We really liked that the sticks on these are old-school wooden ones – great if you’re prone to losing the replaceable sticks in kitchen cupboards, but it might not be for everyone as you’ll have to buy more (it comes with 16 included). The release on these lollies was trickier, but with some coaxing and a run under the hot water tap they popped out nicely. The packaging offers up loads of exciting flavour ideas, including chocolate-dipped lollies – a revelation!

From rocket and fruit shapes to traditional curved styles, moulds come in all shapes and sizes. Just fill them with your favourite flavours and bung in the freezer. We tried fruit juices, squash, fruit smoothies, and even adults-only gin and tonic and cocktail flavours during our testing process.

We hold our hands up and admit we were a bit unexcited about this set when it arrived. Compared with the other brightly coloured kits we tried, this set seemed a bit drab. But as ever, we shouldn’t have judged an ice lolly mould by its colourway. What it lacks in primary colours it makes up for in simple, smart design. The set is a medium size, so easy to fit into a freezer drawer, and produces four curved ice lollies of a good size. The handle is great – it has a spout to suck up any drips (so ticks our mess-free box) and the grip is ribbed and coated in a grippy plastic, so it won’t slip through your fingers. And it’s also dishwasher safe, making clean up basically a non-event. We were really impressed with this kit, and it’s really reasonably priced too.

Look out for BPA-free ice lolly moulds. These are free of nasty chemicals in the plastics, which sometimes leach into food. All the moulds we tested are BPA free.

You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

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We were pleased to note that these are relatively mess free – the chunky handle catches most drips. For the size of the ice lollies, they do take up quite a lot of real estate in the freezer. Although they fit in an ice box, you might not have much room for anything else.

What says “British summer time” more than an umbrella? These six colourful pops make the perfect-size ice lolly for kids, who apparently loved the idea of eating an umbrella. The handles are small, so better for more dexterous, slightly older kids. Being a cone-shaped ice lolly, drips were expected, but actually weren’t too bad. And if they look fiddly to wash up, worry not – they’re dishwasher safe. While the ice lollies in the tray takes up quite a bit of space in the freezer – and they are tall too – once frozen you can pop out each ice lolly individually from the tray, and this means you can jam them in much smaller spaces in your freezer.

Our older kids loved the gross-out factor of licking icy feet, and we loved the Eighties nostalgia hit. The mould itself is compact, so doesn’t take up much space in the freezer, and it only makes two ice lollies, which is often preferable to than making six and having to store them in the freezer for weeks on end. Gloriously, this mould is dishwasher safe, which makes the clean-up easy. Releasing the ice lollies is a delicate process, and more than once our feet had a few toes amputated in the process. We can’t claim that this makes mess-free ice lollies, but it sure is fun.

Designed with weaning babies in mind, these cute little ice pops are easy to grip and provide a smaller portion size, and we can confirm they were popular with older kids, too. The release on these was a bit trickier, but a quick run under warm water got them out. What’s lovely about these for weaning babies, particularly those who are teething, is you can fill them with breast milk for a soothing and nutritious treat they’ll love – or you can just stick to purees and smoothies, of course.

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You might also like to think about portion sizes. We found some of the bigger lollies too much for our littler testers, while some lollies might not sate an adult’s appetite for icy treats.

We also considered portion sizes, how easy the handles were to hold for children and how messy they were, plus how easy they were to clean. Here are the ones that kept us coolest on those days when the temperatures soared.

Who can resist the lure of a rocket lolly? Not us! These ticked all the boxes for our little taste testers: space-themed, colourful, and with room to stick some fresh fruit inside. These moulds are big, though – they were a challenge to fit into our sizable test freezer, and the lollies themselves were big, too, once removed from the moulds. This meant it took our kids quite a while to eat them, which increased drippage. However, if you’re looking for a decent-sized, fun lolly mould then this is a great choice. Once frozen you can remove the moulds from the stand and then put them anywhere you like in your freezer, which makes accommodating them a bit easier.

