Food Week Gadgets: The Dripstik

The Dripstik is an inventive device to help your child eat popsicles and ice cream cones with less mess. Each end of the barbell-shaped implement performs its own task. One end has a slot for a popsicle stick, and the other a hole about 1 1/2" in diameter to hold an ice cream cone. Surrounding each is a trough designed to catch drips.

As a popsicle holder, this device has become indispensible to us. Z went from being sheltered from all popsicles to being a popsicle junkie after we had the idea of making yogurt-and-fruit juice popsicles.

These pops started out at about 50/50 yogurt and fruit juice, as in the photo above, but we quickly shifted the ratio to be around 90% yogurt, which means popsicles have about two tablespoons of fruit juice in them. They make a great breakfast treat our three-year-old can eat during that crucial 15 minutes or so when Jenni and I each perform some Z-free parts of our staggered morning routine. We have always added flax seed meal to her yogurt (it's loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, an important consideration for vegetarians, and has a pleasant but mild nutty taste), so we started adding it to her yogurt pops, too.

Probably the best feature of the Dripstik turned out to be the way the flat ends allow for a popsicle or ice cream treat to be set down on the table or even a clean floor for urgent events or non-urgent play. We generally have a fairly limited area of the house in which food is allowed, but the Dripstik has expanded that range a bit for popsicle-eating.

As an ice cream cone holder, the Dripstik helps keep our toddler's hands clean, but little else. Melted ice cream pools in the trough and must be emptied if you really want to keep it from pouring down your child's front, and there are still plenty of creative opportunities to make a huge mess.


The Dripstik has Jenni and I very much at odds regarding adult use. I will begrudgingly admit that using a Dripstik would be convenient around the house when eating a popsicle in the dead of summer, but I would rather do so many things than walk into an ice cream shop, order a cone, and put it in my Dripstik. Sooooo many things. Jenni claims she would, and will, do it.

You can purchase Dripstiks from the manufacturer's website or read customer reviews and buy them on Amazon.com.

We have a four-Dripstik gift pack to give away to a ZRecs reader! To enter to win, comment on this post and tell us how hot it's supposed to be in your area this weekend. All entries which include an email address will be entered to win, and we'll announce a winner on Friday.