A Hair Straightener Is the Surprising Secret to Making DIY Boozy Ice Pops

While you’re stocking up on cold beer and brisket for barbecues, consider adding something new to your freezer stash: alcoholic ice pops. Recently on TikTok, Kaeli Duke posted a video that shows a simple, easy way to turn your stash of regular ice pops into adult summer treats. The secret to making this happen is a tool you might already own but have never thought to use in the kitchen before. In the words of the poster herself, “I’ve learned more on TikTok than school ever taught me.”

To the tune of some French singing, the unseen creator demonstrates her unique technique and gives away the ingenious secret to keeping a bunch of ready-to-eat ice pops in your freezer: a hair straightener.

That’s right — she snips the top of each of the Otter Pop-style ice pops, pours out about an ounce or two of the sugary juice, takes a handle of alcohol (she appears to be using tequila, but gin and vodka would work equally well), and refills the empty space. All this seems obvious, but then she comes to the crucial moment: To re-seal them after the addition of the booze, she simply clips the top into a hot hair straightener for just a quick second and voilà! It’s all packaged back up and ready for storage until the next hot day in the backyard.

Previously, we’d gone over how to do the same using a vacuum sealer, but this is far easier, and likely more people own a hair straightener than a vacuum sealer. But for those of us who don’t want to go the DIY route, there are also plenty of Costco options, like the boozy wine Popsicles and the vodka pops.