It’s a guzzie+Guss hat trick! That’s right: this review means I will have tested all three of guzzie+Guss’s high chair offerings. Conveniently, the Banquet wooden high chair merges my favourite things about its cousins, the Perch and the Tiblit, to make it the perfect at-home feeding chair solution.
The Perch is a portable chair that clips onto the table. Many parents love its portability, but what I have discovered is that we eat 99.9% of our meals at home. My favourite aspect of the Perch is that it brings Little Miss to the table, at the same level as the rest of us. This is not only perfect for playtime, but also for mealtime. However, since the Perch attaches to the table, it also takes up a spot, which is a problem when we have company and need to fit more grown-ups at the table. That’s why I love our Tiblit. It’s a stand-alone high chair and has been where Little Miss has taken the majority of her meals until recently. Enter the Banquet: a stand-alone high chair with a tray that can also be used at the table. Plus, it turns into a regular chair for a child (or in my case, adult) up to 60 kg (about 130 lbs).
My first hint that we needed to try the Banquet was when Little Miss started climbing up on our dining chairs on her own. She can’t climb into or out of the Perch or the Tiblit without help, and she’s at that age where she is bound and determined to get where she wants to go when she wants to go there. Seated on a regular dining chair, she can’t reach the table to eat, and I can’t keep her secured. The Banquet allows her to climb up onto her seat alone, and then I can use the 5-point harness to secure her. The chair tucks right up to the table and she can eat with the family.
The Banquet allows you to position the seat and footrest at the perfect height for your child and your table. It’s super easy to raise and lower both the footrest and seat depending on who is using the chair. Ultimately, you can remove the footrest and your older child can use the Banquet as their regular chair. The harness comes right off too, so unnecessary straps aren’t left dangling. The instructions suggest use up to ten years old or 60 kg. I don’t think I surpassed 60 kg until my twenties, so I’m sure many kids could keep sitting on it well past ten years old! (Update: I just got a physical and I am 59.2 kg … Little Miss is going to have to fight me for this chair!)
If you don’t want to use it at the table, simply use the included dining tray. When we need to fit more people around the table, I’ll bust out the tray.
Although we don’t use it, there is also a bumper bar included.
I love how perfectly the Banquet tucks into our table when we’re not using it. Our dining area is really small, so any extra space is appreciated. I chose the black one to match our dining chairs, but it also comes in dark brown, orange and red.
Unlike the Tiblit, which was ready to use right out of the box, the Banquet took me about half an hour and some brainpower to assemble. I have disastrously poor spatial reasoning so initially I had some parts on backwards. If you can build basic IKEA furniture, you can build your Banquet.
Little Miss loves sitting on her Banquet. She’s part of the dinner time action now that she’s at our level instead of off to the side in her Tiblit. I do have to watch out for her pushing herself away from the table when she’s done, but at least the chair just slides backwards rather than tilting precariously. As soon as baby is sitting independently, she can sit in the Banquet. It’s not soft and cushy like the Tiblit, but you can purchase seat pads if desired. This could easily be the only high chair you need from the first bite of mushed banana till they’re making their own banana splits.
What we love about the Banquet:
- It can be used as a stand-alone high chair or directly at the dining table.
- It transforms into a regular chair for big kids.
- The seat and footrest are easy to adjust to the perfect height.
- Surfaces are easy to clean with a damp cloth, and there are few nooks and crannies in which crumbs can hide.
- The chair tucks perfectly under the dining table, so it doesn’t take up precious space when not in use.
- My daughter adores being able to sit at the table in a big-kid chair, and I adore being able to strap her in.
- It’s super sleek and stylish and matches our dining table.
What we love less about the Banquet:
- Assembly required: there are a lot of pieces, and I don’t recommend trying to build it with a curious toddler roaming around.
- It’s not portable: as I mentioned, we almost never require a high chair outside the house, however the Tiblit folds flat and comes with a carry bag, and the Perch is compact and clips onto most tables. If portability is your main criterion, the Banquet is not for you.
Of the three guzzie+Guss high chairs we have now tried, the Banquet is definitely my favourite. It’s compact, versatile and multi-stage!
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