My husband and I love road trips, short or long. We love exploring off the beaten track: gravel roads, dirt roads – any road that doesn't suddenly creep toward extinction above the tree line, threatening to shove us over an unthinkable cliff, and let us plunge thousands of feet into the abyss. Yes, we traversed one of those in Montana, but that's another story.



Road trips call for preparation, so our car trunk always holds an emergency kit with extra clothing, space blankets, and food snacks. The cup holders below the dashboard always hold water, even on half hour trips – and that's where this story begins.

Drinking Cups for Road Trips

We used to carry bottled water in the car, refilling the bottles at home. Then we learned too much: about the rapid growth of bacteria in those bottles; about the leeching of plastic into the water; etc. We decided to replace the bottles with drinking cups.

The options were not good, however. Some drinking cups didn't fit cup holders. Other drinking cups didn't hold much water. Some didn't allow for quick sips. Others didn't close tightly. Some were much too heavy!

We needed light, plastic drinking cups with straws.

The Discovery

That's when we found Tupperware drinking cups. More specifically, we found Tupperware plastic drinking cups with straws! The company makes a variety of drinking cups that work for car trips. Each one, of course, has a virtually liquid-tight seal on top – and each one is dishwasher safe, so no bacteria!

Some of their drinking cups are more for picnics or hiking, with seals (lids) that have no opening. Those are great in backpacks, even if they tip over. Other Tupperware drinking cups make provision for drinking without removing the lid, and were just what we needed for road trips.

1. The “Insulated Tumbler with Drip-Less Straw Seal” was our choice. This 24-oz. drinking cup has double-wall construction to keep beverages cold or hot for hours. It fits the console cup-holder, and doesn't tip over. The great “Drip-Less” straw lid minimizes leaks, even on sharp curves. We loved the fact that you use disposable straws in it, so no worry about hygiene there! You don't have to hand-wash a special straw, or risk putting it in the dishwasher. Any standard straw fits, so you can always stop in a convenience store for more. Of course, the drinking cup itself is dishwasher safe.

2. The “On-the-Go Tumbler” would be great for children on long car trips. This even larger, 32-oz. drinking cup has a tapered base that fits most vehicle cup holders, and the seal eliminates spills. The “On-the-Go Tumbler” has two designs, each with a different picture on the side. One design features a hinged pop-open drinking top. Children don't have to remove the lid to drink. They simply flip the top open or shut. The other design features a seal with “drip-less” straw opening like the one in the insulated drinking cups with straws that we chose. The liquid-tight lid has a hole for a disposable straw. It would be worth taking these into a fast-food restaurant, and pouring the children's beverages into them.

3. If you take babies or toddlers on your road trip (those days are gone for us), Tupperware's “Sipper Seal Set” would be a good choice. For that matter, these drinking cups would be great at home, too. On a trip, you could pack all four, filled and sealed, in a cooler. When your baby (over 6 months) or toddler wants a drink, you simply change out the storage lid for a sipper seal that lets children drink without spills.

The Guarantee

Although I cannot guarantee you will like Tupperware's plastic drinking cups with straws as much as we do, I can assure you that Tupperware guarantees the products. If you get one of their drinking cups and it gets damaged in normal use, they promise to replace it free of charge for the lifetime of the product. I'm not sure if the drinking cup's lifetime will be as long as yours, but the guarantee sounds good to me.

If you love road trips as we do, or if you just like to be on-the-go around town, you may want to look into Tupperware's plastic drinking cups with straws. If I weren't so busy, I might consider becoming a Tupperware consultant so I could sell them.