How to Rent Baby Gear for Family Vacation (& Why!)
Rent baby gear to lighten your load on your next family vacation. Read on to learn 10 reasons to rent toddler and baby gear for travel. Then discover how and where to find baby equipment rentals.
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1. You’ll have less to lug when you rent baby gear.
Flying with a baby or toddler is overwhelming enough without toting around a travel crib, car seat, travel swing, and anything else your little one needs. Lugging less stuff through the airport means less stress and fewer baggage fees for parents.
2. A full-sized crib means better sleep.
Many babies and toddlers sleep better while traveling if they go to bed in a full-sized crib than in a pack-n-play. Young children like routine so try to make your vacation digs as similar to home as possible. A full-sized crib may feel more familiar and comfier. Renting a travel crib especially makes sense when you are staying in a loved one’s home or rental property where you have room to spread out. What’s more, most baby equipment rental providers even offer complimentary setup and takedown of full-sized cribs.
3. Car seats are needed by law and for safety.
Most likely, you will need a car seat at your destination. Even if you don’t plan to rent a car, if you will be using taxis, Ubers, or Lyfts on your vacation, many states require a car seat. Plus, it’s the safe thing to do.
With most airlines, you can gate-check car seats at no extra cost, but you will still need to lug the car seat through the airport. Especially with heavy toddler seats, this can be quite cumbersome.
If traveling with toddlers, then I recommend buckling kids into their airplane seats with a compact one-pound CARES safety restraint. (Read my full review of the CARES safety harness!) Then you can simply rent a car seat to use at your destination. Most baby equipment rental companies are happy to meet you at the airport.
4. Rental car companies sometimes run out of car seats.
If you will be renting a car, then you may be tempted to just rent a car seat from the car rental company. Beware, though, that sometimes car rental agencies run out of car seats, even when you’ve reserved one in advance. I know because this happened to my family once!
5. Baby equipment rental companies thoroughly clean and sanitize their gear.
From my personal experience, car seats rented from baby equipment companies are meticulously cleaned whereas those from rental car companies can be kind of grungy. The same thing is true of travel cribs offered for free at hotels versus cribs rented from a baby equipment specialist. The last thing you want on your family vacation is a sick child, so rent clean gear instead!
6. Make room in the trunk on road trips.
Even if you’re planning a road trip with a baby or toddler, you might want to consider renting at least some of your toddler and baby gear. After cramming all of your suitcases into the trunk, you may not have room for that baby jogger or bouncy seat. Some baby equipment rental companies even offer toys, beach gear, humidifiers and more.
7. Some babies simply can’t part with a bouncy seat or baby swing.
I thought my baby could handle a week away from her bouncy seat. I was wrong! Halfway through our first trip as new parents, I gave in and purchased a bouncy seat at the local Target. It was worth the extra expense so that I could make it through meals and visits with friends without constantly bouncing and appeasing my daughter. The same holds true for some babies who need a baby swing to settle down for naps. So go ahead and rent a bouncy seat or baby swing if needed!
8. Renting a high chair makes meals easier.
If you’ll be eating-in quite a bit at grandma’s house or elsewhere at your destination, then a high chair will make meals easier and more enjoyable for all. This is particularly true on longer trips. When planning to stay with family and friends who don’t have baby gear, you’ll be thankful when you rent a high chair for mealtimes.
9. Save space for other stuff.
Especially when traveling with two or more children, you just might have too much stuff to bring along. Parents traveling with multiples or with young children of various ages may find it difficult or downright impossible to pack multiple travel cribs, a double stroller, and a slew of toys.
10. Try out new baby and toddler gear.
Not sure if you want to purchase that expensive baby carrier, video baby monitor, or fancy stroller? Rent baby gear instead! It costs less and you can test out new products before making a big purchase.
Where and How to Rent Baby Gear
The bottom line is renting baby travel gear makes it easier to care for your brood while away from home. Planning a trip with a little one? BabyQuip is the #1 baby equipment rental service offering thousands of baby gear items in over 600 cities. Take a look at the extensive BabyQuip Baby Equipment Rentals Directory. BabyQuip offers baby gear rentals in all 50 U.S. states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico. You can also rent baby and toddler gear from BabyQuip in foreign destinations like Aruba, Canada and Germany.