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The silicone moulds are really flexible and this made them a breeze to pop out the lollies. We were impressed with the level of detail it left on our ice lollies – pips and textures aplenty. These are on the larger size in volume, so better for older kids and adults. You get two pineapple and two watermelon shapes in this set, and you can freeze them individually.

Nothing beats an ice-cold lolly on a boiling hot day. Ice cream, smoothies or just pure juice – they’re all, ahem, Fab-ulous. But the best pre-made lollies always sell out fast at the supermarket during heatwaves. Enter ice lolly moulds to stock your freezer and make sure you never miss out on your favourite flavour again.

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This set of four ice lolly moulds produces your traditional curved ice lolly. The colourful handles add a bit of extra joy too, and are really cleverly designed. The juice-catcher handle includes a spout that allows you to slurp up the drips, meaning nothing is wasted and there’s minimal mess. Plus they’re dishwasher safe. We liked the extra width on the handle of these lollies – it made gripping them easier for little hands. We found the portion size is about right for a snack treat. As this is a set of four, they take up less room in the freezer than others we tested – but they are probably slightly too large for an ice box.

When selecting your ice lolly moulds, obviously the fun factor is paramount, but we’d recommend checking the size of the mould against your freezer. We found some of the moulds we tried were a challenge to get into our decent-sized freezer. If yours is very full, some moulds do allow you to separate out the lollies and lie them down once they’ve frozen.

We absolutely loved these fun fruity pops, and we found they encouraged us to be more creative in our ice lolly adventures. The recipes included all sounded delicious, and we can attest that the watermelon ice lolly with basil for the rind is spot on. The lollies lie flat in the freezer, and stack – out of the bigger ice lollies we tested, these were the easiest to fit in our freezer.

By far the cutest lolly moulds we tried, this rack of six little bunnies made the most delightful little ice pops. Both younger kids and older kids fell in love with these, and fought over the last one. The handles are easy to hold for little ones, the portion size was perfect for young children and the mess created was tolerable. We found smoothies worked well in these, and they released really easily. The design on these mean you have to stick the whole rack in the freezer even if you only want one or two, but the design is long and thin and not too tall, so they are easy to fit in most spaces with a spot of expert freezer Tetris.

We spent three weeks testing ice lolly moulds every day – at one point we considered setting up a free ice lolly stand on our front doorstep. We looked at how fun the moulds were, how well they fitted in our freezer as well as a compact ice box, and how easy the lollies were to extract from the moulds.

