Your Mama Likes the Stokke Table Top

One day I saw the new Stokke Table Top.  It looks really intriguing to me.  I contacted Stokke asking if we could work with them on a feature.  When they sent me one, I looked up the price tag.  Oops.  It’s nearly $100.  For a tray that sticks to your table.

I cringed.  We’re a budget-conscious blog.  And that’s a lot of money to drop on a silly tray to protect your dinner table from your gross children.

(Or so I thought.)

When I realized I didn’t like feeding the baby at our table (he uses it as leverage to push his chair away) I decided to try the Table Top out on my three-year-old.  (The fussy, omg-making-me-want-to-rip-my-face-off picky eater.)  He freaked out with joy.  “It’s my OWN!”

From that day on, we had a very concrete “spot” for him to eat on.  He’s, sadly, only recently transitioned from a high chair to the regular table.  And I’ve had a horrible time getting him to sit in one place and stay interested.  Now I can tell him to go sit at his special spot and he knows it’s time to eat and where to go.  He’s decently good at keeping his food on the tray, and the sloped edges of the plastic contain the inevitable spills.

So what’s the Table Top?  It’s a set of floppy pictures that attach via suction cup to your table.  Then you place a plastic tray on the top which seals the whole thing against your table and makes an interactive, somewhat educational place for your child to eat.  It’s basically a super tricked out place mat for kids and babies.

Pros:

• You can change out the images, which include basic pictures and more complex scenarios like alphabets and math.
• In addition to being fun for your kid, it helps contain messes and with a baby, can help them scoop up finger foods against the edges.

Cons:

• It needs to be hand-washed, so if you’re addicted to your dishwasher, beware.
• Beyond needing to be handwashed, I haven’t experienced any problems with this product.  However, if you have a circular table, you’re not going to be able to get it flush against the edge.  (It hasn’t been a huge problem for us.)
• It’s expensive.

I can’t honestly say I would have $90 of my own to spend on this product.  But if you do, I would absolutely recommend it for a child transitioning to the big kid table or for a baby using a high chair without a tray.  (We have a $20 plastic Ikea high chair, but Stokke also makes the ridiculously gorgeous wooden Trip Trapp high chair.)  I’ve found them online for $89 on Amazon.  This is our affiliate link to the products.

Discount Alert

Stokke has a special going on until the end of the year.  If you buy a Trip Trapp and an accessory, they’ll throw the Table Top in for free.  Check their site out for details.

About the author:  Maria is surrounded by boys. She gets all aflutter when she finds good deals, new episodes of Gossip Girl, and big bold bottles of red wine. Read more from this author.