I received this product free for review. All opinions remain my own.
My favourite kind of baby product is one that can be useful for different developmental stages. The bassinet we used with Cub was definitely not that kind of product. In fact, that bassinet encompassed the drawbacks of many baby items that I have chosen to do away with this second time around: it was bulky and impossible to store, hard to clean, not portable, limited to a very short period of use and way too frilly.
I bought a standard playpen second hand for Cub, too. I hated it almost as much as our bassinet for many of the same reasons. Calling it a “Pack and Play” was a huge misnommer: folding it up and shoving it into its carrying case was a huge pain, and it weighed an astronomical amount for something meant to be portable.
Enter the guzzie & guss Habitat Playard:
Where is it? All packed up in its carrying case that I can actually… carry!
It can be used as a bassinet and a playpen, so it’s two pieces of baby furniture in one.
What’s more, it replaces my two most-hated pieces of baby furniture from Cub’s infancy with one piece that resolves all of the aforementioned, hate-inducing issues:
- At about 12 lbs, it is light as a feather and totally portable;
- It folds down almost flat and easily slides into its carrying case so you can actually pack it and play in it or store it away for the next baby;
- It’s modern and clean looking: no bells and whistles or frills;
- It’s easy to keep clean: all the fabric is removable and machine washable;
- It can be used from birth until about 2 years old;
- At $200, it is easily cheaper than buying both a bassinet and a playpen.
Setting up The Habitat straight out of the box was, quite simply, child’s play:
The Habitat is essentially three pieces: the frame, the mattress and the body. The long arms of the frame are telescopic, so it shrinks down to fit inside the carrying case.
The body is hung over the frame and secured with zippers, then the mattress is placed inside.
To extend the length of the body, thus turning the bassinet into a playpen, you unzip the zippers around the perimeter of the body.
For the moment, we are using the Habitat as a bassinet. When I first brought her home, I had it next to our bed and Little Miss Cub would start her night off there before her first waking when I would bring her to bed with me. (Co-sleeping = more sleeping.) Now I’ve brought it to the main floor and it’s a spot that I can place her when she’s napping or I need to take care of Cub. (She is currently snoozing there as I type this at the kitchen table.)
The Habitat as a playpen will be a safe place to play when I can’t give her my undivided attention (and with a preschool-aged sibling, this may be quite often) and as a portable bed. I plan on bringing it to Vancouver at Christmas time as one of my pieces of “baby equipment” allowed by Westjet. Because the Habitat is so light and easily folded, I can bring it upstairs and downstairs as needed without having to wait for Hercules to help me carry it up or down the stairs. Next year we plan on going camping in the summer. The Habitat will be perfect for that, plus it comes with its own bug net!
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Find a retailer near you and all the specs for the Habitat on GuzzieandGuss.com
What’s your favourite feature of the Habitat?


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