Joie Mimzy Snacker Highchair - Review

Back in the Summer, Erin turned 6 months old and her weaning journey began. We started off with a bumbo type seat with a tray and this worked fine for the first week or so but she very quickly grew too big and it was getting a bit cumbersome putting the seat on the table!

It was obvious that we needed a highchair so I began to look around to see what was on the market. There are SO many to choose from so it can be a bit overwhelming at first - how do you choose?! I liked the simplicity of the white Ikea ones but I wanted a highchair that I could fold up easily and keep out of the way when it wasn't in use. I always wanted it to be easy to clean! 

With those points in mind, I decided that the Joie Mimzy Snacker highchair would be perfect for our needs. I'm already familiar with the Joie brand as Elliot has one of their carseats and so I knew we would be getting a good quality item.

Key Features and What we liked!

• 3 position seat recline. The highchair can be used from 6 months but of course not all babies are able to sit up unaided at that age. This means the reclining seat is perfect for those early weaning days when they need a bit of a support. We've had to use it for that purpose but it is very handy when your child falls asleep in their lunch! You can just pop the seat back and let them have a snooze. 
• Very easy to fold. Some highchairs require a degree to fold down but this one is super easy and can even be done one handed. The handle is located in the middle of the seat and you just give it a little tug and the chair folds down. It can also be opened one handed which is a godsend if you are carrying a hungry, grumpy baby. Simply bring the back of the chair up and it clicks into place. 
• Extremely compact in folded position. This is brilliant if you don't have a lot of room spare in your dining room and kitchen, and lets face it, not many of us do after having children!! The tray can be attached to the back of the chair and then the folded up using the handle in the middle. The highchair will then stand by itself which saves balancing it against the wall and risking it toppling over.
• Large tray. The tray is nice and big and can be adjusted into three positions as your child grows bigger. It has a deep cup holder although Erin's drink tends to get launched over the side! The tray is easy to clean and easy to click into place. 

snack time = happy Erin!!

• Large storage basket. This is really useful for storing your bibs and wipes but the only downside is, food does tend to end up in it too! 
• Safe and secure. The highchair has a 5 point harness which is easy to adjust and makes it nice and safe for the child. The tray has a safety bit which goes between their legs which means they can't slip down through even if they aren't strapped in. 
• Cute Designs. Our Mimzy Snacker has the alphabet pattern which features various different animals. I love the design and the pastel colours are eyecatching without being too bright. 
• Price. The Mimzy Snacker retails at £49.95 and I think this is great value for the features that it offers. I really don't think there's any need to be spending hundreds on pounds on a highchair when this one does the job so well! 

What didn't we like?

As much as I love this highchair there are couple of little points that I'm not too keen on. Although the seat pad is easy to wipe clean, there are a few areas where crumbs seem to congregate! The handle to fold the chair is under a flap of material and I find this area is a bit tricky to clean as the food gets stuck right in the corners. The best thing I've found is to use the hoover and suck out any bigger bits and then use a wipe to get in the corners.

Also related to this issue are the straps. I have no idea why manufacturers make the straps white - yes they look nice when new but after about three days, they're stained with food despite multiple wipe downs!

Despite these little niggles, I do love this highchair and think it's brilliant value for money. We use it at least 4 times a day and I love that it folds down flat and is lightweight. It makes it nice and simple to move around the house as needed (breakfast in the kitchen, lunch in lounge etc!).

How did you decide what highchair to get? 

LOGO DESIGN FOR BEGINNERS! - LOGOJOY REVIEW

I've had my blog for just over 3 years now and it has always been a hobby. I love writing about what we get up to as a family and it will be lovely to look back on when the kids are older. When I set it up, I used a free theme from blogger as my back ground and my logo was something I created in PicMonkey using some of my favourite photos and a particular font I liked.

As with most things, my blog has evolved over time and I'm now looking at updating my theme and logo to match our life right now. When the blog was set up, we only had Elliot but obviously now we have Erin too so I'd like to incorporate her as well as it looking more streamlined. 

The first thing I would like to update is my logo as this is obviously the first thing people see when they land on my page. Not having a clue about graphic design, I was recommended to try out Logojoy. Another blogger claimed they could create a logo in under 10 minutes so I was keen to see what they could do for a not-very-creative person like me! 

The first step is to enter your blog name - easy peasy! The next page brings up a grid of logos which were all created by Logojoy and you are asked to click on 5 that you like the look of. This gives the generator an idea of what you like. Next is colour combinations - you can skip this step but I chose blues and purples for mine. 

The next step is to pick up to five symbols for your logo. You can search for specific ones like family or parenting and then this will give you more options at the top such as children, kids, community etc. 

The next page will generate some logos for you featuring your business name and symbols if you decided to use any. Once you click on your favourite, it will give you the option of tweaking with the colours, font and layout. 

Once you have decided on your logo and purchased it, you have access to all the files you need such as PNG and JPG. 

I have to say, I was mega impressed with how simple it was to create a logo. As you can see from the picture above, my logo is alot different to my current blog header pic and I really like how clean and simple it looks.  I'm going to spend a bit of time tweaking it until I'm 100% happy but the logo above was created in under ten minutes so it is possible to knock something up in that little time! 

My logo was created using the Premium package ($65) but see here for more options.