Kidco PeaPod Plus Review and Giveaway

I have wanted to try out a Kidco PeaPod for a long time.  It just seems like a great idea when you have a baby or even toddler and would like to spend time outside but worry about the sun or bugs.  Basically, the Kidco Peapod is a small pop tent for babies or toddlers.  It's amazingly easy to set up and is the perfect size for little ones to nap or just hang out and play with some toys. It is also a convenient travel bed for whether you're going on an airplane trip or just to a friend's house and need an extra bed along.  It's way easier to carry the PeaPod carry case than a heavy playpen.

Kidco sent me a PeaPod Plus to review and I had a fun time reviewing it with the help of my family.  It became more like a focus group as we chatted before breakfast!  Overall, the ratings were quite good and here's what we ended up with.

The Set Up

Rather than describe the process, I figured a short video would do a better job of demonstrating how easy it is to set up the Peapod.

Rolling up the flaps and attaching them at the top.

Set up and ready to go!

There's really nothing to it.  The mattress only took a few moments to inflate with the manual pump that comes with it.  We inflated it and then placed it inside which worked okay but you might want to inflate it inside to make it even easier.  ETA:  I just read that you can actually insert the mattress in a zipper at the bottom of the PeaPod on their Facebook page.  I guess we should have read the instructions more carefully.  We'll have to try that next time!

Mattress and Pump

The PeaPod Carrying Case

Testing it Out!

First, we put Connor inside and he's almost 3 years old.  It seemed a bit small for him to actually play in it while sitting up although he did love it.  He enjoyed crawling around in it for a while until the novelty wore off.  I would use it as a place for him to nap though.  It should also be mentioned that it's a great alternative for an indoor bed as well.  It could possibly be used as an alternative to hauling around a playpen to a hotel for example.

Next, we put Aleena inside and it was better for her size.  She's 15 months and was able to sit up inside without her head touching the top of the PeaPod.  She and Connor played around in it and we did our "durability test" because it didn't break despite the crawling and bashing around of a couple of little people.  It's very solidly made and can stand up to some hard use from what we saw.  Once Connor wanted to get out, we left Aleena inside and gave her some toys.  She played quite happily for a few minutes until she was hungry and wanted some breakfast.  I considered that a success.  I would use it again on our deck at home even.  She could sit and play inside and I can read my book or even do some gardening.  It has screens and zippers just like most tents and it has flaps that can be used to cover up the baby completely if they are napping.  Otherwise, you can keep them open and just have the screens zipped up so you can see baby and vise versa.

We like it!

Aleena checking things out.  Of course, she had to smoosh her face up against the screen.

I didn't want to wreck the mattress by testing it out but Connor thought it was comfy!

The Good!
As I said, we were camping with family and they seemed interested in chipping in their opinions for this review.  Here were the positive comments:

• Amazingly easy to set up.
• Great features with the screens, zippers, windows, and mattress.
• A perfect way to keep the sun, wind and bugs off babies and toddlers.  The material offer UV protection and the screens keep out bugs and dust.
• Easy to take down and it comes with a convenient carrying case.
• Lightweight and simple to transport.
• A useful place to put young ones while outdoors.  A good holding zone!
• Has anchor straps 

Suggestions for improvement:

• To provide some tent pegs to go with the anchor straps.  I am pretty sure we didn't get any with the product.  It's not a big deal as we can easily find some but it would be a nice thing to include with the PeaPod.
• Make a slightly larger PeaPod.  It is an ideal size for 0-24 months but we thought it was a bit small for Connor and he's almost three years old.  Connor thought the tent was great fun but his head touched the top of the tent when he was inside.  It would be nice to have one size up for the older toddlers to play in outdoors too!  

The Giveaway!
Kidco is going to give away a PeaPod to one lucky blog reader.  The winner will even be able to choose the model they would like from the Kidco website.

As always, I will number the entries and select a winner using www.random.org.   Each comment counts as one entry so be sure to make separate comments for each entry.

How to Enter:
1.  Tell us what your favourite camping destination is.  If you aren't into camping, just let us know where you like to go for a holiday!
2.  "Like" Kidco, Inc. on Facebook.  It's not required but I'd appreciate it if you could let them know I sent you.
3.  Follow A Sophisticated Mommy via Google Friend Connect in the right sidebar.
4.  "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook.
5.  Share this giveway and let me know how.  (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Forum)

This contest will be open until Sunday, July 17th at 8 pm Saskatchewan Time.  I will announce the winner that evening so we can get the PeaPod sent out right away!

Open to Canada and the US.