Is Las Vegas a ‘baby-friendly’ town you ask?  It really depends on the baby.  There’s not a lot that a baby can do in Vegas other than be a baby.  They would do that at home anyways, so does location really matter?

My wife and I decided to go to Las Vegas when my son was 3 months old.  I was just looking through some of the pics feeling a bit nostalgic about the trip.  I’m not going to lie and say that it was my best Vegas trip ever, but if I had a choice between being there with a 3 month old right now, or here typing, I’d do the trip again in a heartbeat.  We were at a stage where we were mentally and physically exhausted.  We needed to get out-of-town for a bit.  My wife had heard tales of babies flying for free, and wanted to test this out.  She was on maternity leave, and was going to have to sit around at home anyways.  Why not sit around in Las Vegas.  It was January after all, and in Toronto that means you can’t (or shouldn’t) be taking a baby out in a stroller.  In Vegas, January is perfect spring weather by our standards.  There’s no snow, and while you still have to bundle your baby up a bit, you can get away with a light jacket.  Perfect for pushing a stroller around.  There are times of the year where Vegas would be way too hot for a baby.  I also like January because it’s low season, and there’s great hotel/flight deals to be had.

There were some crappy elements to this, but there seemed to be a silver lining for every cloud.  We couldn’t really go to too many nice restaurants.  Mostly buffets, and casual places in case our baby lost his mind in the middle of our meal.  We were also forced to eat dinner at about 5pm which meant we never had to wait for a table.  We stayed at the Cosmopolitan in a gorgeous room, but they didn’t have a crib there.  Which is understandable as babies are not their target market.  Our son wasn’t sleep trained yet anyways, so having him in our bed was no great setback at the time.  We had to take turns gambling, because babies aren’t old enough to gamble, and a security guard will kick you out if you try to pull a stroller up to a slot machine.  This way we could only lose money half as fast.

Between my son, and my sister-in-law’s kids, I’ve been on 4 or 5 baby-vacations.  Even if you go to the most kid friendly places (Orlando), I’ve learned that there are always compromises to be made as a parent.  Naps, feeding, diapers, bedtimes happen whether you’re at home, at an appropriate baby spot, or Las Vegas, so you might as well go to Las Vegas, and take that compromise vacation, and just be happy that you’re not stuck at home.  Grab a Beer and a Pina Colada, stick them in the stroller cup-holders, and go enjoy the strip.  It won’t be like your bachelor party, but you can definitely have a good time!