As new parents, we learn very quickly that going anywhere with a baby requires lugging a ton of “stuff” — so baby gear rental rental companies can be a lifesaver. If your destination is nowhere near friends or relatives with baby gear to borrow, you’ll find yourself with a long list of things to take with you, from a stroller to a Pack ‘n Play. That can be a huge hassle, especially when flying with kids.
Have you ever used a service that rents baby gear for travel? What items did you rent? What are your other strategies for baby gear on vacation?
We’ve rounded up three companies that rent baby gear so that on your next trip you won’t have to load yourself up with every necessity for your kiddos.
Note: Baby gear rental companies typically don’t install car seats (for liability reasons).
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3 Baby Gear Rental Companies for Family Travel
BabyQuip
Some baby rental companies only cover selected U.S. states, but BabyQuip offers rental (and cleaning!) services in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., as well as Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and other countries — 900+ cities total.
BabyQuip kind of feels like a TaskRabbit for baby gear rental. On the website, you’ll first search for “Quality Providers” in your area. Each provider has their own delivery fees and baby gear inventory, and on their profile you’ll see a photo, little bio, contact info, number of items they have available, and number of reservations they’ve completed.
Once you pick a rep, you’ll choose the gear you want (three days minimum) and pay online. You can have your baby items dropped off at the airport, at a hotel or vacation rental, or at your home. Your provider will deliver and set up your items.
For an example city, I picked Anaheim/Disneyland. The site listed 13 providers for the area (but 38 when I searched another way), with reps’ delivery fees starting at $20. Example rates: A Disneyland-compliant Baby Jogger City Mini GT2 Double Stroller rents for $15/day, while a full-size folding crib is $20/day.
The company also has a baby gear cleaning service (kinda wish this existed for pet items!).
{related: our best waterpark tips}
Baby’s Away
Baby’s Away, which has been around for 22 years, operates in more than 90 locations in 33 states, with at least one city in each state. To make a reservation, you choose your location and check out the available baby gear. Once you confirm your item selections and vacation dates, you’ll hear from the local rep within 24 hours, who’ll give you the total price, including equipment rates, delivery, and sales tax. Then you’ll confirm your reservation and set up your drop-off.
The categories of baby gear available are extensive, ranging from cribs to car seats to toys and even beach items. I chose New York City as an example, where a full-size wooden crib rents for $15/day and $90/week. A mattress and linens are included. A Britax Allegiance Rental convertible car seat will cost you $9/day or $54/week.
Note that brands and models aren’t always listed for products, unlike BabyQuip.
{related: what kind of family vacation is right for you}
Traveling Baby Company
Traveling Baby Company rents baby gear in 37 U.S. cities and states, including Anaheim/Disneyland, Miami, Orlando, Oahu, San Diego, and Puerto Rico. (A few are “temporarily closed” right now.)
The minimum rental fee is $35, and delivery rates (pickup included) start at $25. Long-term (over two weeks) rentals are available; contact the company for rates. Delivery spots include airport car rental locations, hotels, rental properties, and homes. In some cities, you can pick up and drop off your items yourself. You’ll receive a two- to four-hour window for drop-offs and pickups.
To rent, you choose your location and items, then pay, and you’ll receive confirmation by email within 24 hours. The company recommends booking several weeks ahead of time during holidays or summertime but says they’ll “always try to accommodate last-minute orders.”
Using San Diego as an example: A Pack ‘n Play rents for $7/day and $42/week, with an extra day costing $7. A Baby Jogger City Mini GT Double Stroller (bike lock included) is $15/day and $90/week, with each extra day at $15. The minimum order for the area is $50, and the average delivery fee (including both ways) is $45.
Readers, please share: Do you rent baby gear while traveling, or do you travel with all of your own stuff? Have you ever used one of these companies? If you’ve flown with items like a car seat or Pack ‘n Play, how did you keep them from being damaged?
Images (baby in rashguard on beach) via Stencil; other photos from company websites
Anon in NOVA says
I’m loving the mental image of shouting “Babies, Get away!” while trying to nap. Gave me a good LOL
Anonymous says
Thus far, we’ve always traveled with our stroller if we thought we would use/need it. They are so easy to check – either at the check in or at the gate – when you fly and they fly for free. Bonus that you can use it to either schlep bags or the baby while traveling. That said, the pack & play has been the hardest thing for us to figure out. We rented once through a local place in a resort town. Results were mixed. It wasn’t in great condition, but it worked for a couple of days. I do recommend bringing your own sheet/mattress pad if you go this route. Recently, we’ve just ordered the cheapest, stripped down PnPs from Wal-Mart and “shipped to store.” We’ve picked up on the way from the airport to where we are staying and then donated on our way out of town. All things said, it was about the same price as the rentals above (like $45) and it was new.
Anon says
+1. This is what we do. Particularly if we’re staying for more than a day or two, it’s almost always more cost-effective to just buy online and have shipped to store and/or hotel at our location. And yes, I research a place to donate before I leave town. Almost every city has some kind of women’s shelter or food pantry or even a local church that will take donations.
The only horrible thing to figure out is car seats. We bought some Cosco brand ones specifically for travel, but it’s really hard to travel with two adults and two kids and two car seats. And dealing with two separate car seats on a plane is an absolute nightmare. We experimented with buying at location, but that only worked because there was a Walmart about 10 min from the airport – Parent 1 picked them up, came back to airport for kids and Parent 2, and then we just left them in the rental car when we returned it. It’s enough to make us drive most places until we’re into booster seat territory.
