As a mom, when summer approaches, I both welcome and dread the rising temperatures. Unlike many parts of the country, here in Oregon we are just not built for heat. Like the typical mom of today, I took to Pinterest to find creative ways to conquer the heat. In my searches, I came across a product that is simply genius. A DIY Freezer pop, of sorts. I immediately had to go to their website and find out about it.
Zipzicles. A BPA-Free, recyclable zip top ice-pop bag. Like the traditional “Otter Pops” that we all knew as children, only you can make them however you want, with whatever you want. Whenever you want. I love this. I can make them as healthy (or unhealthy?) as I want to. I can make them kid friendly.. or even make a few for a more “adult” crowd. While some of you are assuming I am talking about a Margarita ice-pop.. (which I’m sure would be fantastic.. Though.. make sure you label them and keep away from children!) I’m more the “freeze some coffee and have an ice-pop for breakfast” kind of person.
WizCo, the makers of Zipzicles, were kind enough to send me a set of their product to try out and review for you. I am so happy with this product. Our weather warmed up just in time for us to take advantage of it. Of course, I couldn’t resist spreading the word, so we arranged a summer play-date with our friends that included kiddie pools, sprinklers, lemonade and of course, our freshly made Zipzicles.
I took advantage of the opportunity to make our own ice-pops by letting my children get in on the fun. Together we picked out our flavors. They chose Strawberry-Orange-Vanilla and also just Orange-Vanilla. To execute this, I broke out the BabyBullet, got frozen strawberries, vanilla frozen yogurt and orange juice. So simple, and sure.. the frozen yogurt added a little bit of calories, it was much healthier than handing my kids an ice cream cone and I knew exactly what was in it! Our packet of Zipzicles came with 12 packets, so we made 6 of each flavor. They were easy to open, easy to fill and held a lot! Definitely pay attention to the “fill line” – I had a few “oops” moments with mine and well.. at least clean up tasted good! We froze them, packed them in a bag and headed over to our friend’s house.
Just as easy as they were to fill, they were simple to open. The traditional ice-pops we are all familiar with require the use of scissors – leaving you with a top piece that should be thrown away but somehow always ends up in the yard and a child covered in food-colored dye. This simply pulled open like a zip-top sandwich bag, stayed intact, and sure, while our children were sticky messes as the heat quickly melted the ice-pop, they weren’t stained with fake orange, red or blue dye.
Another benefit of the Zipzicle is an important one for our household. Having the ability to make them myself, means that I don’t have to worry about exposing my son to any of his allergies. I have all the control. I know what goes in. I know what comes in contact with it. I knew the moment that I saw them on Pinterest that I was going to love it. Using them only proved me right. We are already about to order more to have at our toddler’s birthday party at the end of July. He’s going to have a “PhiePhie” party, so I’m thinking I’ll do the Orange-Vanilla flavor and dot it with chocolate chips! A giraffe ice-pop! Fun!!
Did I make you all hungry yet? Have I inspired you with summer frozen treat ideas? Well, here’s where you get lucky! WizCo is giving three (3) of you the chance to win a pack of Zipzicles of your very own!! But first, tell me, what is your favorite way to beat the heat with your kids?? What would you make with your Zipzicles pouches? (You can also find some recipes on Zipzicles site and even on Pinterest!)
Note: This product was provided to me by WizCo. I was not paid for this review and the opinions expressed are my own.
25 replies on “Beat the heat.. with Zipzicle!”
Cooooool!! Hm… Anya isn’t a HUGE fruit fan, so I’d probably try to do something with banana first, since I know she likes that. Maybe banana-kale, ’cause I’m crunchy like that. 😀
I was thinking of doing a banana based one, too! A creamy summer treat that’s super healthy and full of vitamins! My thought was Banana-Pineapple, but Banana-Kale sounds really good!
These look awesome! I have some kind of the plastic molds but they sometimes break the Popsicle when I try to get them out which is a total bummer. We’re huge smoothi drinkers so I like to make Popsicles out of leftover smoothies. The kids’ favorite is mango/orange/kale.
These are fabulous! We, too, have used the plastic molds.. but there is something super convenient about being able to do it in a mess free pouch! 🙂 I love that the first two comments both want to use Kale. How many popsicles on the market use KALE? 🙂
Yogurt and any kind of fruit would be a big hit in this house!
Your house sounds like our house! 🙂
I would definitely make some kind of smoothie-pop loaded with some spinach or kale… my little guy wont eat veggies otherwise!
An excellent way to sneak in the veggies!! 🙂 What kid doesn’t want to eat a popsicle?
The current favorite cooldown activities for my kiddos are water gun wars with the rest of the neighborhood kids and ice cube sidewalk chalk (also a Pinterest junkie here!). The ice cube sidewalk chalk was a huge success for just plain fun factor, but make sure you’re okay with colorful kids afterward–the food coloring does some decent short-term staining of skin, lol.
We’d probably be making plenty of berry smoothie types, since those are the kiddos’ favorites, although I’m sure peanut butter banana would be a huge request, too. Those look awesome!
Water gun wars are always fun!! Our 3 boys have plenty of water fun! 🙂
I think the berry variety is a popular choice for these ice-pops! Super healthy and full of vitamins! Always good in the heat!
Whaaaa! Brenden LOVES fruit but despises veggies… it’s like we need to somehow combine our children!
I would love some of these (love the idea of a coffee one btw). We usually try and get outside where it’s shaded and take advantage of the few days of heat we have, but usually around one we head in and have fruit smoothies and spray each other with water :). Don’t object to going to pools either!! These sound fabulous!
With these, you could have your fruit smoothies while you play outside! 🙂
Hmmm…so many ideas and combinations, where to start? Orange creamsicle sounds fantastic, a watermelon sorbet style. I’ve always been tempted to freeze the fruit/veggie pouches I get at the store, but this would be 8 millions times better!
A watermelon one would be really good!!! Puree and freeze! So simple.. refreshing! Yum!! Cucumber watermelon would be a good one, too! 🙂
Ooh, I like that idea–cucumber watermelon! Yum!
Oh, the water gun wars in our neighborhood can go to epic levels, thanks to the number of kids. I’d say on any given day there are 20 kids between the ages of 4-12 out playing, and that’s just our block and the next one over!
Some sort of mixed fruit!
Mixed fruit has so many options! And healthy, too! 🙂
I would probably make something fruit based… maybe watermelon-lime?
Watermelon-Lime sounds SO good!! Refreshing and light! I like it!
My kids love otter pops and I have banned those things from my house because my kids leave the wrappers everywhere and it drives me nuts and then on top of that (like you mentioned) the dye that gets everywhere. I think it would be so fun to make these ourselves with the ingrediants we want and fun for the kids
Exactly! I just can’t handle the brightly colored stains on clothes, hands, faces, any anything else it touches. Unless I put grape juice in these, it’s not really going to stain much. Haha. And yes, the wrappers are a big thing. So much garbage. Above all, it was fun to get creative!
Blueberry and spinich sounds so yummy, a banana would give it a smoothie like texture! A blueberry infused with lavender would be perfect for moms 🙂 Dare I say a frozen hot chocolate could make a special treat… though no extra bonus points for health, unless you blended spinich into that 😉
I thought about frozen hot chocolate.. definitely no health benefits.. but sometimes you need to indulge a little. 😉
I feel like with all the Kale hype of late, people aren’t utilizing spinach as much.. so I like your spinach combos!!