Bugaboo cup holder. Round one.

As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to baby gear the one thing I hold above all else is my Bugaboo Frog stroller. It’s the best – even the alterna-kid at the car wash told me the other day that my stroller was “tight.” You’re damn right it’s tight. It’s the best stroller out there. My one complaint, and the complaint of other Bugaboo loving dads, is that it has no cup holder. Well, I’ve decided to try to figure something out for myself, and maybe for everyone else.

When thinking about the problem of how to add one, I decided it had to meet these requirements:

1. It needed to hold a drink, either a can or a soda/water bottle comfortably and safely.
2. It needed to be within arms reach while using the stroller.
3. It needed to be flexible enough so that you could take it off and store it without a lot of hassle.

The picture above is my first try at a solution. It came out fairly good, though I haven’t road tested it yet. Here’s how to do it on your own:

• Buy an extra set of Bugaboo Frog bag clips. Attach one bag clip to the left-hand side of foam top of the handle, so that it is facing inside the stroller, not outside. If you already have a set of bag clips attached to the stroller, slide the one facing outward up a bit to fit the new one facing inside below it.
• Buy a Prince Lionheart Click ‘n Go Insulated Cup Holder. I got mine at Babies R Us.
• Open up the cup holder and take the bracket off of the holder. Pull apart the bracket.
• This is the tricky part. Take the outside half of the bracket (the part that doesn’t attach to the cup holder) and file down the inside curve of the bracket. At the low point of the curve the bracket is about 10mm thick. File it down (or use a Dremel or anything else you might have handy) to about 5mm. It’s kind of a pain to file a concave surface (without a round file), but keep at it. Eventually it will be thin enough to snap onto the bag clip – keep trying until it fits on the inside bag clip securely, but make sure you don’t file it down too much so that it’s loose.
• Put the bracket back together using the screws nuts provided. Screw the bracket together completely until you absolutely cannot tighten the screws anymore. The two pieces of the bracket should not be loose.
• Reattach the cup holder to the bracket using the octagonal attachment side. Attach the bracket at a 45 degree angle (so the bracket is at 10 and 4 o’clock in relation to the cup holder).
• Snap the cup holder to the inside bag clip and grab a beverage to go.

So there it is. Feedback is encouraged. I’ll let you know later how it works in real life.

Shop for strollers and other products (NOTE: now including Bugaboo-made cup holders. -mdd) from Bugaboo at Amazon.com

Comments

[greg from daddytypes]

Impressive, even tho the Lionheart is still kinda ugly, it looks quite official.

But seriously? I'm most impressed with the tree.

[moderndaydad]

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with the tree myself. My parents won't give up the vintage aluminum tree they got from my grandparents (probably because my sister and I would have fought over it), so I found one myself from Yuletide Expressions (http://www.yuletideexpressions.com/). I have a small vintage table top tree I got a while back and I can say that the quality of my new tree is equal to what my vintage one would have been back in the day - maybe better.

As for the cup holder, the reason I tried the Lionheart first was that it was the least ugly of all of them (which admittedly isn't saying much). I wish it felt more sturdy, but I'm going to try if for a while.

[Caitlin]

Hello All:

I'm not a dad (I'm a mom to 3 month old William), but I've been reading with interest the search for a Bugaboo cup holder. Just to let you know the Valco Baby Universal Cup Holder works beautifully with the Bugaboo Stroller (no duct tape or home workshop project work involved - I attached it in 5 mins and I'm a girl!) Holds a Big Gulp cup quite nicely...

[Justin]

I have a cupholder and snack tray from Carry You and they work perfectly on my Bugaboo Camelon. They also work on my I'coo and Peg. It is made of fabric and it won't break off. Plus there are two cup holders. Quality product.
It is at www.carryyou.com.

Justin

[Rich]

You've got to check out rubydaisy.com ... they have designed these cool covers for a universal cupholder that look much better with the expensive Bugaboo stroller my wife "had to have". It works great and we get compliments on it all the time. Holds everything from a sippee cup to a big water bottle. We found it on ebay!

[Albert]

Thanks for the RubyDaisy cup holder information. We bought one for our Rock Star Baby Stroller and it looks so cool! I've tested it out and it not only looks great but it performs well too. Everything I was looking for and found thanks to your blog. Rock on! Oh, I found it on their website rubydaisy.com ... not on ebay. Good luck and enjoy.

[Gonzalo Hernandez]

I'm looking for a Valco Baby Universal Cup Holder.

Any suggestions where to buy it.

Thanks

[Rehtse]

the wait is over
http://store.pacifieronline.com/bugcup.html

[Jodi]

Bugaboo actually makes a cup holder now. I got mine here: http://store.usababy.com/product/strollers/650/cup-holder-.html

[Nicole]

Anyone have any ideas for the safety strap? Mine is always coming undone.