’Luxury’ baby stuff worth the price tag?

Just pondering this yesterday as I flicked through my OHbaby! magazine (which I find filled with ridiculously expensive toys and clothes, but that's a whole other matter I don't want to get into!)... what stuff have you either bought or been gifted that would generally be classed as a luxury, but has been totally worth it?

eg a lot of people would class a baby hammock as a luxury but I know a lot of people who say they're worth every dollar.

Mine is the Solvej Baby Swing - we were given ours as a hand me down and when I found out how much they cost new I was gobsmacked, but it is truly awesome. We've gotten so much use out of it, JJ adores it still and it won't be long before Addie can use it, it's sitting outside on our tree being exposed to sun, wind, rain and hail, it lasted a friend's twins for a good 3 years before we got it, we've had it for a couple of years now and it still looks like new.

JessDub wrote: (I agree with the OhBaby advertising comment. I'm the wrong target audience there, I'm afraid!)

Me too. But I still like to look.

That swing looks great, but yes, out of my price range.

Oh yes, the Gogo bags. I lashed out and bought some when they were on sale and I LOVE them and they'll do for all the kids (when the next ones come along). Also for me I've got a few bits and pieces of expensive clothing; Bobux merino and Nature Baby cotton or merino. They always look great, I use them all the time and they don't lose their shape.
I also think of our Mocka change table as a luxury (as we couldn't afford it - MIL got it for us after I had to have a c-section) but it's such a great bit of furniture I reckon it's totally worth it as well.

Hmmm... I agree on the advertising!

There is a woman in one of my groups, $2000 cot, $2000 pram... etc.

Our luxuries are our P&T Sport, I do a LOT of walking so it's been worth every cent!
I had a basic pram but it simply didn't cut it! So sold it and forked out a bit more for the P&T.
Have a cheap carrier and tbh if I had spent a bit more time researching then I could have got a good one of those and wouldn't have needed the P&T!

But the rocker/bouncer - spent $100, Lily hates it!

Tbh I don't actually think we have that many luxury items for Lily.

ETA: I lie, her toys are all luxuries BUT they were all either 50% or more off or 2nd hand, I never pay full price if I have to!

Edited by Lil_Nic9

I love my P&T sport buggy. It's taken a hammering and it's still looking good. Also Touchwood luxus mattress, I splurged because I bought a cot second hand quite cheaply and DD is still using it on her toddler bed. Grobags - they are just fab and wash well. I prefer them to Gogo bags as they are easier to do up and wash/dry with a spilly bub. Nature Baby drawstring pants, they just fit my chubba bubba so well and not so expensive if you can pick them up in the sales, way cheaper and more comfy than PP.

I quite like the advertising in OhBaby. It's nice to see what's out there even if I wouldn't buy it. Like window shopping from the comfort of your own couch.

Our bugaboo pram - ordered it from overseas late 2007 and it cost around $1400 (retail in NZ was about $1800 at the time) but has been worth every cent, onto second baby and still going strong. I love everything about it. functionality, flexibility, looks. It was a luxury in that we could have just bought a cheaper pram, but at the time I got a promotion at work so used that as an excuse to splurge! I'm not too worried about what we paid for it, will be able to sell it on Trade Me for $1000 when we're done with it.

I don't mind aspirational advertising, and if I see something I really like you can usually get it on sale somewhere anyway so no need to pay full price.

I guess most of our stuff could be classed as "luxury" items. As in - they aren't a NEED. When you think about it - babies need very few things!

We usually like to buy quality things over the cheaper gear - in the hope that it will last a bit longer (it may be false hope but hey ). Of course, some things it's better to buy cheaper but for items that we hope will be around a long time we fork out the extra dollars for. For example, the first and only toy we have ever bought Jude (all others have been given to him by other people) was a metal sandpit grader for his birthday. It was around $60, however - it should last him.....forever. Both DP and I had replicas of the exactly the same grader in our families and both are still going strong today.

Our three baby carriers - a Moby, an Ergo and a Kozy (We really don't need THREE baby carriers but we feel we have got our moneys worth from all three) and our merino Go Go Bag (given to us) are some other luxury items. Our Graco capsule and Sunshine Kids Radian carseat were also on the expensive "luxury" side of things rather than being the most basic and cheapest. I'm glad we bought our Mountain Buggy Urban Elite + extras off TradeMe rather than new as we hardly ever use it. Our Touchwood cot was a super bargain off TradeMe (and was real Rimu too not just stained pine ) and so we felt we could justify spending a little extra on a good quality Sleepyhead mattress for it.

(Yep, I'm starting to feel like a bit of a snob name dropping all these brands - oh well, I'll get over it, but I'll stop there )

We also spent $50 on some old painted drawers on TradeMe - sanded them back to the beautiful Rimu underneath, oiled them and put new handles on them and walah - "luxury" rimu dresser for Jude.

Hehe Carnelian - have to disagree with you on the trampoline, $350 is definitely not enough to spend on a trampoline! That wouldn't cut the mustard with us When Jude and his siblings are a little older we will definitely be splurging on a really good quality trampoline - at this stage it looks as if it will be one of the fancy springfree ones. (Of course it won't be a present for an individual child, rather a present for the whole family). A tramp is pretty important for us though!

Baby isn't here yet so havn't had a chance to use my P&T Dash but I love it and its our most expensive purchase to date, more expensive than my genesis cot which has just gone up and I adore it makes the babies room feel more real.

I feel the P&T is an investment and its something that will get well used, I went with P&T for if/when we have #2 upgrading to the doubles kit won't be so expensive, than having to go thru the hassle of selling a cheaper buggy and buying P&T anyways.
I went with the Dash as I struggled with the foot brake on the sport.

My 'luxury' item was a 2nd hand bassinette. We were living in a small 3 bdrm cottage with FIL (so 3 adults, a school-aged kid and a NB) and the bassinette was a godsend as it meant she could room in with us for the first few months, made night feeds much easier without having to worry that FIL would hear her wake up before we did! MIL paid $60 for it (was the last thing she bought for baby before she passed away), looked like it was virtually new condition, and we'll use it again for this one, even though we have the house to ourselves, and the bigger bedroom.

Sally wrote: weegee wrote: Just pondering this yesterday as I flicked through my OHbaby! magazine (which I find filled with ridiculously expensive toys and clothes, but that's a whole other matter I don't want to get into!).... TOTALLY agree with this!! And...DH's comment from the last issue...."it's a pity that they didn't actually have a picture of some people with a cleft palate to accompany their article on cleft palate" - totally agree....the cosmetic aspect of cleft palate is a biggy for some people.

I agree with your DH too! I thought the same thing!

chelle wrote: I had a hammock, but borrowed it from my cousin and it was awesome, so worth every cent she paid

LOL - I got two merino go-go bags from my sister. They were used for her two, and now are used for DS every night, and still look like new! Very impressed with them -- and the cost per wear for me is great!