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Since our last update, the following businesses have been confirmed as having fallen into administration. All dates indicate when the administration was posted by the Gazette and not necessarily the dates on which administrators were appointed. Empire Vehicle Hire Limited – July 2 Empire Vehicle Hire Limited, which trades as Empire Van Hire, is a self-drive van hire business based in Wooburn Green. The company fell into administration last month and ceased trading, with Craig Johns and Jason Elliott of Cowgills appointed as joint administrators. In the firm’s most recent accounts at Companies House, for the year to January 31 2022, its fixed assets were valued at £9.2 million and current assets at £1.68 million, with net assets amounting to around £3.6 million. HI55 Ventures Limited – July 2 HI55 Ventures Limited, a UK fintech platform which operates the Hi digital payroll scheme, fell into administration in late June, with Gary Pettit of PBC Business Recovery & Insolvency appointed as administrator. In the company’s accounts for the year to June 30 2023, its fixed assets were valued at £7.3 million and current assets at £1.5 million, with net assets standing at £500,000. Find out about M&A trends in the UK financial services sector Qcom Outsourcing Limited – July 3 Qcom Outsourcing Limited, an outsourced IT services provider based in Worcester, fell into administration at the end of June, with Joph Young and Conrad Beighton of Leonard Curtis appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year ending June 30 2022, its assets were valued at just under £2.4 million, with net assets amounting to slightly over £200,000. Red Notice Limited – July 3 Red Notice Limited, a London-based motion picture production firm, fell into administration in June, with Lloyd Hinton of Insolve Plus appointed as administrator. In the company’s accounts for the year to December 31 2023, its current assets were valued at close to £22.1 million, but outstanding debts left it with net liabilities amounting to £35,132. Read more about dealmaking in the UK’s film and TV production industry Heat Exchange Group Services Limited – July 4 Heat Exchange Group Services Limited, a heat exchange and boiler service specialist, fell into administration last week, with Tyrone Courtman and Deviesh Raikundalia of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory appointed as joint administrators. The appointment of administrators followed the sale of substantially all of the company’s business and assets to HEGS PHE Limited as a going concern on June 27. The firm was part of Heat Exchange Group and the administration came after the group’s management attempted to divest their interest in the business as part of a wider restructuring. However, these efforts were frustrated as a result of difficulties relating to a major Heat Exchange Group Services contract, which had caused trading challenges that led to the company’s struggles. In accounts for the year to June 30 2023, Heat Exchange Group Services reported turnover of slightly over £5 million, up from £4.3 million a year earlier, while post-tax profits increased from £26,557 to £41,491. At the time, its fixed assets were valued at £230,703 and current assets at £2.1 million, with net assets amounting to £509,207. Find out more about this administration Incartus Limited – July 4 Incartus Limited, a Northern Ireland-based investment firm, fell into administration in late June, with Henry Shinners and Adam Stephens of Evelyn Partners appointed as joint administrators. In accounts for the year to December 31 2022, the company’s fixed assets were valued at slightly under £35.8 million, with total equity amounting to around £18.4 million. McDermott Smith Law Limited – July 4 McDermott Smith Law Limited, a no-win no-fee solicitor based in Liverpool, fell into administration last week, with Andrew Hosking and Sean Bucknall of Quantuma Advisory and Damian Webb of RSM UK Restructuring appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year to March 31 2023, its assets were valued at around £37.7 million, but debts totalled approximately £37.5 million, leaving it with net assets of close to £150,000. Ago Hotels Limited – July 4 Ago Hotels Limited, a long-lease hotel operator based in Hertfordshire, fell into administration last week, with Matthew Ingram and Elizabeth Welch of Kroll Advisory appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year ending December 31 2022, its fixed assets were valued at £372,543 and current assets at £1.7 million. However, at the time, its net liabilities totalled over £2.1 million. Find out more about UK hotel M&A trends OTO International Limited – July 4 OTO International Limited, which trades as Hedony, is a supplier of CBD oils, gummies and liquids. The London-based company fell into administration last month, with Trevor Binyon and Colin Wilson of Opus Restructuring appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year to September 30 2022, its fixed assets were valued at £240,636 and current assets at £2.17 million, with net assets amounting to £263,240, down from £1.5 million a year earlier. Find out more about M&A in the UK cannabis industry Achieva Group Limited – July 5 Achieva Group Limited, a Hertfordshire-based temporary employment agency operating across a number of industries, including pharmaceuticals, occupational health and engineering, fell into administration last week, with David Kemp and Richard Hunt of SFP Restructuring appointed as joint administrators. In its accounts for the year to December 31 2022, the company’s fixed assets were valued at close to £70,000 and current assets at £2.37 million. However, at the time, the firm’s net liabilities totalled nearly £114,000. Boddingtons Plastics Limited – July 8 Boddingtons Plastics