What goes through your mind when you think of straws? Probably sipping on your favorite soft drink on a sunny summer day or maybe sipping on creamy milkshakes after the movies. As a child, you probably preferred bent and colorful straws, after all, the right straw can add a fun and whimsical twist to your drink. But straws can do more than changing the look of your beverage. Sink your straws into our compiled list of alternate uses for paper straws to discover ways to update your favorite snacks and desserts.
Why Use Paper Straws Instead of Plastic Straws?
As you may have noticed, our list calls for the use of paper straws over plastic straws due to their eco-friendly nature. Single-use plastic straws tend to harm the environment rather than help it. On the other hand, most paper straws are biodegradable, meaning they won’t pollute our oceans or be eaten by endangered species. Plus, they are designed with beautiful colors and patterns that will not go unnoticed by your customers.
Cake Pop Sticks
Much like plastic straws, regular cake pops sticks are not recyclable. Cake pop sticks aren’t often disposed of properly which can have a negative impact on the environment. Luckily, biodegradable paper straws are eco-friendly and can break down naturally. Pick straws with a color or design that complements your cake pops. You don’t even need to alter the way you make your cake pops. Simply “pop” a paper straw into your mixture of cake and frosting and you’re good to go!
Lollipop Sticks
Since paper straws are a bit thicker than lollipop sticks you’ve got a great excuse to make deliciously thick lollipops. Lollipops are designed to be eaten while on the go, so using paper straws will give customers a more comfortable grip due to their wider circumference. Just remember to place your paper straws on your lollipop molds before pouring melted candy over your choice of mold.
Appetizer Picks
The main advantage of replacing conventional appetizers picks with paper straws is that your customers will have splinter-free fingers. With sharp appetizer picks, customers can accidentally pinch themselves while picking up bite-sized meatballs or cheeseballs. With paper straws, you won’t need to worry about your customers getting hurt. While these might be small injuries that are quickly shaken off, customers will notice the change from convention and hold your presentation in high regard.
Cake & Cupcake Decorations
If you like to make DIY cake and cupcake decorations, consider using paper straws to hold up your cake top numbers, letters, happy birthday messages, and other images. Paper straws are strong enough to hold your cake toppers and decorations without sinking into your cake. Simply stick your image to the straw using an adhesive that will keep your image attached without loosening. Afterward, you can stick your handmade cake topper into your pastry and show off your one-of-a-kind pastry decorations.
Make Jelly Worms
A great Halloween party idea is to set a bowl of jelly worms on your serving table to “gross out” or scare customers and guests during the festivities. Place around 100 straws (or however many worms you want to make) into a jar and pour the liquid gelatin into the middle of the jar. Stop when the straws are completely filled. Put the jar of straws into the fridge for a full 24 hours. When you take the jar out of the fridge, run the straws through hot water and squeeze the jelly worms out of the straws and into a bowl. You must squeeze each individual straw until you have a bowl filled with worms!
Hull Strawberries
Got a few extra paper straws leftover? If you’ve got a few straws you won’t use because they’re too few in number, consider using them to easily hull strawberries. Take your paper straw and place it on the bottom tip of strawberry (not the end with the stalk). Push the straw through the strawberry until the leaves and the core have popped out of the strawberry. Repeat until you’ve finished with your whole batch.
