The Sip & Smile cup is no longer readily available for purchase at most retailers. We are now linking this review the the Fun Grips Soft Spout Trainer as it is our preferred replacement cup. Read more about the Fun Grips cup below.
Gerber Graduates Sip & Smile Review
The Skinny
The Sip & Smile cup is no longer readily available for purchase at most retailers. We are now linking this review the the Fun Grips Soft Spout Trainer as it is our preferred replacement cup. Read more about the Fun Grips cup below.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Sip & Smile Cup vs. Fun Grips Cup
We have found the Fun Grips Soft Spout Trainer to be even more functional as well as readily available and economical than the Sip & Smile. This plastic cup is still made up of 3 pieces with built-in, non-removable handles, and a removable valve. The spout on the Fun Grips has a hard inner piece lined with a softer material unlike the Sip & Smile spout which was soft all the way through. We recommend this cup in place of the Sip & Smile as a best value.
Performance Comparison
Likes
This cup scored well for ease of use. It is lightweight with nice handles, and the spout is very easy to drink from, especially when compared to many of the other cups we tested. The handles had soft little bumps on them that made them comfortable to grip and easy to hold for longer periods of time, though the newer version has grippy handles as well without the bumps. The spout is soft, and slightly angled, to make drinking more comfortable. The cup's flow rate was easily regulated by the user, and the valve resisted leaking. This also meant it earned a few points for being more like a no leak valve since it required less sucking than the other cups we rated. We felt this meant it aligned closer to the ADA no valve desire.
The combined ease of use tests earned this cup a high 8 of 10 for this metric. Only one other cup scored better in this category, the Tommee Tippee First Sips scored a 9 of 10, with a slightly better score for ease of sucking.
In terms of leakage, it scored 10 of 10. Turn it upside down when full and give it a good shake and we could not get a drop to come out of the Fun Grips version, this cup proved it had the muscle to perform as a sippy cup should while still retaining a relatively low price.Ease of cleaning scored a 8 of 10 for the Fun Grips. Easy to assemble and take apart, the parts themselves are easy to clean with no special tools needed beyond a basic bottle brush. Though the Fun Grips is described by Gerber as top-rack dishwasher safe, we recommend hand washing all plastic cups in warm soapy water to avoid possible heat induced degradation to the plastic, and possible leaching that might occur from repeated exposure.
Dislikes
We aren't fans of plastic in general for drinking and eating vessels, and this cup is no exception. In Eco-Health, it earned a 4 of 10. It also is not insulated, and while many of the cups we tested weren't, it continued to hurt its overall score by failing to add points.
Conclusion
The Fun Grips is simple, functional cup with a great price tag and therefore, is the winner of our Best Value award. While the design is fairly basic and uninspired, it does exactly what a transition sippy cup should do, help an infant learn to hold a cup and drink from it; and that is a thing of beauty. This cup offers a well-regulated, easy to drink from spout-valve combo that