Best High Chair Alternatives

Are you trying to the best high chair alternative for meal times with your child?

Then let us help you decide which is best for you and your baby with our guide to the best high chair alternatives!

The high chair finds itself on almost every list of baby gear essentials.

When your baby can sit up on their own, a traditional high chair provides a convenient and comfortable way for them to eat.

They also help babies engage and socialize with their family at the dinner table.

However, a lot of parents quickly realize that there are actually a lot of annoying factors that come with the high chair too. 

Some high chairs aren’t versatile enough and some might only have one size.

Other high chairs might take up too much space in the home and others can be a real pain to clean up afterward. 

It is these issues that lead parents to look for alternatives to the traditional high chair. Luckily for them, there are many. In this post, we want to show you the best.

We will show you high chair alternatives that save space, offer more versatility, and can even be cheaper. If this is something you’re looking for, be sure to stick around!

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Best High Chair Alternatives

Let’s dive in an take a look at the best baby high chair alternatives.

1. Booster Seats

The first high chair on our list is the booster seat. Booster seats are an excellent alternative to high chairs for the fact they are much smaller.

This means you can save much-needed space in your home for other baby essentials. 

A booster seat is basically a small seat that attaches to your table’s chairs.

Using this alternative not only ensures your baby is sat high enough at the table but also brings them closer to the family.

While some booster seats allow the child to eat from the table, most models come with a handy built-in tray, which makes serving up all those healthy toddler snacks a breeze!

In our opinion, this is by far one of the easiest ways to solve your high chair problems.

It is perfect for any family looking to bring their child closer to the table without having to buy an expensive, overly sized high chair.

Booster seats are also a good option for families that travel. When visiting family or going on vacation, throw the booster seat in the back of the car, and off you go. 

Pros

• Versatile – The booster seat can attach to most chairs.
• Portable – Easily take the seat with you.
• Engaging – This chair lets your baby engage with the family more.

Cons

• Not Very Stylish – This type of chair doesn’t look as good as others. 

2. Toddler Tower

Toddler towers might not be any smaller than traditional high chairs, making them unsuited to families who need to save space, but they certainly come with much more versatility. 

Toddler towers are designed to give toddlers the height they need to carry out a number of different things.

This could be to eat like a high chair, but it could also be used to give your child height when it comes to completing other things too.

These things could include baking, cleaning, or crafts. In fact, the toddler tower can be used for anything else in between if your toddler needs a boost.

Typically designed to look like a miniature staircase, using a toddler tower is an amazing way to open your child up to more opportunities and possibilities.

It will help encourage your toddlers to engage in new things and start to show them what goes on around the house. 

The only downside to this high chair alternative is that you will have to find space for it.

Pros

• Adjustable – Most toddler towers are adjustable, so they can grow with your child.
• Safe Alternative – The tower is a much safer alternative to your child pulling a chair up.
• Wide Range Of Uses – Your toddler can use the tower to help them take part in a variety of activities.

Cons

• Only For Toddlers – The toddler tower can only be used by children that can stand on their own.

3. Chair Boosters

An interesting high chair alternative are chair boosters. In many ways, a chair booster is the opposite of a booster seat. A chair booster works by attaching to the bottom of your table chair’s legs.

Once connected to the legs of your table’s chair, you can expect to see a height increase of up to 7 inches. 

This height increase should be more than enough to make your child tall enough to sit at the dinner table with the rest of the family.

This alternative is good not only because of its compact design and storability but also because it introduces your child to eating at the dinner table in the normal way. 

The only downside to this high chair alternative is that your child will need to be confident and stable enough to sit at the table by themselves without being supported by chair straps. 

As a result, the chair booster is going to be an alternative better suited to toddlers that have started to advance in their development. 

Pros

• Easy To Use – It takes just seconds to attach this booster.
• Small – You can easily store this booster away or leave it attached to the chair.
• Portable – You can take the chair booster with you.

Cons

• Not For Every Child – Only children who are capable of sitting strong on their own can use the booster.

