CamelBak Eddy bottles are perfect for back to school

I know some people swear by them, but I hate sippy cups.  Really, really hate them.   I’ve never had one that didn’t leak, had a million parts, or that didn’t take up my entire cupboard with plastic parts, accessories and odd-shaped cups.  So, instead of investing a ton of money on a very short-lived item, I asked my friends for an alternative to the sippy cup.

Their answer was the CamelBak Eddy bottle that has a neat bite-valve mouthpiece and straw.  One quick look around our Stroller Strides class or a day at the park with friends and CamelBak was the clear preference of moms and kids. 

That next week, I went and loaded up on some CamelBak Eddy bottles and immediately fell in love.  I had worried that at age 18 months my daughter would be too young to use a cup with a straw, but because the bite valve needs to be engaged in order to drink, she didn’t inhale water like she did with other cups.  If it had been a problem, the rumor is that you can simply remove the straw and they can use it more like a traditional sippy cup, but we’ve never done this. 

The CamelBak Eddy quickly became our go-to bottle for days out at the park or on the town, vacations, dinner time beverages, and for playtime here at home.  On our recent Chicago trip and two day train trip home, these bottles pretty much saved our sanity.  No worrying about where we would find drinks while out and about, and no stressing over open cups, missing pieces, or whose drink is whose because we all had our own Eddy bottle at the ready.

In fact, we love them so much that we went and got more when my son was ready for sippy cups.  Since most of our Eddy bottles had girly designs that were “claimed” by my daughter, we needed my son to pick out his own so he could have some, too.  Not surprisingly, he chose bicycles and construction vehicles.

But, then when CamelBak offered to send me 4 new bottles for Back to School, you can bet I said yes.  People, we use these every day.

It’s with a little bit of embarrassment that I show you our massive collection of CamelBak Eddy bottles we’ve amassed in the past 4 years. This lot may seem excessive, but the fact that we use them daily, keep two in the car at all times, and have a set in the stroller makes this collection seem pretty reasonable – you’d be surprised at how easy it is to have them all in the dishwasher at once!

The reasons why the Eddy bottle makes so much sense are plentiful, but these are my favorite reasons to pick one up:

1. It can last throughout childhood {and beyond} so it’s a great investment for active and on-the-go kiddos.  Instead of wasting money on sippy sups that are only used for a short time, I can invest money in a product that we can really get our use out of. 
   
2. They are dishwasher safe, which makes me very, very happy. No one is happy in a kitchen with a counter full of handwash only items, or a counter full of cups dripping dry so I love that I can pull out the straw and mouthpiece and wash them in the bottle holder in the dishwasher. I
   also love that they have two sizes of bottles with compatible tops so I
   don’t have to hunt for which cup goes with which top.  
   
   
3. The flip-up mouthpiece is easy for kids to do on their own {some have a push button as below, some you just pull up} and is easy to drink on the go, unlike open-top drinks that are messy and difficult to drink while walking, riding, or strolling. The unique design protects the mouthpiece from direct contact when flipped down, you don’t have to touch the mouthpiece in order to open, and it can be left up while dining or during sports breaks without having to mess with a cap or having an open beverage waiting for spills.  And, did I mention it’s spill-proof?
   
   
4. 
   They have an awesome built-in loop on the top of the bottle, which makes them perfect for connecting a carabiner to so I can clip them to backpacks, sports bags, or even to the stroller directly. We leave clips on the Eddy bottles in our car so it’s easy to connect to whatever we’re carrying.
   
   
5. They have a “Got Your BAK” lifetime guarantee and we’ve never had to use it. Maybe that’s why the kids prefer them, as do I.

With back to school just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to pick up a CamelBak Eddy bottle that would be perfect for sending to school with your kids. Since open-top beverages aren’t allowed in our elementary and sippy cups would be silly, I love that I don’t need to buy yet another type of bottle that is school-approved. Sending the kids with bottles they already love, are spill-proof, and are easy to clip to their lunchbox, backpack, or bag makes for an easy back-to-school transition.


The 100% BPA-Free CamelBak Eddy bottles are available at sporting and outdoors stores like REI, Cabela’s and Sports Authority, as well as large retailers like Target and more. You can also buy them online from CamelBak.com directly.

Follow CamelBak at @HydrateOrDie and on Facebook so you can hear of new products first as well as deals on your favorite items.

A big thank you to CamelBak for sending a few bottles to add to our collection. We were already huge fans of the company, now we’re just BIGGER fans. As always, all opinions remain 100% ours.