Limited, a supplier of plastic injection moulding services to the healthcare and technical industries, fell into administration last week, with Ian Corfield and David Hudson of FRP Advisory appointed as joint administrators. In its accounts for the year to December 31 2022, the company reported turnover of £19.3 million, up from £18.8 million a year earlier, but noted that this improvement had stalled in the second half of the year. Despite the improvement in turnover, its pre-tax profits fell from £561,191 to £179,026. At the time, its fixed assets were valued at £3.3 million and current assets at £4.6 million, with net assets standing at £1.5 million. GB Holdings (UK) Limited and The Nightingale (UK) Limited – July 8 GB Holdings (UK) Limited and The Nightingale (UK) Limited, which operates LGBTQ venues in Birmingham, fell into administration at the end of June, with Glyn Mummery and Emma Priest of FRP Advisory appointed as joint administrators. GB Holdings (UK) Limited operates the Loft Bar and Village Inn, while The Nightingale (UK) Limited operates The Nightingale Club, with all the venues located in Birmingham’s Gay Village district. Lawrence Barton, the owner of GB Holdings (UK) Limited and former Director of The Nightingale (UK) Limited, said that the Birmingham nightclub sector had struggled to recover from COVID-19 and cost-of-living crisis. However, he also stated that discussions were underway over a potential rescue deal and that all businesses were currently operating as normal, with no job losses. In accounts for the year to March 31 2022, GB Holdings (UK) Limited’s fixed assets were valued at £147,813 and current assets at £980,323. However, net liabilities at the time totalled £37,401. The Nightingale (UK) Limited, meanwhile, had fixed assets valued at £217,329 and current assets valued at £811,056. The company’s net liabilities, however, totalled just under £501,000. Conker Bespoke Furniture Limited – July 8 Conker Bespoke Furniture Limited, a furniture company based in Nottingham, fell into administration last week, with Michael Roome and Dean Nelson of PKF Smith Cooper appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year to March 31 2023, its fixed assets were valued at £261,141 and current assets at around £2.4 million. At the time, its net assets amounted to £315,630. Divido Financial Services Limited – July 8 Divido Financial Services Limited, a London-based retail finance platform, fell into administration last week, with Joshua Dwyer and Richard Heis of Interpath appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year to December 31 2022, it reported turnover of £3.6 million, down from £3.9 million a year earlier, while its post-tax losses more than doubled from £3.4 million to £7.3 million. At the time, the company’s fixed assets were valued at slightly under £100,000 and current assets at £8.5 million, with net assets amounting to £4.2 million. Avail Technologies Limited – July 9 Avail Technologies Limited, an HGV driver recruitment app serving the UK logistics sector, fell into administration last week, with Andrew Haslam and Antonya Allison of FRP Advisory appointed as joint administrators for the Stockton-on-Tees-based firm. In the company’s accounts for the year to June 30 2022, its fixed assets were valued at £194,339 and current assets at £303,110, with net assets amounting to £211,260. Huckletree (West) Limited – July 9 Huckletree (West) Limited, the White City hub of coworking spaces brand Huckletree, fell into administration last week, with Andrew Andronikou and Michael Kiely of Quantuma Advisory appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year to March 31 2023, its fixed assets were valued at £1.4 million and current assets at £890,609. However, at the time, its net liabilities totalled £5.38 million. Verve Personnel Limited – July 9 Verve Personnel Limited, a temporary recruitment services firm based in Cheshire, fell into administration in late June, with Lisa Moxon and Christopher Barrett of Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery appointed as joint administrators. In the company’s accounts for the year to December 31 2022, its fixed assets were valued at £120,617 and current assets at £1.8 million. However, creditor debts of close to £1.9 million left the firm with total equity of just under £44,000. Click here to download our free guide on finding and buying distressed businesses and assets

Although Lékué’s mini stackable moulds are more expensive than others, we were so impressed by all aspects of them: they were a clear winner. If you want something more budget-friendly, the ProCook mould was brilliant in its simplicity.

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Fun and functional, these ice lolly moulds fit in even a tiny ice box easily and bring a pop of fun along the way. The silicone moulds are on the smaller side, so they make a perfect portion size for young children, and the ice lollies popped out of the moulds with zero faff. This is a set of four, but you can just stick one in the freezer without the need for a huge rack taking up space. We also loved that they neatly stack together thanks to the clever lids – which are clear, so you can see which flavour is which. Lastly, inside the box are some recipe cards that had easy but interesting flavour suggestions on it, which took our lollies to the next level.

By far the biggest ice lolly mould kit we tried, this produces crowd-pleasing lollies. The tiered design adds interest, and the volume – 75ml – is decent. Plus you get eight lollies from this mould, which is more than any other kit we tried. However, this means they are very difficult to fit in a small freezer, and you can’t split them up once they’re frozen, either. Once in, though, they are sturdy and don’t jiggle about and spill like others we tried.