Bathing babies, storing toys, turning into a turtle*…the Flexibath does it all!

*not literally, sadly.

The Other Half always complains when we go away anywhere that I seem to take everything but the kitchen sink. (I did once consider going to B&Q and picking up a cheap sink just for a laugh but decided that as laughs go, it was probably a bit of an expensive option).

Instead, I decided to invest in a Flexibath – which is a bit like a kitchen sink except probably more useful, and remarkably more compact.

Children in general like water, and my two are no exception. But unfortunately, water comes in a lot of different guises and in my experience where it comes to cleanliness, children tend to like the associated water travelling in an upwards direction (as they raucously splash around, flinging it about and drenching everything in sight) but they aren’t so keen on it going in a downwards direction (this does not apply to rain, which in general, the Wee Man is quite happy to dance around in as long as he is wearing his gumboots and raincoat. For obvious reasons, this kind of garb in the shower would be a bit pointless).

And showers are what generally tends to come with holiday accommodation. Even so-called ‘kid friendly’ accommodation. Leading to a bit of improvisation – involving, ironically, a kitchen sink…

That’s if you’re staying in a self catering holiday home, anyway. When we go camping, there usually isn’t even the sink option.

So…the Flexibath. Well, as I said, its a lot more compact than your average sink – and your average baby bath too, for that matter. That said, although it folds down small, when unfolded it has a pretty big capacity.

Room enough in fact for not just one grubby 10 month old…

…but her big almost 3 year old brother as well.

And of course, most importantly, the obligatory bath duck manages to squeeze in too. When it says its suitable up to four years old, I’m not sure it meant combined age…but there you go, we’ve pretty much managed it!

So that solves the problem of holiday bathing. Equally, if you want to save water by not having to fill your enormous bath at home, then it can be used regularly as a smaller more planet friendly alternative.

Not only can it be used for bathing, but if you do happen to be camping, you can also use it as a kitchen sink for all your dirty plates – and thanks to the splat shaped plug in the bottom it’s easy to drain out without having to scoop out handfuls of sludge, unlike your standard washing up bowl. Folded up and secured with the handy clip on the top, it takes up only a tiny space in the car (and at home when you’re storing it) – but that said we usually have ours unfolded and used as a toy box when we go on holiday as it’s just the right size to hold all the kids entertainment bits and pieces in. Last year it came with us to Devon in it’s toybox guise, and the Wee Man decided it made an excellent turtle shell for him to wriggle about under, too. There is no end to it’s uses.

Oh…and did I mention you can use it as a paddling pool…?

I was a bit worried that it might tip over, as its quite high sided compared to its width, but because it is flexible (as the name suggests) if the Wee Man leans on the side a bit too much it just bends. Which is useful when you’re filling it up under the tap too – with its square rather than round shape it can be a little bit tricky to line up under the flow of the water – but also I suspect that’s because our taps are on the corner, making things a bit more difficult for any bathing box shaped thing.

Basically, the uses of a Flexibath are fairly numerous – making its bathy-toyboxy-turtleshelly-paddlingpooly-kitchensinkyness well worth the £29.95 it costs. Plus its a lovely bright colour, and there are a whole range of equally bright alternatives to choose from.

Do you want one yet? Of course you do. They’re clearly splendid.

And here is where you can get one.

 

Just in case you were wondering I have not been paid, plied with cake or otherwise cajoled into writing lovely things about the Flexibath. I bought it with my own hard earned cash (or maybe the Other Half’s…shhh….) and I’m writing about it because I truly believe in it’s greatness.