and it always causes problems.
I would love one of these for our holidays, super!
In my husbands car would be perfect for it
in my car for my grandson!
We actually bought one of these when my daughter was 1 year old. Great for travel, easy to fit and pack. I wouldn’t use them on daily basis since they are smaller and look less durable than standard booster seats but they’re great for shorter periods of time on your holiday.
They seem perfect for travel or eg spares for grandparents etc I think.
I’d use it for my nephew when she’s in the car
Perfect for my sisters car when she picks little one up from school
In the mini bus on the way to Blackpool for our hols. It would definately keep my daughter safe.
on the school run
I’d use it on our holiday to gran canaria in December
all the time as we go out on daily trips, school runs or a visit to the family this would be perfect and a great help 🙂
I would use it for when we drive to the Lake District so my little one wouldn’t miss out on the fantastic views
Handy for my god daughter saves swapping over seats
Taking our granddaughter on weekend camping trips. Perfect.
I’ll use it for our family holiday
our little boy has to go to the hospital all the time we would use it to get him there
I would use it for my nephew when he is in my car xx
I would use it when visiting my mum this summer
This would be great to keep at home for if hubbie has the car seats in the car. Nanny could take us somewhere
for my grandson when travels in my car
The pillow would come handy on our long drives to see family and the seat would be a back up when we have to use another car which doesn’t fit 3 car seats to the back which is what we need so our eldest could have this and sit in the middle surrounded by his younger siblings x
I would use it for when my son has friends round to play as his friends seat x
id use it in my car for my little niece
I would use it everyday for my daughter, good luck all x