Baby Gear Rentals for Family Vacations

The first time we ever traveled with our daughter, we brought so much stuff that it wouldn’t fit into either one of our compact cars.

We were driving to Washington, D.C. for a weeklong trip to visit my mother-in-law, and lordy, did we have gear.

Toys. Portable crib. Sheets for the crib. Pillows. A hundred blankets. A stroller. A car seat. Baby gates. A highchair. The list goes on and on. I was so certain that we needed to toss in the kitchen sink to survive a week away from home that we ended up renting a minivan.

Three years later, I would like to believe I am a little wiser in the ways of packing for my kid. It’s easier now, of course, since she ditched the baby gates and portable crib a long time ago, but we still have plenty of stuff.

So we bought a minivan.

Did I say “wiser?” Scratch that. “Lazier” would be a better way to put it.

We did, however, learn to draw the line when it comes to bulkier items like, oh, furniture. Several Thanksgivings ago we put the portable crib in the basement when it became clear one very, very long night that our girl was no longer interested in sleeping in a giant mesh square with a cardboard mattress.

We spend a few days every November at my husband’s grandparents’ house, and the portable crib was essential to our ability to bunk there. Otherwise, one of us was sharing a 30-year-old twin bed with our then-toddler—and I don’t think I need to tell you moms who drew the short end of the stick on that one.

“You’re 5 feet, 7 inches,” my husband said, standing before me in all his 6-foot glory. “I won’t fit. She’ll fall out.”

Eight sleepless hours later, I knew we had to find a better alternative.

Rent-a-Crib, or Stroller, or Car Seat

Before our next visit I turned to my trusty friend the Interwebs and did a Google search for “crib rental Cleveland.”

Voila! Hundreds of Web sites offering the essentials for short-term rentals. Cribs, strollers, crib mattresses, car seats, bedding … you name it, you can rent it. Four days later we arrived in Ohio to find a crib all set up in the den, for the very reasonable price of $75 for four days. That figure included delivery, set-up, break down and pick up.

Who knew?

Apparently, lots of smart moms and dads knew about this cool service way before I did. Just ask Lindsay Kearns of Champaign, Ill. She’s rented baby equipment multiple times. Some of her favorites have been Little Visitors (www.littlevisitors.com) in Las Vegas and Babies On the Go Rentals (www.rent4baby.com) in Portland, Ore. Little Visitors has multiple locations throughout the country.

“We’ve rented baby equipment while traveling about five different times in five different locations in the last two years of my oldest son’s life,” says this mom of two boys. “We’ve rented pack n’ plays, strollers, bags of toys, play gyms—different things based on our son’s age, the duration of our stay and the nature of our stay.”

Kearns says she finds such services “well worth the money” and expects to continue renting gear now that she has a newborn, as well as a toddler.

“While our son is getting older and needs less baby-equipment wise, our newborn will surely necessitate the continuation of our rental trend,” she says.

Booming Baby Gear

John Wierzba is the owner of Baby’s Away, one of the largest baby and child equipment rental services in the United States, and he says the baby-gear rental business is booming.

Founded in 1990 by a mother living in Breckenridge, Colo., Wierzba bought the company in 1998 and now oversees 70 locations nationwide from his home base in Denver.

“People are definitely traveling more, and traveling more with their kids, in spite of the economy,” says this father of three. “I haven’t checked all the statistics, but I think part of it is that the birth-rate is rising. I think what we’re seeing is an echo of the baby boom. Baby boomers’ kids are now having kids of their own.”

He’s right: according to The Washington Post, the fertility rate in the United States rose 2 percent between 2005 and 2006, meaning that the average woman will give birth to 2.1 children. This is considered a benchmark in population growth, one that has not occurred since 1971.

The most popular rental items for Baby’s Away are, of course, the holy trinity of childcare: cribs, highchairs and car seats.

Baby’s Away operates in vacation spots like Florida, Cape Cod, Mass. and Hawaii, but also boasts locations in metro areas like Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. While the business does have a small selection of customers who are dealing with temporary work assignments or relocations, the majority are families traveling with their kids.

Wierzba oversees the locations, but contractors—almost all of who are grandparents and parents themselves—manage daily operations. Those with children and grandchildren of their own are closest to the customer, he adds.

“Parents and grandparents aren’t going to put any child in something that isn’t safe.”