Perfect Ice Cube Popsicles! Bite Size and No Drips

How to make mini popsicles that are just the right size. Plus they cost almost nothing and produce almost no garbage.

But first a bite-size story:
I wanted a popsicle. I didn't have a popsicle mold. Necessity is the mother of invention. So I asked my mother if we had any small molds like a bunch of shot glasses that I could use to freeze small cubes of ice. She said "you mean like an ice cube tray"? "Um, yes, exactly like an ice cube tray" replied I. So a bit more scrounging and I had some bamboo shish kabob sticks and a piece of paper. And the rest is history.
***Update*** There is another version of this here. It uses aluminum foil instead of paper.
Let's get started...

Step 1: Materials

You need
-Maybe some scissors
-1 ice cube tray
-several sticks, toothpicks would work but I used bamboo shish kabob cut into thirds
-1 sheet of paper appropriate to your ice cube tray (read on and this will make sense)
-juice
-a whole lotta love, neeeeerrrrr

Step 2: Prepare Sticks

Count the number of ice cubes your tray will make. Mine makes 16 cubes so I made 16 sticks.
Cut your sticks into about 3 inch lengths. Mine were about 9 inches long so I cut them approximately into thirds.

Step 3: Fold Paper Into a Box Shape

Fold your paper such that it forms a box shape as long and wide as your ice cube tray and about 1 inch high. I secured the ends by tearing a little tab in the overlapped section and folding down the tab. This sort of worked but the next few steps held it together so it didn't really matter. Staples or a more sophisticated folding method would probably work too.

Step 4: Poke Holes in the Box

Um, so you did use shish kabob sticks right? Good! Because they have a pokey end that is good for poking.
Place your paper box along side your ice cube tray and poke holes that line up with the approximate middle of each ice cube.

Step 5: Put Sticks in Holes

Twirl your sticks into each hole. The box may start to fall apart now but it should be reasonably rigid once all the sticks are in.

The purpose of the box is to hold the sticks in position while the popsicles freeze.

Step 6: Juice It Up

Put juice in the tray.

Put sticks in the juice.

Put the whole thing in the freezer without dumping juice everywhere.

Step 7: Wait

Patience.

No really, these things are pretty fast as popsicles go but you still need to wait a while and opening the freezer every hour to check will slow down the process. Been there, done that. If you make a lot you can have one whenever you want though, eh.

So go run around and distract yourself while refrigeration works its CFC magic.
If you're 6 years old and you have an older friend you could go make a hella dangerous arc welder out of the microwave like I did with my 6 year old neighbour. Just make sure you wear your safety gear now :)

Paint a picture, ride a bike, make a movie, write a speech, those popsicles will be waiting when you're done.

Step 8: Enjoy

Twist the ice cube tray a little and presto. Out they come.

Step 9: Final Thoughts

So as you casually crunch away on your newly minted mini popsicles you may marvel at a few things:
-Did you notice how they don't really melt? They are small enough that they are eaten before they have a chance to melt and drip on the -You can bask in the glory of pigging out on a bunch of these little suckers without truly pigging out at all since they are so wee.
-And finally, you know how sometimes you just want a little frozen something without having to commit to a full-on popsicle session?
-These are the ultimate answer for the ultimate healthy summer snack because you can have two or you can have twenty and you'll always have just the right amount of popsicle goodness.

Your turn, go for it, kids :)