Eco Vessel

Many of you know that I do my very best to avoid anything plastic (including BPA-free) when there are glass or stainless steel alternatives. And I'm always on the lookout for new options in fun colors and great designs. And one such company worth sharing is Eco Vessel.

Eco Vessel has some amazing stainless steel bottles for both children and adults in many sizes, colors and unique varieties.

Some of my favorite features are the insulated bottles and the filtering water bottle. Most stainless sippy cups are single walled which is perfect for water, but when you've got a toddler attached to her milk, like I do, insulated is better.

As for the filtered bottles, they're great in my town where we have well water. We filter our water at home, but when on the go, bottles that filter water is a great luxury! And Eco Vessel's other Vacuum Sealed bottles also feature a removable mesh strainer basket so you can brew your own tea right in the insulated bottle. What ever will they think of next?!

All bottles and accessories are available to purchase at ecovessel.com where prices start at $12.95 for a sippy cup.

Innate

I recently discovered Innate, the maker of some stainless steel products I don't know how I lived without. There are three in particular I'd like to bring to your attention.

First up is the Me-Me ($17 CAD). These sippy cups come in three colors: Gurly Pink, Puff Blue and Whirled Peas Green. It has an amazing shape that is spill resistant due to the silicone valve. It's easy for your little one to hold and for you to clean since all of the parts are removable.

Next up is the MC² ($17 CAD), a container program that includes a stainless steel bottom with a food-grade silicone lid.

This is perfect to take to work to transport your lunch. The stainless is safe for your food, and if you want to warm up your soup or pasta, simply pop up the lid and put it in the microwave.

The MC² is also great for your kid's lunches...imagine the wow factor at the table when your child pops out the bowl. It's sure to make lunch time more interesting...pack some vegetables in it and they just might not come home!

And lastly, the product I'm most excited to have found is the Kaze ($25 CAD), a modular stainless steel vacuum bottle. Here's what this is necessary for: any time you want to drink coffee when your children are around. In other words, every day!

The Kaze is a leak-proof thermos with a push button stopper for sipping on the go. I took it to my daughter's story time today and appreciated that spilling wasn't an option as I carried my baby to and from the car.

It features a double-wall vacuum that keeps hot liquids hot and cold liquids cold...for up to 10 hours! Perfect for me since it usually takes me all day to finish my pot of coffee with all of my errands and fetching for the kids.

Visit innate-gear.com to see their other products and to purchase.

SIGGskins

One of my very first posts on Ugga Mugga back in January of 2008 was titled Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups and I featured Sigg as one of the brands kids (and parents) love. They are safe to drink from and eco-friendly...but there is now a new reason to love Sigg: SIGGskins!

SIGGskins is a one-stop shop for creating unique and personalized wraps for SIGG bottles! The site offers you and your child the opportunity to upload a favorite photo or graphic you already have...or you can create one! The site is full of hundreds of colors, symbols, fonts, images effects as well an image library with everything from nature landscapes to outer space!

What a great product to send your child to soccer camp with this summer...and school this fall! There will be no mistaking which bottle is theirs!

Visit siggskins.com to get started!

EarthLust

I love the ease of cleaning the stainless steel Klean Kanteen bottles, but appreciate the stylish designs on the more high maintenance Sigg bottles. So you can imagine my delight in discovering EarthLust bottles: well-designed stainless steel bottles!

EarthLust bottles are made from high quality, food grade stainless and are unlined. Each bottle is decorated with non-toxic paints and features a BPA-free cap.

You can now enjoy your cool beverage of choice in any of their three sizes: 13 ounces, 20 ounces and 1 liter. The small size is perfect for small children to hold and the larger sizes are great for older children and yourself! There is sure to be a style to fit each person's personality! And when you spot one that suits you, pick it up because each bottle design is a limited edition.

Visit earthlust.com to view their current bottle designs. Prices range from $16.00 to $21.00.

Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups - Part 1 of 3

There is a lot of news about plastic products containing Bisphenol A, phthalates and DEHA being harmful. And let’s face it, that’s just about every plastic sippy cup on the market today! So I’ve been researching alternatives for my toddler daughter since she’s not able to drink from glass tumblers like her big brother. Below, please find my three-part post on the best alternatives I’ve discovered thus far:

Klean Kanteen

The Klean Kanteen sippy cup is made of a lightweight stainless steel and has a small neck for children to easily grasp and uses an Avent no-leak sippy spout (made of non-leaching #5 polypropylene). And once your child graduates to using a regular cup, you can take the sippy adaptor off and get a flat cap or sport spout. Built NY makes an insulated Neoprene sleeve to help regulate temperatures (and provides a loop to attach to strollers).

This is my cup of choice for my daughter. She doesn’t really like handles on cups and loves holding the small neck of this one. And I love it because it’s really easy to clean! Not to mention, if the spout gets damaged, Avent spouts are easy to come by.

This is part 1 of 3 - Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups - please see my archives for the complete post.

Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups - Part 2 of 3

The Safe Sippy

The Safe Sippy cup is a lightweight stainless steel cup with a silicone sleeve to help maintain a beverage’s temperature. These come in the green shown as well as blue and pink. They feature a leak-proof spout and little handles that can be removed. My daughter has one of these and there are a few drawbacks to this cup:

• The sleeve is easily stained and doesn't really wash clean. Any tomato stains my daughter has put on the cup have eventually faded away, but it takes a while and in the meantime, you have a really dingy cup.
• The sleeve has to be removed to fully clean this cup and it's a pain to get back on.
• The top of the cup has tiny crevasses that are difficult to clean even with the smallest bottle brush.
  

With that said, this cup is easy to grasp, the sleeve helps protect the cup from dings and also keeps my daughter's milk cooler longer. It also looks great!

Visit frecklefaceboutique.com to purchase.

This is part 2 or 3 - Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups - please see my archives for the complete post.

Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups - Part 3 of 3

Sigg

Sigg is a Swedish company whose cups are all aluminum with a special coating on the inside that is safe for acidic drinks like juice. They come in different sizes and forms: some have sport caps for younger children, some have removable caps for older children and adults. You can add a handle for little ones or a sleeve to keep drinks hot or cold. And since they are a European company, you can imagine the attractive designs they come in…there’s something for everyone!

Each member of my family has one of these Sigg bottles and we all love them! But we use them more for on-the-go drinking than for everyday use because it’s a bit high-maintenance for my toddler who can’t unscrew the sport cap on her own yet…and it can’t stay open because it leaks when tipped over. This is a great cup for my four-year-old though who can manage the cup on his own.

This is part 3 of 3 - Plastic-Alternative Sippy Cups - please see my archives for the complete post.