Why We Love the Fisher-Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat

Unlike a full-size high chair, the Fisher-Price booster seat probably won’t become an heirloom. It won’t be featured in a MoMa exhibition. Nor will it complement your home’s decor. This seat stands out because of how unremarkable it is.

The molded plastic seat straps onto any regular-size dining chair—you’ll just want to make sure it’s a stable and sturdy one. You buckle the baby in with a three-point safety harness, and then snap the tray on top. I’ve found it easier to get a wriggly baby into the Fisher-Price seat than into high chairs without removable trays.

Because the Fisher-Price’s tray is smaller than that of a full-size high chair, you can bring your baby right up to the table. This has made me feel like my babies are more fully part of the chatter, the passing of food, the spilling of drinks, and the general antics that accompany any meal in my house. And when your kid no longer needs a tray, the seat functions as a booster seat.

The Fisher-Price high chair was designed to be portable, and for me, this may be its most uniquely valuable feature. The back of the seat folds down and snaps together with the tray into a compact package, with the straps serving as a carrying handle. We’ve brought the Fisher-Price on trips, to the homes of friends and relatives, and to restaurants. (If you’re like me, you’ll love never again having to rely on one of the ubiquitous, tippy wooden high chairs found in restaurants.) If you don’t want or need a high chair around all the time, you can stash it away.

When my fourth kid turned one, we once again took the obligatory photo of him scarfing down some birthday cake while sitting in the Fisher-Price high chair—and then stuck the whole thing in the dishwasher.

The Fisher-Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat itself is pretty indestructible. I recommend placing a towel on top of whatever chair you attach it to, to protect the chair from any spills that might seep down.

The Fisher-Price seat is also easy to clean. You can put the tray in the dishwasher (we do this every evening). But, unlike the larger trays on full-size high chairs, this tray is small enough to fit in most sinks, so you can rinse it without water running off onto the counters. The seat itself is easy to wipe down, and because it too is so compact, it should fit in most sinks—and even in the dishwasher.

And because the chair is durable, easy to clean and has a “grow with your kid” design, senior staff writer Lauren Dragan was able to pass hers on to a friend once her kid grew out of the chair — so it can still be in use and well-loved, even several years later.

A version of this post was originally published as part of our 2020 “52 Things We Love” series, an ode to Wirecutter picks that have withstood the test of time. This version was edited by Annemarie Conte. Read the entire series.