A popular Target sale is back, and parents are thrilled that it’s returning.
Target’s car seat trade-in sale has popped up since the company started the promotion in 2016. It’s an event that encourages parents of young children to get rid of their expired, damaged, or outgrown car seats, something that all parents have had to contend with. If you have any unused car seats taking up space in your garage, here’s how you can turn them into a discount on new baby gear.
What’s the Target Car Seat Trade-In Event?
Anyone with an old car seat can bring it to a Target store and receive a 20% off Target Circle Bonus, which is essentially a coupon. Just bring it into the store between April 19 and May 2, find the big boxes for collecting the unwanted car seats near the service desk, and throw it in. There will be signs on the box (and around the baby section) with a barcode you can scan with the Target mobile app to apply the 20% off bonus to your Target Circle account.
You can use the 20% off on lots of other infant and child merchandise, according to the Target Car Seat Trade-In Event FAQ, including: new car seats, car seat bases, travel systems, strollers, playards, high chairs, swings, rockers, bouncers, walkers, entertainers, and jumpers.
The 20% off Target Circle bonus will be valid through May 16, and you can use it online or in store. You can also use it twice, which seems like a generous thing considering baby items like car seats don’t go on sale that much.
What’s the Catch?
Of course there’s always a catch to a good deal, but the only one here is that you have to have a Target Circle account (and the Target app) in order to get the 20% off bonus. Those are free, though, so it’s not a huge ask.
Beyond that, parents on social media love this promotion, which seems to happen once or twice every year. “Does anybody else get weirdly excited for this deal?” asked one shopper in a Reddit thread on r/toddlers about the deal. “Unless you just had a baby and have a completion discount from a registry, I feel like it’s hard to find a good deal on baby gear.”
They also had a suggestion in case you don’t happen to have an unused car seat right now: “I’d recommend looking in your local Buy Nothing group on Facebook to see if anyone is giving one away, then you can just take it in, drop it in the bin and scan the coupon.”
Other shoppers who have had experience with this promotion in the past had even easier ideas. “If you don’t have a car seat for trade in you can still use the code,” explained one shopper. “They put it up all over the baby section and no one is watching to make sure you traded in a seat.” Do with that information what you will.
Of course, getting rid of unused car seats is very important, however, so it’s in the best interest of children to participate if you can. “It’s all marketing and a good way to get expired/unsafe seats out of potential circulation.”
