I try to take a minimalist approach to buying stuff for my two kids. I don’t acquire a bunch of things our family doesn’t need, priding myself on being aware of trends without succumbing to them.
Still, some of the items we’ve had feel downright indispensable, like the swaddle that helped my daughter to (finally) sleep through the night and the potty seat that convinced my kids it was safe to set foot in an airport bathroom.
Our family’s favorite toddler cup falls into that category of little things that make this time a bit easier. I received a sample of the Pura Kiki Sippy Bottle when I was testing the best baby bottles in 2024. My son, who was then 18 months old, had stopped breastfeeding and using bottles, and we were trying to choose from the dizzying array of drinking vessels available for kids, from open cups to toddler cups. (A toddler cup is designed to help kids transition from using bottles to a more traditional cup.)
As parents and caregivers know, learning how to use a cup without a lid is not a linear process, with plenty of drops and spills along the way — my son was no exception. Although it’s developmentally appropriate for kids to practice with an open cup, it’s also nice to own a more portable, spillproof container.
The Pura Kiki (available in 5, 7, 9, and 11 ounces) starts out as a baby bottle, with a standard nipple. As your kid grows, you can swap the nipple with interchangeable tops, including the Sipper Spout and Straw. The setup with the Sipper Spout has served as my son’s favorite drinking vessel for more than 18 months (we have two of them). He’s toted this sippy cup to the zoo, the aquarium, and on road trips. He’s nestled into my lap hundreds of times after his afternoon nap, clutching his cup.
With its simple, stainless steel design, this cup is easy to assemble and care for. The Sipper Spout is ideal for toddlerhood.
The Pura Kiki stands out for its utility. It’s durable and sturdy, and it’s lightweight and easy for even older babies to hold, thanks to a grippy silicone sleeve you can swap out for different colors. It comes in both a non-insulated and an insulated version (which helps maintain the drink’s temperature); my family has used only the non-insulated model. The Kiki’s container and collar are covered by a lifetime warranty, and our cups have withstood dozens of drops and rolls along city sidewalks and wood floors — and still look brand-new.
One of the best things about this cup is that it’s entirely plastic-free. More companies have started making feeding accessories from stainless steel and glass as people have become more concerned about the use of plastic, but it’s still surprisingly difficult to find a cup for little kids without at least a plastic straw or collar.
Stainless steel is sturdier and less likely to break down over time compared with plastic. This, combined with the fact that all of Pura’s nipples and spouts are interchangeable, means you could start out using the Pura as a baby bottle, transition to using it as a toddler cup, and go back to using it as a bottle for a younger sibling years later.
I’ve used a variety of toddler cups over the years and found that the medical-grade silicone spouts on the Pura Kiki hold up far better than others. Experts advise that you routinely check silicone spouts and bottle nipples for cracks or bite marks and replace those components as soon as you notice signs of wear and tear. I’ve only had to replace the spouts on my Pura cups once in the more than 18 months my kid has been using them, while we’ve owned other silicone spouts that broke down far sooner.
The Pura Kiki is also easy to disassemble and clean. You just pop apart the silicone spout, stainless steel collar, and container (it also comes with a silicone cover). All the parts can be tossed in the dishwasher, though you should hand-wash silicone to extend its lifespan when you can, according to Tracey Woodruff, professor of reproductive sciences at University of California San Francisco, who studies how chemicals affect health. This is handy if your kid, like mine, loves milk, which can be hard to remove from the crevices of bottles and cups. We’ve put our cups to the test in this regard, abandoning them in the stroller and leaving them filled with milk in a hot car for hours at a time. After a good scrubbing or run through the dishwasher, they always come out clean.
The Pura Kiki’s biggest drawback is that it’s expensive, ranging from about $20 to $35, depending on the size and if it’s insulated or not. Still, given how easy it is to throw the parts in the dishwasher, you really only need one or two to last a few years. For comparison, when my older child was a toddler, we went through at least three plastic cups per year because of how quickly they broke down.
Another downside is that the Pura cups are not leakproof. My son has occasionally fallen asleep with one beside him. Sometimes this is fine, but the cups do occasionally leak.
My son is now 3, and his need for spouted drinkware is waning. Although we still sometimes use the sippy cup on the go, my son increasingly uses an open cup at home. I now catch myself staring wistfully at the Pura Kiki in the cabinet.
This past spring, he started attending preschool, where kids routinely drink from open glasses for snack and lunch. On his first day, while he nearly skipped into the classroom, I was a nervous wreck. Would he know how to find the bathroom? Would he make friends? Had we practiced putting on and taking off his jacket enough times?
When it was time to pick him up, I stood outside his classroom, the Pura Kiki filled with chocolate milk in my hands — a tiny reminder of the rhythms of our life at home. In a flash, I saw him, and he smiled. Here he was, here was his chocolate milk, and, in that moment, everything was okay.
This article was edited by Amy Miller Kravetz and Kalee Thompson.
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