Vegas With Baby – It Can Be Done!

Last week we headed out to Las Vegas for the wedding of one of our closest friends with our toddler in tow.

I know, I know, many of you may be thinking that taking a baby/toddler to Vegas would be BORING! Why you might ask? The former version of myself without child used to frequent Vegas for fabulous dinners at fabulous restaurants, some poolside drinks after a delightful 11am brunch, a little late night outing and maybe a spin on the roulette wheel. So what the heck would we do with a toddler in Vegas for 2 whole days? Here is what we learned:

Lodging  

We found a killer deal online for the Vdara, the new hotel that opened at the City Center. Vdara was a fantastic choice for us because it is a non-gaming and non-smoking hotel so we didn’t have to contend with any second hand smoke with our little guy. Normally, I pass on the hotel upgrade because we plan on never being our room that much…now that we have the little guy who goes to bed fairly early, things have changed and Vegas is no exception. With this in mind, we splurged on the corner room suite upgrade on the 50th floors with 270 degree views, a full kitchen and a perfect view of the Bellagio water show. So all of a sudden, an early night in with a bottle of wine was definitely not such a bad thing. Score for us at $149/night

Family Friendly Dining

We figured out that our little guy totally digs the buffet at Aria and thought it was really funny to be able to eat Gouda cheese, Chow Mein and a Yogurt Parfait for breakfast. We also learned that it is really easy to grab a well packed, hot meal from one of Vegas’ scrumptious restaurants and bring back to our room to enjoy without disturbing other dinners with our little guy’s personal peanut gallery. Score number 2!

Daytime Activities

Before the sun came out, our little family went on a couple mile walk to check out the strip and grab some fresh air each morning and get us to a fun activity at opening. Some of our favorite baby/toddler/kid friendly places include:

The Bottlenose dolphins at Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. The dolphins just had babies about a month ago and you can watch them feed a couple times an hour as well as head downstairs and watch them play underwater. Highly recommend this activity. We would have spent all day there if we had more time.  Or you can also check out  The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

Some FREE, fun and air conditioned activities that the little senor loved were the giant aquariums in the back of the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace and the Cyclone/Swirly Fountains at the City Center.

So after a couple days in Vegas, we left to come back to the Bay Area with a smile on our face. It was fun, exhausting and definitely lived up to motto, Vegas Baby, Vegas!

Image Source: Vdara Las Vegas

Meet the Author | Veena

Veena is a former Miss California as well as 4th runner-up to Miss America. Pre-baby, Veena worked in the non-profit field specializing in Special Events and Development/Fundraising as well as a Program Officer for a family foundation. Now as a mom of a 2 year old, she spends her time running after her little one as well as branding and marketing consultant. Veena and her husband and son enjoy hiking, camping and traveling. She resides in Walnut Creek, California with her husband Ryan, son Eddie and their 3 dogs.

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