ABOUT THE SPROUT

Finally, there's an easy-to-use way to end kids' spills! This universal spill-proof cap turns any 16 0z. (and up) store-bought plastic juice container into the equivalent of a sip cup.

The special one-piece cap automatically prevents fluid from spilling or leaking - even if dropped or tipped over. Perfect for everywhere and anywhere - use it when you're on the go... in a car or stroller, at a restaurant or at the gym, or just when you're out and about. Anyone can use it. It's ideal for busy moms, athletes, road travelers and senior citizens!

It screws snugly onto the industry-standard neck of plastic non-carbonated beverage bottles such as Dole, Tropicana, Minute Maid, Gatorade, Ocean Spray, Snapple, and more. The fully automatic valve opens and closes tightly in response to drinking pressure. Made of non-toxic, high-density polyethylene. Durable, reusable and dishwasher-safe.

A Queens, N.Y., man has solved one of the small but annoying problems of traveling with small children: the awkwardness of filling a sip cup with juice and the spills that seem to be inevitable.

Brett Halpern came up with a solution: bypass the cup and turn the plastic juice container into a sip cup or sports bottle.

Inspired by his own two children and the frustration that he and his wife, Arianna, seemed to encounter at family outings, Halpern invented the Sprout Spout ®: a reusable plastic cap with a sippy valve that screws on the top of virtually every brand of non-carbonated beverage container.

Because the beverage no longer has to be poured from a store-bought juice container into a sip cup, there is no more transfer spillage. The sip cup itself becomes superfluous. And once the cap is on the plastic bottle, its air-tight valve prevents spills as well as leaks.

He invented the device, literally, in his garage. This involved six patents and a lot of ingenuity. It only works with plastic bottles, but as Halpern notes, most of the major juice packagers and distributors are moving toward plastic because it is lighter and safer for children. All the plastic bottles use a common lip, so the Sprout Spout ® can handle the whims of the most fickle child, he says. It's light and it's small, so parents can carry a couple in a pocket, glove compartment, purse or backpack, or tuck one or two in the seam of a stroller.

After developing his prototype and discovering that his son, Damien, now almost 6 years old, and daughter, Zolie, 3, loved it, Halpern had special molds created for mass manufacturing. Halpern then arranged for packaging and distribution. Halpern insisted on keeping manufacturing in the United States, and has contracted with a plastic-goods manufacturer to produce the Spout. Retail packages are assembled by members of an organization of handicapped people.

Sprout Spout ® is made of a durable plastic that's dishwasher-safe. It was introduced through the Eckerd/Genovese drugstore chain and is now available in selected retail stores or online. The suggested retail price is $4.99 for a two-pack.

No one can believe that it's taken until now for someone to invent something so ingenious yet simple to use. Halpern notes that almost anyone's reaction is pure amazement when they see how well Sprout Spout ® works. "They slap themselves on the side of the head and say 'Why didn't I think of that?'"