My Favorite Finds at the 2009 ABC Kids Show
September 18, 2009 by Alicia
Filed under Baby Dishes and Utensils, Bottle Covers, Glass, Kids Cups, Dishes and Utensils, Safer Baby Bottles, Safer Sippy Cups, Silicone, Stainless Steel
I attended the All Baby and Child Expo (ABC) again this year and I was happy with the increase in toxin awareness. The BPA-free movement has certainly swept the nation in quick fashion and really gained speed in late 2008, which was after the 2008 ABC Show. Last year I spent all of my time chasing down manufacturers to try and extract product material information (it was a HUGE chore). This year, the awareness of BPA and phthalates had increased dramatically, and many companies had their product material info at the ready.
Overall, I found that most manufacturers fell in to one of three distinct camps:
1) Here’s our info and we’re proud of it – these companies had their act together and had revamped many products or created new designs with safer materials
2) Our materials are proprietary and we won’t tell under penalty of death – I have to assume that they knew their products were toxic and weren’t going to change it
3) Our materials are made with “safe FDA approved” BPA and PVC – I was actually told by several companies that no one is concerned about these materials and false information was being spread by uninformed bloggers in an effort to “scare” people away from perfectly safe products (one company actually said ”normal Americans aren’t worried about that stuff”)
I was thrilled to see a focus on interchangeability within whole product lines. Companies like Thermos, Nuby, Klean Kanteen and Kid Basix have designed bottles, sippy cups and sport bottles with upgradeable lids/spout/straws in an effort to save hard-working families some money.
Innovation in eating gear was easy to find across some of our favorite brands as well. I found a major focus on providing alternative materials with unique protective covers for active toddlers. Boon will be launching a new silicone “netting” to cover standard Correlle-style bowls and plates, while Silikids has created glass baby bottles and sippy cups with the most amazing shock-absorbent silicone sleeve I’ve ever seen. It was so amazing in fact, that I just had to post a couple of videos here – you have to see it to believe it!
