National Drinking Straw Day

Can you imagine drinking a milkshake without a straw? Or how anyone would manage a juice box? How many soft drinks would you have spilled on yourself in dark movie theaters if it weren’t for straws? I think we can all agree drinking straws have changed our lives for the better enough to deserve their own day.

And that’s exactly what National Drinking Straw day is about: celebrating the invention and patenting of the (paraffin-covered) paper drinking straw!

Learn About National Drinking Straw Day

National Drinking Straw Day has been designed to celebrate this humble little invention. A straw may seem like such a basic thing, but it’s a very useful little tool! From milkshakes to iced coffees, a straw is a must for a number of drinks. This is especially the case for cocktails with mint leaves in and other elements that you don’t want to swallow.

How to Celebrate National Drinking Straw Day

One way to celebrate National Drinking Straw Day would be to spend the entire day drinking all liquids via straws—your morning orange juice, afternoon mineral water, you evening wine and so on. One thing to watch out for here, however, is the fact that sucking any liquid into your mouth via a straw heats the liquid up by a few degrees, and that’s why hot drinks, such as coffee or tea, should not be drunk using straws, as that could lead to scalding your mouth.

Ditch Those Plastic Straws

Do your part for the planet and ditch your plastic straws on this date. Instead, opt for a reusable straw, which can kept at your desk or in your backpack and then used again and again. These are much better than the paper straws, which can be rather frustrating when they fall apart.

Check out a few different options for purchasing reusable straws including bamboo straws, glass straws and metals straws. Some of them come in a special carrying case — and they make great gifts!

Enjoy a Frappe with a Straw

This is a drink that can easily be made at home. To do this, you need to add some water and coffee to a glass. You can add some flavored syrup, such as vanilla or caramel as well. You then need to whisk these ingredients together until there is a nice froth on the top. Add some ice, top up with milk, add a straw, and enjoy!

Sip a Mint Julep with a Straw

Another great way to celebrate this holiday would be to learn to make the drink that that inspired Marvin Stone (see below) to create a new kind of straw in the first place: the mint julep. Then, sit back, sipping your drink through a straw and be grateful it does not taste like rye grass! Cheers to Marvin C. Stone, ladies and gentlemen!

History of National Drinking Straw Day

The first straws ever used were made by the Sumerians, and were probably most often used for drinking beer, which at that time contained many solid byproducts of the fermentation process. Thousands of years later, in the 1800s, the rye grass straw became popular because it was cheap and soft. Unfortunately, it also had the tendency to turn to mush in liquid.

One day, while drinking a mint julep, inventor Marvin C. Stone became especially frustrated by straws’ shortcomings, as the taste of the rye mixed with that of his drink, giving it a grassy taste. He then patented the modern drinking straw on this day in 1888. The first straw Stone made was just paper wound around a pencil to make a thin tube, and he then slid out pencil out from one end and applied glue between the strips.

This was already a great improvement on the rye grass straw, as it did not impart any flavor onto the drink being consumed. Stone later further refined his invention by building a machine that would coat the outside of the paper with wax to hold it together, so the glue wouldn’t dissolve in the Bourbon he liked to drink.

Bonus: Mint Julep Recipe

Makes 2 cocktails

Ingredients

• 10 mint sprigs
• 1 ounce simple syrup OR 4 sugar cubes OR 4 teaspoons of sugar
• 5 ounces of your favorite bourbon whiskey
• Mint sprigs for garnish

Place half of the mint and simple syrup or sugar into one special julep cup, or double old-fashioned glass, and the other half of the mint and sugar/syrup into another. Muddle the mint well with a spoon to dissolve the sugar and to release the oil and aroma of the mint. Pour half of the bourbon into one glass, and the rest into the other. Then, fill both glasses with crushed ice and stir quite energetically, until the glass becomes frosty. Garnish with the mint sprigs and enjoy!