Most of us go out to eat at restaurants every now and then. That means using the high chairs at the restaurant for your little ones, where kids love to chew on the chairs and spread germs. One great option for protecting your little one from who knows what is a high chair cover - but have you ever thought of making your own? Jan Andrea has a great tutorial for making a restaurant high chair cover.

I made one of these for my daughter and it was so easy to roll up and keep in the diaper bag. I didn't have to worry about all those germs from countless other kids, which was a huge plus to me. The one I made was very similar to this Jan Andrea pattern, only I used a layer of batting in between two other fabrics. This made it nice and soft for my daughter. Keep in mind, however that this will make it bulkier and take up more room in the diaper bag.

On other thing I want to stress is to make sure you make the strap holes big enough. I did not, and it is never fun at a restaurant to try to force the straps through the little holes. It is better to have them too big than too small! - Trisha

We invited Laura from product review and parenting blog Mum's the Wurd to review the Boon Flair high chair, a roughly $200 chair with some innovative features we were very curious to see tested in real-world use. Laura's son Lennon has logged some serious hours in his new Flair and Laura passed on this thorough assessment.

We wanted a different highchair for our son Lennon, so when ZRecs offered to have us test out the Boon Flair, we jumped at the chance. I've loved the styling and functionality of every product that Boon makes, from their layette, to the Frog Pod, to their small dishes and plasticware. Like Boon's other products, the Flair's surface snazziness masks a highly utilitarian and functional meeting of form and function.

The basics

The Flair's seat is made of molded plastic (BPA-free, phthalate-free, and PVC-free) in light blue/white, orange/white, or pink/white combinations. The seat rests on a single shaft leading to a flared 23.5" base with two "controls" - a foot pedal to set and release a brake that allows or prevents the Flair from rolling on six hidden urethane casters, and a button to adjust the seat's height using a pneumatic lift. The high chair tray comes with two removable plastic tray toppers. The seat is padded and has a built-in, non-adjustable footrest.

The Flair weighs 28 pounds and has a weight and age limit of 50 pounds and four years. The seat's height range is 21" to 26.25" and the tray's height range is 26.25" to 31.5".

Design

The plastic body of the high chair feels very durable, and seems thicker than other high chairs I've used and seen. The Flair is a very solid piece of furniture.

The Flair is much less cumbersome than other high chairs I've used, in part because it's easy to move around, and in part because there's no real "setup" to use it or get it out of the way. The five-point harness is easy to use and super safe.

I'm no caster expert, but the casters do appear to be good quality and work smoothly.

The whole seat is very easy to keep clean - in fact, it's one of the Flair's best features. The high chair is almost entirely smooth, with no nooks and crannies for food to get stuck in.

How Boon's innovations measure up

I've never used a high chair that had an adjustable height, so this feature is unique, in my experience. I like that the baby isn't towering over the rest of the family, as it seems they do with most highchairs. The pneumatic lift is easy to use - you just press the colored button on the base and pull the seat up or down. It's very simple and a great function - the variable height positioning means you aren't stuck with just a few set heights, and it's easy to change the height without getting out an Allen wrench or messing with something that might bite.

The tray is very simple to put on and remove, and the removable toppers are a great idea and work well. They keep the tray itself nice and clean - you just take off the removable tray and stick it in the dishwasher. (All removable parts of the Flair are dishwasher safe, even the padded seat!) I have noticed though, that the solid white tray base gets lots of water in it very easily, so I don't like to run it in the dishwasher. Use the removable trays and wipe any messes off the main tray, and you're good to go.

The "brake system" locks the chair in place easily. While I like the braking system, I do wish that it completely stopped the chair from moving. This may not be a problem for those who have carpet, but all of our floors are hardwood.


The Flair retails for $229 - just shy of the prices of established high-end high chair brands like the Tripp Trapp (Mika reviewed the Tripp Trapp on The Tranquil Parent) and the gorgeous but tough to clean Svan high chair used by the folks at Z Recommends (there's a review of the Svan in the ZRecs Archives). The tradeoff is length of use - unlike the Tripp Trapp and Svan seats, Boon's Flair has no option to shift into a "youth chair" as your child grows - but the convenience, utility, and cool of this chair is hard to beat. you can be certain that your child will be dining on one of the safest and coolest highchairs on the market. As with all the products from Boon, the Flair gets 5 out of 5 Fonzie "Ayyyyyyyeee"s from our family.

You can purchase the Boon Flair from Boon's website or on Amazon.com. - Jeremiah