When you hear the word “mei-tai”, you might be thinking “alcoholic beverage” {or, if you’re a family member of my husband’s, you might be thinking of a certain adorably named dog}. Wrong! That would be a mai tai, which sounds fabulous to this pregnant lady right now but isn’t going to be on the menu for oh, another 15 weeks or so 😉
No, what I’m talking about is a mei-tai – a baby carrier! It looks something like this:
images via
Don’t you just love ’em?
I first read about Oyako Mei-Tais on Sarah’s blog a few months back. I loved the way that her’s looked, and I liked that these are handmade right here in New Zealand. Chris wanted something a bit more manly, so we’ve ordered the BabyBjorn air carrier for him {scored on eBay for US$21.oo}. But I wanted something different for around the house. The Oyako mei-tais look great for carrying baby and are more versatile, in the sense that you can use them as a front-carry, back-carry, use while breastfeeding, and can be used from birth – 15kgs/33lbs.
Oh, and did I mention that you can custom design your own in some fabulous colors? No? That’s the icing on the cake!
click here for a better view of available color choices
So hard to choose! I wanted to go with something pretty, but we’re having a boy and that didn’t seem to fit. Still, I’m the one who has to wear it, right? In the end, I’ve settled on two options for the main panel with either a blue or brown trim. Which one do you think?
“Ocean Stripe”
“Blue Panel”
Decisions, decisions! My first inclination was for stripes, but I also love the look of the blue panel. So stripes {which have the added benefit of being slimming!} or pretty blue panel?
Oh, and guess what? Just because you live outside of New Zealand doesn’t mean that you can’t have your very own Oyako mei-tai, too. She offers international shipping to several places around the world. So head on over and check her out!
***My sister pointed out to me that she purchased a mei-tai from Babyhawk.com, which is based in the US. The nice thing about Babyhawk is that they have more fabric and design options. The downside is that they are a bit more expensive {between US$89 – $99.00, including shipping}. Even with international shipping, the Oyako mei-tais are only NZ$93.00 {or roughly US$70.00}***
Cute carrier! We had bjorns for the twins and couldn’t have lived without them!
Those look really cool and practical 🙂 My vote is for blue panel with brown trim 🙂
I love these. They are so cute!!! I think Blue Panel would be my favorite!!!
I really like the Babyhawk designs, too. Did you design your own?
I like the blue panel!! I love blue and brown together!!
So cute! I’m going to check out their website!
I like both patterns, but the blue panel slightly more!
This looks like a great idea 🙂
I had a Babyhawk (check them out) but I sold it about 2 months ago. It’s the same Mei-Tai design. Dan and I both used it all the time.
I’ve seen these! They look very handy. And so many fabric choices! I can see how you’d have a hard time choosing. 🙂 I love both prints, but lean a little towards the blue panel – I really like the elegant design. Still, either one will be fabulous!