Yes, plastic straws seem small and innocent - and not so obnoxious to the environment, right? Well, I’ve been noticing how many straws my kids go through each day. They like to use one to slurp up the remaining milk in their cereal bowls every morning, and then another one to take their last drink of water before going to bed very night. So we go through a fair number of straws.

I remembered writing about stainless steel drinking straws last year around New Years Eve, in a post about the mini bottles of POP champagne. And even though most stainless steel drinking straws I’ve seen are sold as “barware”, I’m thinking of getting some for my kids. Clearly I’m not the only one interested in reusable drinking straws, because it seems these stainless steel straws are on backorder everywhere I look.

I also came across some pretty cool glass straws. Glass Dharma is a company started by a California glass blower who was inspired by the simple elegance of a glass straw. He says he also saw the health benefits from skipping the plastics and the positive environmental impact they have.

Glass Dharma also sells straw brushes for keeping your reusable straws clean, and even straw cozies made out of ecospun felt made from recycled bottles. This strikes me as being really funny. I can see myself carrying a CupKozy on my key ring, and I do love whipping out my Baggus at the grocery store, but I don’t think I could keep a straight face if I reached into my purse and pulled out my reusable straw from its own little ecofelt pouch. Is that wrong? I guess if I was really committed to the idea, it might make sense?

The more I think about it, a glass straw with accompanying felt cozy would be an awesome stocking stuffer for the die-hard environmentalist or the person who has everything.

Stainless Steel Straws $9.49 for a set of 4 at ChefTools.com

Glass Straw prices vary at glassdharma.com