Going Out With Baby? You’ll Need One of These Travel High Chairs

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When you take your baby with you to dinner, camping, or even to a friend's house, having a great travel high chair can make your life a lot easier. Travel high chairs give you peace of mind that your baby has a designated place to eat and relax — plus, you know that it's clean, safe, and comfortable. (We've all seen some nightmare restaurant high chairs, right?)

If you've never bought one before, you're probably overwhelmed by all of the options and don't know how to determine which travel high chair is best for you — but don't worry, we have you covered. They're a great thing to add to your registry because of their more affordable price point, and they make a great gift for new parents if you're shopping.

The Best Travel High Chairs

• Best Overall: Cozy Seat Cover

• Best Budget Soft Seat: Nuby Travel Seat

• Easiest to Set Up: Chicco Travel Seat

• Great Silicone Placemat: PandaEar Travel Seat

• Most Stable for Baby: Ingenuity 2-in-1

What to Consider

Buying a travel high chair isn't a huge task, but there are a few things that you should look at when you're considering buying one. First and foremost, take into account portability, how easy it is to clean, and cost.

Portability

You want a travel high chair that's lightweight, easy to fold, and easy to stow away. If it doesn't travel well, is it even a travel high chair? We don't think so. Some come with a carrying bag, some have a strap for easy travel, and some fold up tight for small spaces.

Cleanability

Cleaning fabric on high chairs can be a pain. Is it machine-washable? Thankfully, most travel high chairs are a cinch to clean. The more parts involved, obviously, the trickier cleaning it is, so keep that in mind if you're going to be using it a lot.

Type

You could go with a classic high chair that attaches directly to a table, with arms that serve as cantilevers to hold the baby up safely. You can also opt for booster-style seats that strap onto a regular chair at a restaurant or someone's home.

Another option is pop-out foldable boosters, which are suited best for older children who don't need as much lift to get to the table. Rounding out the list are travel high chairs that are compact versions of the real deal. These are generally made with rugged nylon and aluminum posts and conveniently fold up like an umbrella.

How We Chose

We chose these high chairs based on extensive testing and real-parent reviews. We compared prices, materials, and overall quality to determine usefulness, durability, and value. We put them through their paces with several young and messy humans, and these are the best. Check out these picks if you're shopping for travel high chairs.

The Original Easy Seat Portable High Chair

Have a washing machine? Have a baby over six months or a toddler up to 35 pounds who wiggles a ton? Like to eat out and need a place to keep them contained? Meet the Cozy Cover Easy Seat.

It has a five-point removable harness for babies and a three-point strap for toddlers, and it just slides over a chair, secures at the bottom, and then you're off to the races. It comes with its own cover that is machine-washable (which is the biggest benefit that parents love about it), but they also remark on how durable it is. This chair can really take some abuse.

The only downside is that it doesn't work on all seats. Our tester noted that low backs on chairs or chairs of odd shapes don't work as well.

More: The Best Suitcases for Kids

Easy Go Safety Lightweight High Chair Booster Seat

This is a toddler seat designed for kids from nine months to 55 pounds. It can be secured to most chairs, but it doesn't fold as compactly as a slip model. That's not to say it's not compact —you can easily fit this in a standard Skip Hop diaper bag — but it's just a little bit bulkier.

Another great little option is that the high-density foam seat can be removed for comfort. It features a wipe-clean oil and water-resistant fabric, and a three-point harness. It’s a great travel high chair and it’s nice to have “just in case” in your trunk or under your stroller.

Even when we repeatedly used Lysol wipes on this chair while testing it out, the slick finish of the seat remained strong and unwarped. Lysol wipes can deteriorate finishes — and they didn't on this one.

QuickSeat Hook-On Chair

Chicco is good at making it easy for parents to remove their product covers for washing — and the Quick Seat is no different. With the unsnapping of just a few snaps, it's off and ready for the machine in a jiff.

It's suitable for babies from six months or up to 37 pounds, and the generously sized tray is also super easy to clean.

But that's not even the best part. Most claw-style chairs use some sort of twist or crank to attach them to the table. Not the Chicco — it does it with just a pull of a cinch in the back, making it the easiest travel high chair to set up by a mile.

And that's the biggest reason people love this chair: There's no guesswork. Users note they can hold the baby in one hand and easily get the seat attached using their other hand and their hip. (Your hip becomes a third hand when you're parenting a baby, it's true.)