Simply visit BabyQuip.com. Then enter the city name or zip code to search for baby equipment providers in your destination and choose your provider. Next, select the baby gear you’d like to rent; you can choose individual items or discounted packages. Lastly, confirm your dates and location, and pay online. A BabyQuip provider will contact you to arrange delivery. Easy peasy!
Rent out your own baby gear to earn income.
Do you want to earn extra income while working from home and setting your own hours? Join BabyQuip! Find out how to make money renting your gear out to other traveling families.
Learn more tips for traveling with babies and toddlers.
The right baby equipment is half the battle! Before you take off with your wee one, take a peek at these 10 essential tips for traveling with a baby.
Make sure you have the right toys for your journey, too. Here are the best travel toys for babies and kids.
Disney is especially magical through the eyes of a child. Discover the best Disneyland rides for babies and toddlers.
For all sorts of travel tips including flying with young children, budget tips, cruising with kids, and more — take a look at the Travel Mamas’ Guide, my book on how to vacation with babies and children…and stay sane!
Save these reasons to rent baby gear.
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Would you ever rent baby gear for your travels? Do you have any questions about baby equipment rentals? Let us know in the comments below!
Such great tips for renting baby gear! We used BabyQuip on our last trip and highly recommend it!
Wonderful! So glad you had a good experience renting baby gear from BabyQuip!
I had no idea you could actually do this, but such a smart idea!!! Perfect for traveling this holidays!
Yes! Renting baby and toddler travel gear is especially handy during the holidays when parents need to lug not only suitcase but gifts, too.
Renting is definitely better than purchasing baby gear for a trip especially if you’re not sure if you’re going to use it often or if you can use it at home. These are great tips! It’s really going to help parents who are traveling with their babies for the first time.
Thanks for your comment, Carol! I hope new parents benefit from this easy way to lighten their loads while traveling.
I love the idea of trying different toddler gear What better way to try new stuff than to actually use it!
Totally! Who needs the hassle of buying an expensive baby or toddler item only to discover it’s not for you. This way you could even try out a variety of brands before making a choice!
You had me at less to lug. I have had too many bad experiences either losing stuff or being slow because of all of my luggage.
And it can be so hard to juggle it all, especially if traveling alone with a baby or toddler!
I never thought about renting baby things before. It’s actually quite a great idea!
I’m so glad I discovered baby gear rentals when my kids were wee. It made our travels so much easier to manage!
The less to lug around is what got me. It can be such a pain to haul that stuff from place to place and all around.
And all of that lugging isn’t good for your back when traveling either!
I think this is such a brilliant idea. I can remember dreading going on trips with all of our gear!
I’ve got to admit that I’m glad to be free of the days when traveling with kids meant dealing with SO MUCH STUFF!
Great tips! It can be such a pain to lug around all the stuff that babies need when traveling. Renting would definitely free up a lot of room and help ease frustrations!
So true! Renting baby gear is particularly helpful when traveling solo with little ones – there’s just so much to manage!
Excellent things to keep in mind! I honestly had no idea that so many necessities were available to rent. I sure wish I would have known about this when my kids were little, especially during those chaotic cross country trips.
It’s more than just cribs, car seats and strollers, too. We rented a humidifier for when my asthmatic son was sick on a trip once.
This should make traveling with babies and kids easier. You can’t really lug a crib through the airport.
Not a full-sized one, anyway! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I never knew you could do this! This is so smart and every parent should have their number. It will make traveling so much easier!
There are lots of different baby gear rental providers. We list LOTS of them on our directory! 🙂
I don’t think renting gear was an option when my girls were babies. I love that it is becoming more widely available now. Traveling is already stressful as it is, so it’s nice to have peace of mind to know there are options to get baby gear while you are traveling.
It’s available in so many countries, too! Very handy!
Renting the gear sounds like a great idea. I wish I had that option when my son was little. It would have made traveling so much easier.
Too bad you couldn’t take advantage of baby gear rentals when your kids were wee! 🙁 Hopefully you can make use of this service when you have grandkids someday! 🙂
I did not know you can do this now. How convenient this would be for families who love to travel. When my kids were babies, it looked like I had the whole house in the trunk of my car! I will let my family and friends know about this. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for spreading the word to your family and friends – I’m sure they’ll appreciate being able to travel with less stuff and less stress!
I would have TOTALLY done this back when my kids were that age. It would have made life so much easier than having to cart that stuff around during the trip.
So glad I discovered baby rental gear back in the day – it made things so much easier, especially when traveling as a solo parent!