If you’re going a long journey with small children, figuring out how to pack all of your essentials (car seats, strollers, car seats etc) can feel daunting. Early on in parenthood, one of my best friends told me about baby equipment rental companies. She’d been using them for her month-long vacations in Miami, Florida.
What is a baby equipment rental company?
Essentially, all you need to do is go online to a rental company, select your items of interest, and book them. The company then drops them off at your hotel or home rental on the date of your arrival and picks them up when you’re finished. We’ve had items sent to a hotel in NYC, which are then waiting for us when we get to our room. It’s a total game changer.
What can you rent?
Different companies around the world offer a different selection. For an international directory, click here. In extremely popular cities (like New York City or Orlando, Florida) you can get everything from beach toys and toy chests (with random, exciting toys inside sorted by a child’s age and interests) to strollers and bed rails.
Our kids LOVE the rented toys because they’re new and exciting. It’s also a great opportunity for parents to assess certain toys to see if they’re worth purchasing for home. We’ve tried out a few popular toddler toys that we kept seeing online only to discover that they definitely weren’t worth the money.
Being able to rent a pack-n-play or a bedrail means it’s one less thing to worry about during your vacation. If you don’t want to lug a heavy double-stroller on the plane, rent one!
How do you know if there’s a rental company in a certain city?
We initially started compiling our own list of rental companies based on our own experience because we didn’t want to make recommendations that we hadn’t yet tried ourselves. But why reinvent the wheel?
We have found some excellent resources that have listed baby equipment rental companies based on countries and cities. So if you’re interested in this process, VISIT this BABY EQUIPMENT RENTAL DIRECTORY.
Overall, we highly recommend using trusted websites to rent your essentials. It makes a vacation feel more relaxed and enjoyable since you don’t need to worry about compromising on baby/child’s needs nor are you responsible for packing it all. Bring clothes and diapers and you’re set!
