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Turn Any Cup Into A Spillproof Sippy Cup For Your Kids

SipSnaps fit on cups you already own.
Courtesy of Double Double
SipSnaps fit on cups you already own.
SipSnap lids come with straw holes or with spouts, like these.
/ Courtesy of Double Double
/
Courtesy of Double Double
SipSnap lids come with straw holes or with spouts, like these.

You're welcome, parents of young kids. The days of awkward-sized sippy cups taking up space in your cabinets, of cleaning up spills at restaurants and furiously matching lids to cups before rushing out the door may be over. SipSnap, this week's innovation pick, lets you turn any drinking vessel into a spillproof sippy cup for your little ones.

Designers Sativa Turner and Michelle Ivankovic were working on another project when they came up with these silicone lids that mold to fit any cup. They come with spouts for toddlers or straw holes for bigger kids. And they're BPA-free and dishwasher safe.

After the designers first came up with the idea, they took about six months to get to prototype stage, then tested out the original prototype on preschoolers, nieces, nephews and Ivankovic's younger child. Then came adjustments so the lids would be easy enough for parents to pull off but a little bit too tight for kids to. The second run of the SipSnaps was good enough to launch a Kickstarter campaign, which raised four times the creators' goal amount.

"The response was amazing," Ivankovic says. "We learned a lot about the mom community through it, and how much they love to share. Moms really want to make sure their friends know about the newest, easiest thing to help the parent. I feel like it's a backbone of society, how much moms share with one another."

SipSnaps are available for preorder at the Double Double website. Both versions — the spout and the straw lids — sell for $21 a set. They'll start shipping out in September.

Thanks to friend of All Tech Heidi Glenn for submitting this innovation. This is part of our "Weekly Innovation" blog series, in which we explore an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Do you have an innovation to share? Use this quick form .

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Elise Hu is a host-at-large based at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Previously, she explored the future with her video series, Future You with Elise Hu, and served as the founding bureau chief and International Correspondent for NPR's Seoul office. She was based in Seoul for nearly four years, responsible for the network's coverage of both Koreas and Japan, and filed from a dozen countries across Asia.