It's Finally Here: A Stroller for Grown Ups

Parents have a tough job whenever they take their babies out for a ride. Putting baby into a stroller and getting baby out can be incredibly time-consuming and complicated…particularly when baby doesn’t want to be in the stroller; let alone take a ride. Baby can’t tell why the stroller is not his or her favorite place, and parents can only guess for a really long time; until baby can tell them, of course. So what’s a parent to do?

A savvy United States baby product manufacturer, Kolcraft, has taken strollers in hand in a big way. Its new Contours Bliss stroller is now available in grown up size. Genius! Parents can test ride the stroller before baby gets to use it.

President Tom Koltun offered up a press release for parents everywhere; inviting them to take a ride in Kolcraft’s perfect adult-sized replica of their baby stroller. Though the adult version isn’t for sale, it is available at certain locations for trial rides. It’s the best way for parents to truly understand how very comfortable and fun it can be to ride in the Contours Bliss stroller.

The Company

It’s a fitting time for Kolcraft to catch the public eye. This family owned company is celebrating 70 years and three generations of family ownership in 2016. The baby product company began in the years following World War II in Chicago, Illinois. Leo Koltun founded the company so that babies born after the war would have the crib pads, high chairs and play yards to make growing up better. The company would expand to establish facilities across the United States and then around the world.

Kolcraft loves families. The company focus on family relationships extends from the family business to embrace both customers and employees worldwide. It is this focus that keeps the company making high quality baby products; as it has for generations.

From the 1950s, when Kolcraft became the USAs first and largest producer of high quality, varied firmness, crib mattresses, until 2016, when the company marks its continued support of the March of Dimes program with their “For the Love of Family Nursery Project”, designing and completely furnishing a premature birth baby’s nursery, the company has contributed to its customers and charity.

Collaborations with Playskool, Carter’s, Snoopy, John Lennon, Eric Carle, Jeep, Sealy, Mira Studios and Sesame Street brands evolved into creative baby collections of many award winning products. Though the award winning Contours brand was launched in 2005, it is 2016 which is the celebratory 70th year, a good one, for presenting the adult version stroller for test drives.

The Price

The adult Contours Bliss stroller is not for sale. But the Contours Bliss Baby Strollers are available for about $400, with a variety of accessories also available. The stroller comes in a basic version, with standard features. Parents can also opt to add additional parts, which vary in price and function.

The stroller can convert from a car seat for an infant, to a pram, and then to a toddler version. There is an easily detachable carrier that emerges from the structure. There is an adjustable handle to vary height based on who is pushing, a cup holder for the parent, rubber wheels, a handy storage bin under the seat, a mesh canopy with sun screen protection rated at UPF 50 plus. The stroller also folds completely in one movement to store it away or take it on trips. There are several color choices available for the materials.

The Contours Baby Stroller Test Ride

The company created an exact replica of their best-selling stroller for adults to try out. An amusing collection of things happened when adults took their rides. Lots of people along the route simply had to stop and take a look at what was going on. It’s not often that a giant sized baby stroller rolls through city streets, parks and neighborhood walkways. Invariably, the adults riding inside had great big fat grins on their faces. Most smiled away at the groups of people lining the paths.

Of course, the stroller couldn’t propel itself, so human caregivers took on the challenge of pushing their humans in the giant sized conveyance. The view of a person barely able to reach the stroller’s handles to push it was humorous and certainly evoked some extra smiles along the way. Some shorter stroller drivers dug in and stretched up for the feat. Other taller folks had an easier time. The comfortable riders could also be seen with legs crossed, enjoying the view as the world passed by.

Both adult men and women had stroller turns. After all, this is an equal opportunity stroller ride. Anyone who wants to take a turn, can. It only requires turning up at the right place and time, standing in line to wait for a turn, and being lucky enough to have one before the stroller goes away to the next place. It’s a very serendipitous process.

What adult hasn’t wondered what it would be like to ride in a baby stroller? Who has any decent memory of being in one as a child anyway? What tired parent hasn’t casually mentioned that they would prefer to be in the stroller and let the baby push for a while? Right? True enough.

There’s also a bit of fairy tale in the whole process. The giant stroller is the rightful home for a giant baby…or a Jack in the Beanstalk giant who comes down the stalk to ride in it. Taking the giddy ride brings out the child in everyone who rides. For everyone else, the circus has come to town.

Not only did recent test rides produce plenty of stares, the interviewers and riders had a few choice things to say:

• “Really nice!”
• “Cozy!”
• “Very comfortable!”
• “I love it!”
• “Twinkle, twinkle, little…”
• “Peek a boo!”
• “Ooooo! Here comes the sun…”
• “Are you enjoying sucking your thumb?” “UM HM!”

Here is the upcoming schedule

• June 7, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois; Mary Bartelme Park
• September 8, 2016, in Los Angeles, California; Kinds Land and the Pump Station, Ackerman Ballroom on the UCLA campus.
• September 29, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan; Birmingham Community House
• November 3, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois; Stan Mansion
• December 8, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts; Back Bay Events Center

For exact event times and addresses, check out http://www.contoursbaby.com/ website.

What a brilliant marketing idea this is. Most everyone who watches understands that, well…it is what it is. But truthfully, most who have seen the comical rides really don’t care one bit. It’s all too much fun!