Portable Baby Seat Travel

This product came as a personal recommendation from a few parents. It's a great option because it folds up tiny when you're not using it.

The chair itself is made of typical camp chair material that's easy to clean off. The tray has this wonderful silicone placemat that fits inside that you throw in your dishwasher. You could even throw the entire thing on the porch and hose it down with some dish soap.

Baby Base 2-in-1 Booster Feeding and Floor Seat

You get a lot of mileage out of this travel high chair that also happens to double as a baby floor seat. It's a soft seat molded to help keep the baby in a comfortable seated position with a removable dining tray and straps to affix it to the seat at a restaurant or home.

It has a luxe feel and keeps babies from wiggling around so much while they eat. It's sort of like a hug around the lower torso and legs, rooting them into the seat. Think of any assisted-sitting chair, and this is a little like that, but not quite as high-backed.

It's easy to clean thanks to the non-porous surface, and though it would be better if it were easier to carry around, it's overall a great product.

Pop ‘n Sit Portable Highchair

We get that a camp-style chair just doesn't cut it sometimes — so if you're on the hunt for one with a hard tray, this is the one for you.

It's good for babies six months or up to 35 pounds, and the fabric is removable and machine-washable.

It all folds up into a carrying case just slightly larger than an umbrella, save the tray. This chair has a fun zippered pocket on the side to hold whatever you want like plastic cutlery and wipes.

Parents love how much legroom this model has. It's good for chunky baby thighs or bulky sweatsuits. Plus, pretty much everyone loves the cheerful fabric and the grippy bottoms of the feet for stability.

Pocket Snack Booster Seat

You can be on the go or just in your dining room with this Pocket snack booster seat from Chicco. It folds completely flat, and it has a carrying strap. So no matter where you are or where you're going, you'll have a place for your baby.

Chicco made this utterly washable, multi-height position chair with a removable tray so that it works as a booster as well. Suitable for babies from when they can sit up unassisted to 50 pounds. And the easy 3-point harness? It takes a ton of effort to get it gunked up. (Our testers said not even grits could take it down!

Healthy Care Deluxe Washable Booster Seat

If you are a major fan of Lysol or Clorox wipes, this is the travel high chair for you.

It's not as compact as some of the others, though it does fold up. But the whole thing can be wiped down easily. The straps are even easy to clean. Plus, it stays clean, thanks to having such few spaces for food to get trapped in.

And it is meant for the long haul. Two different tray options click together for storage: One is plain and flat and the other is portioned out. It goes from a high back travel high chair and also transforms into a booster, giving it a second life. It can be used for babies from six months old until they no longer need it.

Camping Chair

If you go camping, spend a lot of time outside, or just want an ultra-light, collapsible high chair that doesn't need a table and chairs, this is our favorite.

This chair has a five-point harness, so it can be used for babies as soon as they can sit up on their own. It's made of a vinyl-coated canvas, which means it can easily be sprayed off with a hose, wiped clean with a cloth, or sprayed down with your favorite cleaning spray. It also has a cup holder for babies, which may not completely prevent them from flinging their bottle, but it may help. It collapses into a small bag and only weighs about eight pounds.

Users note that this is the perfect choice for the beach, the woods, or the backyard, thanks to the fabric's ease of cleanup and durability. It's an outdoor fabric, and it can take a beating.

Lobster Clip-On Highchair

More than a few parents use this narrow travel high chair as their everyday high chair. It's suitable for use from six months or up to 37 pounds, and because it takes up such little room, it can be a great option for smaller spaces.

The chair itself is extremely durable. The cover is machine-washable and the tray is dishwasher-safe. The only drawback of this chair is that it doesn't work with round tables or glass.

Parents love how small it is, fitting well in tight kitchens. They also love how easy it is to attach, noting that the clasps are simple and durable.

Go with Me Venture Chair

Your child can start using this chair starting at 3 months of age, and they can use it virtually until second or third grade or until they reach 75 pounds. It’s not just a high chair or camp chair with a canopy — it’s also a beach chair for kids.

It has a five-point harness, removable tray, and cup holder, but the sneaky part is that the whole top piece and footrest come off to make it into a shaded chair for your kids.

Even better, the entire thing fits into a sling bag, and the extremely durable polyester can be hosed or wiped off easily.

Wiggly-butt babies have something to push against with the footrest, and you can rest easy knowing it’s safe and stable because they’re so close to the ground.

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