Holder Takes the Squeeze Out of Juice Boxes

Do your kids squeeze cardboard juice cartons so showers of juice end up on the back seat of the car or on the family room floor? Sip-Eze, a new nontoxic plastic juice-box holder, may stop those messes.

The lightweight case snaps around a standard, 8.45-fluid ounce juice box and keeps little fingers from causing accidental spills by squeezing the box. It also has a stay-locked plug that allows the box to be reclosed and the juice saved for later. The holder also helps keep condensation from dripping as the juice defrosts and is dishwasher safe. A built-in straw holder on the back keeps the straw from sinking into the carton.

New York lawyer Henry Kelston invented Sip-Eze after his 3-year-old son, Jake, kept squirting the back seat of Kelston’s car. Kelston started a firm, Big Baby Co., in Nyack, N.Y., to manufacture Sip-Eze and other children’s products, including More Straws, packages of 20 extra juice box straws in red, green or yellow.

Sip-Eze cartons (suggested retail, $1.49 to $1.99) come in teal, pink, red and clear with silver sparkles and four new character designs--panda, beluga whale, dinosaur and pink elephant.

Sip-Eze and More Straws (79 to 99) are available nationwide at toy stores, supermarkets, drug stores, discount and specialty chains. In Southern California, you can find them at Toys R Us, Walgreens, Stater Bros. and Safeway stores. If you can’t find them in your area, contact Big Baby Co., 23 Clinton Ave., Nyack, N.Y. 10960; (914) 353-4543.

Lotion Has Nature Lovers Covered

Kiss My Face, a Gardiner, N.Y., manufacturer of environmentally safe skin-care products, has come up with Kiss Off, a combination sun block and insect repellent made of natural ingredients.

Kiss Off, a lemon-scented lotion that’s not greasy, contains almond and olive oils, aloe vera, chamomile, and natural minerals and vitamins. It has a sun protection factor of 15 SPF. To repel bugs, it has citronella, rhodinol (from a grass grown in Sri Lanka) and terpineol, a pine tree extract.

Packaged in a recyclable bottle, Kiss Off ($6.95 for four ounces) is available at natural food and health food stores across the country. In the Los Angeles area, you can find it at Country Natural Foods in Topanga, Carefully Yours in Redondo Beach, Marathon Nutrition in Rolling Hills, and Bel-Air Beauty Center on San Vicente Boulevard. If you can’t find it in your area, contact Kiss My Face Co. at its toll-free number, (800) 262-KISS.

Just for the Man Around the Kitchen

Two new cookbook/apron sets especially for men are available through a Laguna Niguel company.

Wok Like a Man contains 15 stir-fry recipes--including beef and broccoli, and sweet and sour pork--chopsticks and a cartoon caricature apron.

The second gift set, the No Bull Barbeque Cookbook, offers 20 non-red meat recipes for health-conscious barbecue fans and an apron with a drawing of a bull. Recipes include appetizers, sauces, vegetables, seafood and fowl.

The gift sets ($19.95, which includes shipping and handling) are available from B.S. Publications, 30251 Golden Lantern E-304, Laguna Niguel, Calif. 92677; (800) 877-7774, Ext. 1377.