Boston Legal Eagle says
I don’t have babies but we’re also trying to figure out what to do about carseats for our kids (will be 6 and almost 4 at the time of travel). I don’t trust our rental car to have the right carseats (I don’t want the 4 year old in just a booster), so we may just check our existing carseats and have those available. Luckily we won’t need to strap them on the plane at these ages.
AwayEmily says
Is rental car agencies giving you boosters when you request a carseat a frequent thing? Rental agencies have always given me a cheapo but acceptable carseat, usually Chicco or Cosco Scenera Next.
Anon says
I think it’s really random. We once got a bucket seat for a tall 3 year old which obviously did not work. I’d say you have pretty decent odds of getting an acceptable seat but if you get the wrong seat it can really put a damper on the trip when you have to start your trip sending an adult out to Target/Walmart to buy a Cosco seat.
Anon says
We always brought our own stuff, but airlines do destroy strollers, particularly in Europe where they often get out with regular checked baggage. When it happened to us our kid was 4, so we made do, but it would have been a very costly replacement if we’d had a baby with us.
Anon in NYC says
I’ve rented a pack and play and high chair from Baby’s Away. Both were in fine condition but the high chair was missing the over the shoulder straps (it had the waist straps though). I’m sure I could have called them to fix it but I didn’t.
I just recently traveled and brought a travel crib (that we purchased, the Phil and Ted’s) and we bought a booster seat from Target (~$15) that we left when we came home.
Kelly C. says
Our Baby Bjorn travel crib seemed really expensive when I bought it, but we have gotten a ton of use out of that thing. I bought a jumbo suitcase, the Bjorn crib fits in one half and I put all of baby’s gear in the other half (feeding supplies, toys, etc.). We end up checking a lot of bags (usually 4 suitcases for the three of us), but it works.
For high-chairs, Amazon has some cloth thing that works OK for younger babies. A lobster clip seat can sometimes travels OK otherwise.
For cheaper gear, we have bought things like bouncy seats or booster chairs at our destination, then donated before flying home. That seems to work OK.
Anon says
Are you me? I did the exact same thing with our Bjorn crib and a jumbo suitcase. We also bought and donated cheaper items at the destination for things like beach toys, bounce chairs, etc.
If you travel a lot, I think it is worth it to invest in lightweight travel gear that you can rely on. I loved our Bjorn crib especially because I knew the baby would always have a safe, clean and comfy place to sleep and we got a ton of use out of it for the first few years. We also had a travel stroller and car seat, a simple audio baby monitor for travel, and a mini childproofing kit.
Christina Edwards says
We rented from Babies Getaway (haha) this past week and were impressed. We rented a full size crib, a pack and play and a city mini single. All were in perfect condition. There prices seem to be lower than the rest also. Theres a company called BabyChic NY that charges $70 for delivery. Thats insane.
Anon says
We always schlepped everything we needed but we only have one kid which makes it easier, and we have free checked bags through airline status. We also tried to choose vacations where we didn’t need much stuff. We often traveled without a car seat to cities (just using public transport and a car service with a seat if necessary to/from airport) and rarely brought the stroller on beach trips since we unusually walked or drove everywhere. We sometimes used hotel PNPs but we had some bad experiences with them being dirty so we mostly brought our own. We switched to an inflatable air mattress around age 2.5, which is a lot easier to pack, and then by age 3.5/4 just a regular bed in the hotel/condo. We did ship a PNP to my parents vacation home and this reminds me that we should donate it this summer.
Elodie says
I’m about to fly from Europe to the US, and would like to try to do some small part to help this horrible formula situation by bringing a bunch of formula with me. My question for you is, do you know what formulas are in most need? (US names are fine; I can figure out the German equivalent). And, any advice on finding someone who needs it? I was thinking to try to see if there’s a moms of multiples group near where I’m going, since twin/triplet moms often need formula, but thought I’d also ask you if you have ideas. (My twins are now 80% breastfed, but it was a long painful journey to get there, and I’m so grateful for the existence of formula. I cannot imagine if we’d had to drive around trying to find formula when I was already spending 12 hours a day triple feeding…it would have destroyed me…physically, and emotionally)
Anon says
That’s so kind. I would try posting tomorrow on the main post.
Anon says
I think posting in a local moms group you’ll get takers immediately. Enfamil and Similac are the biggest brands in the US but I assume you’ll have takers for any brand.
Anonymous says
If you are I. The US traveling domestically and have AAA you get a free car seat with the rental. My kids that need seats still are 3 and 5. We bring one for the 3 y/o and grab a booster for the older one. Worst case they only have car seats proper in which case our 5 y/o uses the one we brought (which she still fits in) and 3 y/o uses the rental one.
Becca says
I encourage readers to shop around for local baby gear companies rather than the “big franchise guys”. We rented everything though “A Baby’s Choice” on our recent stay in South Florida. For any stay over 3 nights, the prices were substantially less than anybody else and the equipment was all top notch and CLEAN! I heard from a family member that they have been in business over 30 years serving Florida. They even installed a car seat into my mothers car prior to my arrival. The car seat was clean and a very new model (Britax).
Erin says
In may, we have travelled to Rome with my 2 years old daughter and rented a cybex stroller, we used a service called Babonbo. It came in very handy in Rome.