The worst part about traveling with kids, especially when flying, is carrying all their stuff. Even if you take the bare minimum of entertainment and snacks, you’re stills stuck with all the necessities, “what ifs” and worst of all: car seats.

Because it’s not safe to rent a car seat, and it’s not advised to check a car seat (even gateside) for risk of it getting lost or damaged, and all kids require some form of safety device getting to and from the airport if riding in a car, that leaves most parents schlepping car seats on and off the airplane. And often multiple seats if there are multiple kids involved!

If only there were a way to not have to manage so many car seats and boosters, I know my flying life would be a heck of a lot easier! That’s where the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is a true traveling life saver.

A booster alternative, the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is designed for kids who no longer require a harnessed car seat but aren’t yet big enough to ride safely with only a seat belt designed for adult passengers. (SafeKids Worldwide recommends using a booster seat for all kids who have outgrown their harnessed car seat, usually around 5-6 years old and who are under 57″ and 80 pounds, sometime between 8 and 12 years old.)

Here’s why the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest has become one of my go-to travel necessities:

Portable

The RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is the perfect carry-on solution when traveling. Foldable to the size of a cracker box, it fits easily into the bottom of any bag, can be put flat on top, or folded into any shape/space required. No trying to figure out how to carry a bulky high-back booster, how to fit a booster in your carry on or listening to your kids whine about having to carry their seat.

Lightweight

Weighing in at only 1.5 pounds, The RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is one of the lightest weight booster seat options available yet provides optimal safety for kids.

Easy to use

It looks a little complicated and confusing but once adjust to the right size, using the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is an easy two-step process: put the vest on the child, buckle the child in the car. You don’t have to worry about the height being adjusted correctly and where the seat belt is hitting the child’s body. As long as the straps are sitting on top of the child’s shoulders and the lap portion is lying on his/her thighs, the vest does everything else to properly position to vehicle seat belt and keep your child safe.

Versatile

You know one of the worst things about flying with kids? Having absolutely no idea what car you’re going to be strapping them into at your destination. You can’t use a lap-only belt with a booster and not all car seats install properly in every car. And if you have multiple kids and have to install seats next to each other, keeping everyone safe gets even more complicated. But with the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest, you don’t have to worry about the “what ifs.” It can be used with a lap only seat belt and top tether, it fits wherever your child’s tiny tushy does and compatibility is not an issue because the vest makes any seatbelt fit just the right way.

Comfortable

I have a tiny army of complainers. Their booster is too hard and hurts their butt after awhile. There’s something poking their back in their car seat. Younger kids in booster have a tough time sitting still even when you constantly remind them to sit the right way! But with the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest, they get to benefit from the comfort of the vehicle seat plus you can add the option neck pillow for sleeping comfort and use the top-tether strap to keep little bodies in the right place.

Fits all sizes

The RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is available in two sizes to fits the needs of almost every child still requiring a booster. Unlike most low-back boosters which have a 40 pound minimum, the size small RideSafer Delight Travel Vest fits beginning at 30 pounds and 30 inches and the large goes as high as 80 pounds and 57 inches, which gets the average boy to about 11 years old.

Not “babyish”

Most kids don’t see much difference between a booster and a harnessed car seat and one of my kids’ favorite things about the RideSafer Delight Travel Vest is that they’re seated on the actual vehicle seat and they get to sit “like a big person.” And my son (who meets the size and age requirements of the vest, even though he’s not yet mature enough to ride in a booster) loves that it looks like a racecar driver’s harness.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and we received a sample product to review but all opinions are ours!

Melissa is a homeschooling, ballerina mommy of four and lives by the motto “Life is never boring when you’re never alone, but I know somewhere out there, there is life Beyond Mommying.” She shares her parenting adventures on her blog Beyond Mommying. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.