Gro Anywhere Blind REVIEW

Gro Anywhere blind gifted for review

Like many parents, I DREADED the day the clocks changed. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE SUMMER. I love the warmer weather, more time outside and the thought of making memories in the sunshine with my family. However, I hate the fact that as a sleep deprived mum to a 7 month old, I not only lost YET ANOTHER hours sleep, but the lighter nights played havoc with my eldest’s sleeping patterns. Trying to convince a nearly 4 year old that it is bedtime when it is light outside is like trying to trying to convince her there is no chocolate in the house, somehow she can always see through my lies!!

Within a few days of the clocks changing, we noticed the difference immediately. At 7pm, Erin’s normal bedtime, the sky was almost the same as at 4pm, with no sign of sunset and a considerably bright sky outside. The bedtime slipped backwards, and before we knew it, it was 8.30/9 before we were getting her to sleep. When you then spend the rest of your night up and down breastfeeding a baby, this began to grate a little.

Having worked closely with The Gro Company over the last year, they offered to send me one of their infamous Gro Anywhere Blinds for a Gro Anywhere Blackout Blind review, and I almost bit their hand off. We were in the middle of decorating Erin’s bedroom, and therefore at some point the curtains would need to be removed as well. The Gro Anywhere Blind would not only make her room darker, but serve as a temporary window cover in the short term!

About the Gro Anywhere Blind

The Gro Blind is a fully portable black out blind, attaching directly to the window using suction cups and customisable to fit window up to a maximum size of 130cm x 198cm. The Velcro fastenings make the material quick and easy to adjust to the desired size.

The premium black out material fits closely to the window, preventing light from entering your child’s room, and comes in a subtle stars and moon design.

Perfect for when travelling, the Gro Anywhere Blind comes with a handy travel bag, so the blind can be packed up and taken with you.

The Gro Anywhere Blind retails at £34.99, but look out for special deals as we have seen some great promotions on these!

Our Gro Anywhere Blackout Blind Review

We used the Gro Anywhere Blackout Blind in my eldest daughters bedroom. We are in the middle of a renovation project in our home, and as such, are replacing her old flimsy (WHITE!) curtains and took them down whilst we painted. The Gro Anywhere Blind quite literally couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

The product comes folded up, and can be neatly packed away into the storage bag when not in use. This makes it perfect for travelling, particularly if you are going somewhere where you are unsure of the curtains or room set up.

The Velcro and suction cups can be used to make the blind into the perfect size for pretty much any window (sizes up to  130cm x 198cm). Although there is a bit of an art to this the first time you do it, you soon become familiar with which velcro to stick where. We soon got the hang of creating a blind covering that was perfect for Erin’s window, and then used the suction cups to stick it into place.

When up on the window, the difference in the room was significant. Where as before the room would have been very bright even WITH the curtains, with the blind the room created the definite illusion of night time. It was much darker, and no sunlight came through anywhere as the blind fitted very closely against the window pane.

With a darker room, we found that the bedtime process was MUCH easier, with Erin becoming a lot more accepting about it being night time. We have even been treated to the occasion lie in since we have been using it!

Pros:

• Can be made to fit almost any window using the velcro and sticky suction cups.
• Good value for money, and regularly on offer on Amazon.
• Packs away neatly when not in use.
• Creates a definite illusion of night time and darkens the room significantly.
• Perfect for on holiday or when staying at relatives houses.
• My daughter slept in for longer in the morning when the blind was up – happy days! 🙂

Cons:

• Not a con as such, but something to be aware of – the gro blind can take a little while to position into place and Velcro into the right size. For that reason, it is not something that I would want to be taking on and off regularly and therefore we decided to leave ours in place in the daytime too. Some people may not want to do that. I’m sure the more you did it the quicker the process would become, and you could argue that a few minutes lost putting a blind up is far outweighed by the benefit of getting your child to sleep faster!
• Children obviously aren’t idiots, and it doesn’t stop them spotting that its still light out of other windows like the  bathroom. There’s only so much a product can do though, its not a miracle worker! lol 🙂
• The first few times you use the gro blind, the suction cups need a little encouragement to stick to the window. After a bit of moisture on the cups and a few uses, we found they attached to the window much more firmly and slipped on the pane far less.

Click to learn more about the Gro Company Gro Anywhere Blind.

*Disclosure – We were sent a blnd free of charge for the purpose of this Gro Anywhere Blackout Blind review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.*