4. Travel Chair Harness

If you’re looking for the most portable, compact high chair alternative, a travel chair harness could be perfect for you. 

The travel chair harness is a fabric clip-on seat that resembles a kangaroo pouch. The beauty of the product is that it can be used on almost any type of chair, easily stored away, and taken traveling. 

Aside from saving you plenty of space in your home, the travel chair harness also offers a more secure and comfortable experience for your baby.

For starters, unlike plastic high chairs, this alternative is made out of soft fabrics that the baby will love. Secondly, the soft, yet sturdy straps keep the child in place.

Finally, the harness lets babies sit a lot closer to the table when they eat. This lets them sit a lot closer to the family. 

The one shortfall to this alternative is that it might suit traveling better. While the travel chair harness is a brilliant product, repeated everyday use could result in the harness experiencing wear and tear quite quickly.

Pros

• Fits Most Chairs – The travel chair harness is designed to fit most chairs.
• Secure – This alternative will keep your baby firmly in place.
• Perfect For Travel – This lightweight harness will fit in your bag.

Cons

• Vulnerable To Wear And Tear – The travel chair harness is vulnerable to general wear and tear from everyday use.

5. Hook-On Chairs

A convenient option found on the market is the hook-on chair. This interesting product is essentially a small seat that hooks directly onto the side of your table. This may seem pretty strange and dangerous, but it isn’t. 

Thanks to the well-designed, solid hooks, the chairs grip onto the table tightly guaranteeing complete safety and comfort for your baby.

Once the chair has been attached to the table, simply place your child in it and let them eat their food. 

To make the eating experience a lot easier for your child, this chair even comes with a small food tray. You don’t have to worry about any spillages either as the tray will catch it all. 

Keeping your child close to the family, the fact this chair hooks right onto the table is a great touch and one that saves a lot of space and time.

Rather than wasting time setting up the high chair before having to squeeze past, you can quickly attach the chair before easily maneuvering back and forth past your baby.

Pros

• Easy Setup – It doesn’t take long to set this chair up.
• Affordable – This alternative is generally much more affordable.
• Handy Tray Included – The tray will protect you and your child from spillages.

Cons

• Potential For Accidents – If set up incorrectly, there is a chance the chair could fall.

6. Folding High Chair

If you still like the high chair but want an easier-to-use, better-to-store alternative, a folding high chair could be what you’re looking for. 

A folding high chair isn’t too different from any other high chair apart from the fact it can be easily folded down into a more compact product that is much easier to store away and place out of sight. 

One of the biggest problems people have with wooden high chairs is that they are more often than not very bulky, taking up lots of space which can be a big problem in smaller properties. The folding high chair will solve all of these problems for you.

While solving all of these problems, your baby will still be able to enjoy all the functionality that comes with any other high chair.

They can sit at the table with family, eat from their dinner tray, and engage with the family before the tray is then folded back down and put away until next time. 

Removing any inconvenience, the chair can be placed alongside a wall, thrown in a cupboard, or laid flat and pushed under a sofa. 

Pros

• Much Easier To Use – You will find it so much easier to store this high chair away.
• All The Perks – The folding high chair comes with all the perks and benefits we expect from any high chair.
• Very Flat When Folded – Store the chair in a cupboard, against a wall, or under the sofa.

Cons

• Not As Portable – Compared to other alternatives on this list, the folding high chair isn’t very portable. 

Final Thoughts on Choosing a High Chair Alternative

While high chairs are convenient and relatively easy to use, as you can see from our list, there are plenty of good highchair alternatives that are just as or even more convenient. 

The options we have presented to you in this post all offer something different, but when compared to traditional high chairs, they are all more portable, easier to use, and much easier to store away. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t use a traditional high chair, but if you’re looking for something a bit different that offers all the same features and more, one of the options from our list might be perfect for your family. 

Why don’t you take some time to have a closer look at the alternative high chair options from our list and see what you think!